New Britain herald., 1915-01-30
OpOYfOgYaphD
BY "GRAVY. ''

It has been several years since th( namo of Martin Canole has figured < the sporting pages, but it stood for fighting Irishman who deserves to 1by recall with pleasure the doughty dol ings of the little scrapper fronl County Clare, for he was not z onl1 one of the clevcrest men of his day
 but he packed a punch in either pawj
 Martin was born in Ireland. lsat lr1 cmigratcd to Massa chusetts at r} early age. If was fourteen years az ! today, on Jan. 30. 1901, when h( madc his debut as a professioue D That was with Tommy Boyle, whenJ he defeated in six rounds at fsI River Fall River, Providence h1 Boston witnessed all of Canoles bouty in 1901 and 1902, and he was vi(
 torio ious in all except a draw vt Honey Melody.
 In 1903 the little Irishman put { over a number of good men, inchld ing Marty McCue. now the Hon. Wa}
 tin McCue, a member of the Ney
 York state legislature. By the end4pI that year Martin was considered goo{ enough to contest Jimmy Britty claim to tho lightweight cham piotN ship. The California was then tb white lightweight champion Of thu world and most authorities recoe
 nized him as the holder of the worldY title regardless of color, as for xcy( eral years Joe Cans refused to plakJ the weight to defend the honors l1
 had won from Franke Erne kz>
 The Britt-Canole bout was aH9e( in San Francisco and went the f,I 7 twenty-five rounds. Jimmy was giverI the decision at the end, but 1t wal a close thing, and many fans though Martin was at least entitled to draw
 Canole went back to New Englan , and fought several bouts in New Bed3 ford, but early in 1904 he received an offer to return to the Pacih coast and fight Battling Nelson. wh , was then rapidly coming to the front} 1t was some rookus when the Irixb man went after the durable DaA| For sixteen rounds he had NeM completely at his mercy, and us6s the Dane as chopping block. The Battler absorbed all the punishpent Canole could hand out, and then, in the eighteenth round, tore loose and, gave Martin a punch that was ticket 7 ed for the full count. H
 Canole was never a title contender' after that. He took part in severtl other bouts, but was often defeated. and in 1908 he retired from the ring,
 The battle now being wagcd sn the courts between Organized Base ball and the Feds recalls the. his1 toric conflict of a quarter of 8 cep\ tury ago, when the Players leagakl was formed and made war on o. Bl Twenty-Five years ago today the mag mates of the National league held V special meeting in New York to eonJ sider ways and means to foil the plansl of the villains who were threatening a to destroy a nations pastime and, In ' cidentally, to reduce the dividends of the N. l.. stockholders. The mag mates decided to bring suit to restrain their vassals from playing elsewhere than on National league diamonds,6 ; but the legal proceedings didn't giyd o. B. much nutriment. The kitterN and cruel war was fought to a finish, but the fans weer disgusted with the whole proceedings, and as a result the game suffered all over the land. The National was hard hit, and the American association suffered severez1 ly, while numerous minor leagues went on the rocks. The brotherhood had the backing of several capitalist in the Players league scheme, b-u they lost so much money the first season that they refused to go on with the experiment The differencesN between the players and the mag mates were patched up and peace reigned in the baseball world unti Ban Johnson started another war.