The Washington herald., 1915-01-08
FEDS MAKING
final Stand
Suing to Save $4,000 Ad-
vance Money Given to
Players.
SLIM CHANCE TO WIN
Congressional Investigation Proved
that Sherman Antitrust Law
Was Not Violated.
By WILLIAM PEET,
By WILLIAM PEET.

Since the Federal League exploded its
bOmbshell into the camp Of organized
baseball by entering suit to have the
national commission dissolved, it has de-
velOped that the Feds are in such bad
shape that they can no longer afford to
balk at any chance, however hopeless IT
may seem, to gain relief from a desper-
ate situation.
A Chicago dispatch last night quotes
President Gilmore to the effect that the
club owners of the outlaw circuit have
paid out $4,000 in advances upon 1915
salaries to major and minor league play
ers who have deserted organized base
ball, and the protection of this money is
one of the leagues antitrust suit
The league proposes to fight to
finish to protect this investment" Gill
more added. In the event of a repeti-
tion of the legal controversies which i'm
paired the 1914 season, when litigation
caused several of our star players to sit
idly on the bench all season, this money
will be tied up in a knot which will take
months to entangle. We propose TO make
ourselves certain of results before the
playing season begins"
It Is also perfectly clear that the Chi
cago suit was further instituted to
strengthen the defense in the injunctions
brought by organized ball to prevent con-
tract jumpers from playing with the
Feds.
For instance. in the case of Lee Magee,
which case comes up In Cincinnati today,
the court might refuse to grant an in
junction on the ground that the appn-
cant was already under fire in another
United States court, so that litigation
would end for the time being in the in
terests of the Federal League.
officials Of the Washington club and
others with whom the writer has talked
declare that this latest move on the part
of the Feds will bear but one interpreta-
tion: That the outlaws realize they can
not hope to use the players they have
grabbed from organized baseball in the
face of repeated court decisions uphold
ing the new form of contract unless they
can persuade still another court that
organized baseball is indeed a trust and
should be dissolved.
The efforts of the Federal League to
break up organized baseball will be as
futile as in the past The Feds probably
hope 10 gain recognition and force the
organized crowd to take them in.
That organized baseball will stand an
investigation, a fact denied Federal
League magnates, was shown when an
attempt was made here in Washington
several years ago to have the game prob
ed by a Congressional committee. The
committee saw after a preliminary in
vestigatiOn that the laws Of organized
baseball did not conflict with the Sher-
man antitrust laws and the matter was
dropped.
Charley Lear better known as king"
Lear, former Princeton pitcher, who last
summer drew wages from the Cincin-
natl club OF the National League, is in
Washington for a few days visiting rela-
tives
Lear is loud in his praise of Manager
Charley Herzog, despite the fact that
Herzog kept him on the bench nearly all
of the season. He believes that the Feds
will make a much better showing this
year.
Ray CaldwelI's nip-nop back to the
Yankees settles that much mooted Ques-
ton as TO whether or not the slim
hurler's contract contained the ten-day
release clause.
That he agreed to come back to the
Yankees after being shown that his con-
tract was binding, leaves no room for
doubt that he affixed his John Hancock
to one of the new style instruments.
II Manager Bill Donovan can keep
Caldwell in the strait and narrow
path he will have on his stan one Of the
IlRnl-ndIueTS
.
The following is from the pen of Billy
Weart, baseball writer on the Philadel-
phia Telegraph:
That was quite knock that Eddie
Collins took at the fans of this city when
he wrote a letter to Eddie Cicotte, who
will he one of his teammates on the
Chicago White Sox Collins wrote:
Here is one thing l have been wait
ing to say: am glad to be away from
Macks team l saw this sincerely: and
of all the cities of the American League
I prefer Chicago. The fans are loyal
there 4 players mistakes of a day (and
We all have them) are overlooked, be-
cause it is known a man is doing his
best
why should Eddie Collins knock the
fans of Philadelphia? Surely, they never
knocked him. If they did, they went out
of their road. a man who has played
baseball of the quality that Collins did
for the Athletics couldn't have been
roasted very often by the Shibe Park
patrons.
IF some of them did so, because Eddie
didn't always make a much-needed hit,
or was guilty of a costly error, they are
of the kind that would knock If handed
a ham sandwich on a gold plate.
THAT Collins should take any notice of
il shows that Eddie must be very thin
skinned. It's not often that a player of
the Athletics or the Phillies goes away
from this city without giving the old
town a boost. 1t has remained for Col
Inns to discover that the fans of Phila-
delphia are not loyal; and of all players
he should have the least cause to COM
plain"