Evening star., 1915-03-14
MAGNATES SEEK TO PROTECT
HOLDINGS BY RETRENCF1ING
Keen Competition in Base Ball Due to a
Third Major League Played Havoc With
the Profits of the Club Owners.

fresh start in new pastures. 1t also
offered the big stars of the game
great opportunity. In order to gain
quick prestige the securing OF some OF
the big stars of the game was very
essential to the new third league. 1t
enabled a number of stars. among
them n good many veterans. to get
fancy salary for several years. That
cerned. It also enabled g number Of
| stars to materially boost their sala-
! ries. because OF the fear every club
| owner had that he might lose some OF
his best players. Il caused every
! league, from the smallest minor or
ganiza tions. to greatly increase its pay
roll. With greatly increased salary
limit with patronage falling Off be-
cause Of the unsettled and uncertain
conditions of the game. the owner vas
the fellow hardest hit. A man il any
business who isn't making money is
not 4 very conseniaJ individual, and
base Dali is no exception. The retreach-
, ment POLICY vas the only thing oper
and every league has fallen for it.
Hundreds = OF mnior league players viii
lose their oerths this year, while ma
1or league clubs in the habit Of carry
! ing from twenty-five to thirty-five men
VIII cut down considerably. 1t will be
me means Of depriving many a young
ster from being carried. and being al
lowed to profit by experience simply
because the league limit will cause the
ciuDs to carry only players absolutely
necessary.
Many Will Lose Their Jobs.
The base ball war has been a good
thing for the select few, but very
BAG thing for the rank and file The
seod and the ordinary player must
pay the penalty for the fruits gained
by the shining star. The youngster
from college for the time being will
of Low
have TIE opportunity of sitting on
the bench and absorbing base ball
knowledge. so to speak. OF late years
1t has been customary for clubs to
were used but very little, but who
had promise, and were being devel-
oped in this way. The cutting Of the
limit by the minors will mean that
only the cream OF the talent will be
carried the ordinary player carried
for utility roles and to fortify the
club against injuries will be showed
into the discard. Teams that carried |
four and five catchers probably will !
be forced to get along with two or
three l have known major league |
clubs to have as many as a dozen |
pitchers on the pay roll. perhaps four |
Of them being youngsters. who were |
being coached by the veterans and |
form A good many clubs have car
ried double sets Of outhelders II
know one club few years ago that !
had seven outfielders. Such things |
were possible under the old condi- !
tions. but inflated salaries and falling
OF in patronage for any number of |
ca sons have caused club owners to |
change their system. The final pen |
atty must fall on the player, the in
dividual who at first appeared to be /
so greatly benefited by the compete |
ton. No one for minute will argue |
that one good umpire can handle a |
ball game as well as two good UNI
pires. yet a number of leagues that |
nave been using the double system |
threaten to go back to the one official |
Talk base ball with any lover of the
game and he will tell you that the |
old interest is still there, that it mere !
ly needs stirring up. It is to be |
hoped that base ball in 1915 will be
OF such brand that new life will |
be injected into the lovers of the |
game, who instead of hiking to the |
professional game last year put in |
the afternoon elsewhere.
Copyright, 1918, by W G. Evans)