New Britain herald., 1916-07-10
WHAT'S THE MATTER
 WITH BASEBALL?!
Eastern Association Magnates |HaVe Serious Problem on Hands

Although tomorroW's meeting of @e Eastern association at Worcester, ass'' has been called especially for Ae purpose of discussing the situation M Lawrence, where the owner is in Mrears with the players, it is prob Dle the magnates will have a heart M heart talk regarding the entire M Muauon. The association is in a x way and the baseball doctor who Mh prescribe the proper remedy will M welcomed with delight Poor at #1dance is the ailment and this is 6t as fatal to baseball as a. weak Nart would be to a human being
 MS eW, if any, of the clubs are earn 8 their expenses and some of them #ve already begun to talk about M king the gates and cutting adrift # m the league. While some of the M bs have been able to keep their sal extremities above water the HJortty are fioundering in a high and nary a lifeguard is within ling distance.
 #% omething must be radically wrong. R association draws from the most ulous territory in New England 8 there is no reason why 1t should @ be successful, all things being ##al. One thing Is certain, the fans @ showing very little interest and ess this is remedied the league will &weil to last until Labor day. It is bable that the magnates will be ked to do some revamping within & next few weeks. Bridgeport and @ London are ready to quit, it is ned, and Owner Sullivan of the M renee club is wearing a gloomy #, and rightly so as he Is about 800 to the bad. So acute was the ation at Lawrence that Vice
 ident Dan O'Neil of the associa-
 made a hurried trip to the banks he Merrima ok river Saturday and
 pthed the ruffled feelings of the
 ers, who were threatening to se- M a divorce from Sullivan on the
 nds of non-support. O'Neil set the dispute temporarily but there krtain to be red hot discussion he Lawrence situation tomorrow Worcester. hy is the public 'apathetic? That 1 question the magnates must solve kly. One answer is that the are not given the baseball they
 wont to go mad over a few ago. There does not seem to 1 he same enthusiasm that put 1 ball on it's feet. The close friend that existed between the players he public has disappeared. Per
 magnetism is a thing of the
 A player today might be a
 but it is only a person and not l rsonage. Where is the man in Eastern association who can hand the personal following of Connery, when that sterling war vas leading the Hartford club? kn O'Neil, when he first took the
 of the New Britain club? Or Cornell of the New Haven club?
 now there comes a roar that
 Connell was not popular, as ord is commonly understood, in
 wn bailiwick or on the road. may be the case, but the people
 about him, which was suff-
 A we'll known advertiser once tT don't care what the people bout me as long as they say
 eafng" Cornell was in that
 What a great many said about
 kas not of a complimentary na- but they did use him as a fre-
 
 my more, too numerous to men who could be classified with suggested and they are without
 kauaIs In baseball today "Jim" h. owner of the Hartford club, & always be counted on to in
 he growls of the bleachers in britain but "Jirn" was satisfied
 rate of two bits per growler.
 ew Britain fans used to pack
 srk as much to see Clarkin get
 Ing as to see his team get
 Ed. All of which should not,
 kobab1y did not worry, the < Nd magnate as the money came
 right through the little hole in
 k office. That was the heyday
 ball in these parts
 writer will, no doubt, be criti-
 sor suggesting that the players
 show the same spirit and |
 they did a few years ago.
 ear a commercial air and their |
 ability is not up to the stand 1
 he teams are not so well bal l and altogether the interest of |
 has petered out. probable that amateur base l
 5zs cast a banefuI influence over |
 Se receipts at the league parks. 1 # probably the big reason why I is not paying. Every amateur 1
 pro team has a large follow |
 great rivalry exists. Hardly a 1 cturing plant of any size in 1
 hgland does not boast a base l m and it naturally follows that 1 many of the fellow-employes | layers would prefer to watch 8 |
 I battle in which they have a 1 interest rather than go to 8 1 bnal league park and see men | hey do not know pit their i E ainst others in the same class. | #l #lli-professional club has come ] fast clip within the past 1 rs and is now stronger in l