Evening star., 1915-02-28

CARNEY took pains to vigorously deny
| the statement appearing in the papers
! a few weeks ago to the enect tnat
Evers might not be seen in the opening
| lineup. The original story was bases;
not upon hearsay; it was no midwint"r
, fairy tale to be denied day later
| Rather it was based upon letter that
which he frankly told of his failure te
gain in strength and to recover with
the speed he had hoped. with the
right now President Gaffney is nego-
tiating for the purchase of second
baseman, a man of experience, one who
played regularly in the big league last
StaiIings' request, and to be on the
safe side.
Gafney Is Liberal.
All the winter President Gaffney has
handled his players in the matter Of
contracts with an iron hand. He has
consistently refused increases to those
who, when the Boston club was at the
bottom of the ladder in early July, and
nearly $4,000 to the bad financially,
insisted upon long-term contracts with
the release clause eliminated. under
penalty of a possible jump to the Fed
erals. Several of those signed to these
ironclad contracts have intimated that
they wanted more money. His reply to
each and every one of them has been
the same, although in a few instances
for especially meritorious work during
the 1914 season the Boston president
did slip the player a $1,000 bonus.
Maranville, James and Rudolph were
included in that number.
James Is today an old-fashioned, be-
fore-the-war hold-out He has been go
ing up and down the Pacific coast an
nouncing that he will not play ball this
will hi
money. He has even wired the Boston
club that he will not report for spring
practice Gaffney has taken James at his
word. James understands that he will
receive another $1,000 bonus at the end
of 1915 if the club wins the pennant,
but that is the only concession Gaffney
has made to him. James contract calls
Tor $4,000 year, has two more years
to run. and James was tickled as
schoolboy the day he signed 1t. II am
not going after James in any way, shape
or manner" said President Gaffney to
the writer today. ''If he wants to re-
port, well and good: if he doesn't. all
right. I do not propose to take off my
hat and go out to see him. ] haven't
even sent him transportation. He wired
THAT he would not report this year at
the salary called for in his contract and
| that closes the incident with James SO
changes his mind. well and good. But he
VIII get not penny more than the
$4,000 and that $1,000 bonus. I told
him he was foolish to sign up for three
years. He told me he knew his busi-
ness And there you are" Judging from
| Gaffney's attitude he means every word
he says in the way he says it.
Made Good Money.
! James last year received, in addition
to the $1,000 from the club, more than
! $2.5o0 in world series money and another
$1,000 from the all-star tour, of which
| he was member. excepting for the
| Honolulu games. With no chance to play
| with the Federals under his contract,
| James is obviously foolish to hold out.
President Gafney lost both Deal and
give Mann only 5000 increase to $1,000
and wouldn't increase Deals salary a
penny over the $2.400 the hero of the
| 1914 world series received in 1914.
! Waivers had been previously asked and
received on both of these men. Other
wise. the world champions should line up
in 1915 as In 1914. excepting that Sher-
wood Magee will be seen In Boston re-
! gala, having been purchased from the
Phillies, principally for money. although
payment Magee probably WIFI play
center field regularly. with Gather most
likely to be permanently assigned to
right unless Larry Gilbert succeeds in
/
| will, Of course. be in left field.
| For pitchers 1t will be Rudolph, Tyler,
| Davis. Strand, Crutcher and Hughes as
the regulars, with strong likelihood
| that the veteran Otto Hess will be
carried along. Cochreham and Cottrell
look like doubtful members. Gowdy
and Whaling will be behind the bat
with the infeld of 1914. providing
Evers starts the season, and with
Whitted as infield utility. Fred Mitchell
will be kept for coaching at third base
and for working with the pitchers.
which leaves places for three or four
youngsters when tho cut-to-twenty-
one comes May l.
It Is with this team that Boston fans
look for Manager Stallings to win the
National League pennant and to meet,
| SO Boston fans hope. the Red Sox in
the world series. making the blue rib
bon event of baseball very distinctly
Bostonese affair in 1915 if Hub hopes
do not go askew.