The Daily Ardmoreite. [volume] (Ardmore, Okla.) 1893-current, 1915-01-10
THE OUTLOOK
FOR ORGANIZED
BASEBALL |
DOES NOT SEEM TO BE VERY
FLATTERlNG AT PRESENT -
HIGH SALARIES HAVE PRAcTl-
cALlY KILLED TO. LEAGUE.


city for the coming season looks
anything but lattering at the present
time. Those who, in former seasons,
were at the head OF the team, and
piloted it through several rocky sea-
sons do not feel disposed to make
any further sacrifices, and the result
! Is that interest is at a very low ebb.
From present indications, the TO.
league is a thing of the past, for the
| present, at least There never was Il
team in the circuit that paid eX-
pcnses, with probably one or two
exceptions, and high salaries paid
the players were primarily the cause
of the downfall
President Bassett Of the kitty
league, has advanced "A plan for that
circuit which looks good, and the
indications are at present that his
plan will be adopted and the Kitty"
will begin the 1915 season. He ad-
yocates cutting the number of play
ers to twelve, restrict the salary limit
to six hundred dollars per month,
and have no eX-leaguers and old
timers, who have outliyed their use
fulness in the big show on the pay
roll. BY this plan he maintains that
patrons of class u circuits would
receive just "a fast ball as in former
years, and besides, would have lot
of youngsters on the string instead
of bunch of old timers, who draw
big salaries. regardless of their worth
to the club Messrs. Grisham and
owen of this city, who have been at
the head Of the local team during
past seasons, are in hearty accord
with this plan and if adopted by
the TO. league, they say that there
would be no trouble in finishing the
season with all eight clubs intact,
and salaries and expenses all paid.
On the other hand, some maintain
that there would be no way of pre-
venting one team from violating the
salary limit if they chose to do so.
This may all be true, but if an astute
| board OF directors is getting as good
an article for fifty dollars as they
were getting for one hundred In
former years, it is not reasonable to
| suppose that they would be so liberal
as TO add the extra fifty to some play
er's salary, merely to show that they
were good sports. Besides, there
could be a rule enforced and a bind
ing contract drawn up between the
eight teams that would penalize the
violation of this contract and the
league would be allowed to live.
or course, it would be hard on
the old has -beens, but the old has
beens, with their abnormal salaries,
are just what has ruptured the TO.
| league, and there is no reason why
they should be considered at all
There are a lot of Youngsters who
are anxious to play professional ball,
! who are idle during the playing sea-
son Of the TO. league, and fifty
dollars would satisfy them, if they
realized that someone who was not
worth dollar more. or perhaps as
much, was getting twice the salary.
From the surface, President Bas-
setts plan for the Kitty" league
looks pretty good, and if it was put
into execution over the TO. cir
cult It might result in organized
baseball for the cities comprising it
at price the cities could afford TO
pay.
The cry of retrenchmont is going
up all over the country in organized
baseball, and the time has come
when the owners and managers are
Going to make an effort to get a
little something for their services,
instead Of disbursing it among the
players, and at the end OF the season
face deficit, which must be met
with private funds.
There are many fans over the TO.
circuit, and especially right here in
Ardmore, who would like to see the
plan tried, and a fair trial would no
doubt prove It to he a success.
The Kitty" league is composed of
such cities as Paducsh, Hophinsyille.
Cairo. etc, all larger than any town
in the TO. circuit, and if fifty dollar
baseball is good enough for that
league. it certainly looks pretty big
to the TO.
1t might be well for President
Johnson to give this some corsidera-
tion in the near future.
Banquet for Socialist Members.
Oklahoma City, Jan a banquet
has been arranged 10 he piyeu the