Omaha daily bee., 1914-11-29
HIGH COST OF BASE BALL
Financial End 0utgrows Infants
Clothes, Declares Charles Ebbets.
COST TRIPLED SINCE OLD DAYS
swine Around the circle view Costs
FSur Thousand a. AEainst Twelve
70 Fourteen Hundred
Years Age,
FnANK q. nrrNKn.

Charles Hercules Ebbets, the we'll
known inhabitant Of Brooklyn, N. Y. who
once asserted that base ball stu r. In
its infancy" wishes II TO Be known that
what he said then applies merely TO the
playing and not In any way 70 the finan-
cial end.
no sir-ree. not the financial snd.' said
c. Hercules 'srhs financial end OF base
ball has outgrown its swaddiing clothes
all right
The cost Of base bailing from the own
ers' standpoint today IL from three 70 gix
times az great now a. Il was IN 1888.
when broke into the business. and the
cost Il increasing each year.
Everything Is higher. heaps higher, :"
continued the Dodgerg owner. Travel
tnE expenses have triplsd In the last
twelve or fifteen years; the salaries are
about three times higher In some oaseb
and practically every club has been
forcsd to bald now concrete stAdiuEns and
pay incrvassd taxes or rentals on the
grounds which II uses.
I'm the old days club used - carry
about twenty mon at the most. A SAL
airy Of 500 was considered a hnss one
In those days. The average salary In
thoss Gays was about 81 ,Boa which meant
that clubs salary list totRled Ne more
than $4,000"
c. Hercules pnus~e, whicn gave ~ In
terviewer time 20 wedge IN tihis quis,
What IN the average salary list nerwf'
The gunsral bocs Of the Dodgers svaAsd
a direct reply. c. Hercules doasn't like
TO talk about. or wen think about the
SALARY list that he hooiead himself IN en-
~ a. = a.
to the Feds.
mtg Outlay ssz salarfes.
However. II has been learned from other
sources that In thens days OF high sal
aries the avsraaS sAiary for twenty-five
players. n manager. an assistant man
ager ane two trainers 10 around 5000
That would bring the total annual sal
airy outlay for q major league club to
about $4,000. This bears out Ebbets'
statement az 70 the near TRIPPING Of the
salary figures.
Tn the olden days We used to make a
complete swing Of the western circuit
at a cost OF around 81 800 or 1.too. That
same swing costs US 1900 today.
Twenty years or 30 ago we never car
ried more than eighteen men on a trip.
That included the manager. six pitchers,
two catchers. three infieldera. five OUT
flelders and q general utility man To-
dag We carry from twenty-five b, TWEEN
ty-nine men on each trip.
Our mllsge cost In the old days was
~ cents a mile and usually W. could
deadhead about three Of our players
through. Our average mileage cost now
Is . cents. and deadheading IL . thing
of the past Our cost for sleepers IN
"a 49, a a
about 500 or $50 now, because OF the
extra men We carry.
The hotel limit IN the ola days OF the
American plan never was more than $3.50
a day. And that was the price at the
best hotels. Nowadays II costs US a a
day for accommodations at places i'm the
same class.
AS I have said, n costs Ne about 1890
20 make western swing now. We make
three year That makes tho total for
western travelling $4,000. n costs us ESQ
20 s7oo for each trip that we make TO
Philadelphia and about 5000 for each
Boston trip.
Travelling Expenses HiRA.
So, when all things are figured. Il viii
be seen that our travelling expenses and
those OF tho giants arc lower than those
OF any other teams because when we play
each other we incur no hotel OF travelling
expenses.
, dare say that the annual travelling
expenses OF the majority Of clubs. other
than the Giants and Brooklyns, are IN the
neighborhood Of sz.0D.
We used wooden stands In the old daya
They don't cost much originally ana their
upkeep was small.
Today nearly every major league IN
the country has new steel ana concrete
stadium that cost anywhere from $4,000
to $4,000. at an interest rate Of per
cent that represents an annual interest
outlay OF from s16oOo to Saoooo.
Every club that owns its own grounds
must pay greatly increased taxea Thoas
VINO rent or lease their grounds are com
PEELED to pay from two 10 four times AZ
much tor their grounds az they used to
Base ball II In it's infancy, al r,rht
but ~ the figures i have given win shovv
u u not the financial side that IL IN a,
infancy.