Evening star., 1915-12-15
CLUBS LOST MONEY
Only Eight Big League Teams
Have Profitable Season.
TIGERS BIGGEST WINNERS
Red sox Cleared 100000, With
World Series, But Net
Profit Is Small.

There are lot of people in this old
world who are Of the opinion that the
owners of base ball franchises In the
major leagues. especially the National
and American Leagues, coin more
money each summer than is turned out
by the United States mint.
There is no justification for such an
opinion; nothing could be farther from
the truth. There was time when base
ball vas good paying proposition. and
that time may come again, but the last
four years have been lean ones, and
there will be more lean ones before
there will be any fat ones. There are
more clubs losing money than declar-
ing dividends.
The season of 1914 was a sad one;
the 1915 season wasn't much better.
The rush of the Braves from the last
place to first in 1914 was the only thing
that saved the National League that
year This dash enabled every club to
pick up more money than would ordi-
narily go into the Golfers, for it awak
ened a lot of bottled up enthusiasm.
From an artistic standpoint the 1915
race of the National League was the
best in its history. True, there have
been closer finishes on one or two occa-
! sions but never before were all eight
clubs in the running for the pennant
down to the last month of the season
Eastern Clubs Won Out.
Yet with this even race but four Of
the clubs came through on the right
side of the ledger These four were the
eastern clubs. Base ball clubs in the
west-with the exception of the Chica
go White Sox, the Detroit Tigers and
the St. Louis Federals--lost money.
The Phillies cleaned up $1,000 as
their share of the world series. OF this
amount one-fourth must be deducte ed.
for under the National League rules
one-fourth of the world series money
goes to the other seven clubs in the
league. On the playing season the
Phils made about s25.00o.
If the Phils had played the same
game in 1908 as they did this year the
club would have earned about 100000.
That is the difference in the years
and the enthusiasm Five years ago
such race as was shown this year
would have had the bugs" dippy, but
this year it only attracted the fans In
spots.
On each one of their three western
trips the Phllies lost money. Not on
one of the three trips did the club
make enough money to pay the rail-
road fares and hotel bills-let alone
salaries. The Phils did well at home.
but lot of the profits of the games
curred in the pan1es abroad
The Phillies drew more people at
home than any other Philadelphia Ma
averaged 5000 nersons day during
the week and had some excellent Sat-
urday crowds. On two occa sions dur
ing the year they had more than 49,
were sold out once nrior tn the world
series This never occurred hefore in
the history of the club.
Phill;es Had Rio Exnenses
Out of the world series receipts also
the Phillies had to nav for snectal
tra;,. ~, ,,h;oh .,.,,I r,..,a. ~.
.'AS' ' ",ion VIA ~. 'her w.
down the pronts. The earnings Will
be trimmed to such an extent that no
dividend will he declared this vear
TL. .,. a., -.
me ne % %rsasun LOT tnls - .hat .he cIup
tost neasas iass SEASON anu she .. pIo
the losses OF last year. and the notes
II the Phils could have played to
some people in the west they would
nave haa a good year. Snampionshlp
drarned o aho,st saS ooo last we. Htn mi.h .
winner. They dropped the same amount
this year with an eighth place club.
Losing 100000 In two years is no
1oKe. Tea c,.,.. ,,.a ,. .soooo
the MIA wing season This isn't buoa
anount for tha Ciante h.,t - t. a.
for +aiIandar Tsnauy ~ Gints,
nro7ts hava run nn " s,sn ooo pa
iaas .hn rosts X CO.,
snn ooo III. n ponas a tr uahss ia corieGl ua,t
sDU,vJo ,r, .aIn ,a ai''h IN, .ne ew ioih
I'm poIn c,as eiTp .or inc uSe u
me me. foio n urouhos' Ahis makes nice
h1se ess.
ise year az ehe braves cieaneo up
apouI SZo,ooo on the year, incluoing the
Worio series. rms year the pronts Will
reach anout Slb,ooo. which isn't much
on a mliiion- dollar plant.
BROOKLYN nnished about $4,000 ahead.
rms is the nrst time that Ebbetts has
piloted a money maker in five years
The Cubs Will Id DO well to break even on
the season Inc cardinals, Pirates and
Reds lost anywhere from $4,000 to
$4,000 each on the season II 1t hadn't
been for the spurts OF the clubs at diff
ferent times during the year the losses
| would nave been enormous
II
flrst nace IN DIX 4ears.
Tb;, no+ ,,,,oh d,r.rn. L., -.
.-. nv. 'n~, i' 'n 'ne
american League II ehey are as good.
The johnson circuit had it's first race
i in six years, and the race then was be-
4