Daily capital journal. (Salem, Oregon) 1903-1919, 1916-09-09
MINOR LEAGUES NEED
SOME REAL HELP
Business As Bad This Year
As When Federals Were
Dividing Crowds
By Hamilton.

New York, Sept. J.-Baseball club
owners in the minor leagues, with very
few exceptions, will be glad to see the
end of this season, just as they were
tickled when they wound up business
year ago. Baseball in the minors,
apparently, has seen its best days. A
year ago when business was dull the
whole thing was laid to the Federal
league, and everyone was happy; this
year business again is dead, but there
is no one with a good explanation
for it.
However, there is one phase of the
baseball business which probably ap-
plies nearer to the case of the minor
Lacquer than any other. Minor leagues
have nothing to play for except the
empty honor-to a professional athlete
of winning trophy, the pennant of
his particular league, denoting the
championship. In the major leagues this
is different. Each year there is a hot
race to the end of the season and the
two best clubs then get together i'll a
series of world championship. The
players get their share of the gate re-
, ceipts and some city gets the honor of
being the home of the world S baseball
champions.
There is the remedy for the minor
| leagues. If some way might be devised
for the minor leagues to play world S
championship series it would give a
stimulus to the game in tn lower classi-
fications. There would be a driving
fight among the various clubs to get
into this title play and the big games
would put many dollar into the cof-
fers of the minor magnates. Even if
they only broke even on the heavy ex-
pense of trip to the city where the
games were staged they would have the
velvet from a season of hot competition
and interest aroused among the fans.
For some time there have been desul-
tory efforts by minor league magnates
to decide the minor league champion
ship. For several seasons, when Denver
was pennant winner in the Western
league and Milwaukee and Minneapolis
carried away buntings in the American
association, the respective club owners
got together and arranged title series.
/ There was quite bit of interest, but
the series was a failure because the Ma
tional commission or the National asso
citation, the respective club owners got
together and arranged a title series
| There was quite bit of interest, but
the series was failure because the Ma
tional commission or the National asso-
citation had nothing to do with it and
a pennant was not awarded
Several suggestions regarding a series
of this sort have been brought out 4
prominent club owner in the western
league some time ago promised if his
club was fortunate enough to win the
pennant in that league, to take it to the
Pacific coast for series with the Pa
cific Coast league champions. Unfor-
tunately, his club did not win and this
series was not played. AT that time he
suggested plan which would bring to-
gether the Glass A and AA pennant
winners in an elimination series which
finally would settle the world 8 minor
league championship. He even suggest
ed that the series be played annually in
Chicago, st. Louis, Kansas City or some
other centrally located city where ac-
commodations could be obtained for
huge number of fans and where interest
would be greater. He also said he be-
lieved each pennant winning city could
stage part of the elimination games and
the tlnal contests played IN the cities
whose clubs got into the finals.
However this would be little help to
the clubs in lower classifications, and
it would be manifestly unfanr to them
to leave them out. 1t seems to be
question to be taken up at the next
meeting of the National association and
the club owner spoken of has promised
to bring it up at the first opportunity.
Frank Isbell, former member of the
world Is champion White Sox when they
were piloted by Fielder Jones. is being
sounded by various western league club
owners who want him to take the presi-
deney of the western league. Frank C.
Zehrung is the present head. Isbell at
present owns the Des Moines club.
FULTON BEAT PORKY FLYNN.