New Britain herald., 1916-11-28
PHILLIPS OWNER
 RAISES HIS VOICE
Baker Opposed to Spring Inter-
 League Series

tionaI league magnates will advocate month a rule to prohibit inter-league games in major cities prior to the opening of the regularly scheduled seasons. The colleagues of Tener have it in their power to end a prac- tice which is largely blamed for the falling off in early spring interest that
 has been noticeable in the last four or five years.
 William F. Baker, president of the
 Phillies, is one of the stoutest cham pions of this proposed amendment.
 Several days ago, before setting out
 for a vacation in Virginia with Fred Chanler and other influential stock
 holders of the Quakers, Baker went on record in the matter.
 1T am convinced through personal 1 experience in Philadelphia" said hs,
 ''that the game would be benefited if ante-season games were prohibited in 1 all major league cities.
 Did Not Pay.
 Until last year it had been the
  tween the Phillies and Athletics of from seven to nine games. The
 clubs involved considered themselves 1 lucky if they were able to beat the
 weather to half of the contests. These meetings got to be an old story with
 our fans. They did not pay. And 1 they ruined both clubs as attractions
 when the regular seasons opened.
 The result was that outside clubs in
 both circuits suffered in their early visits to Philadelphia.
 "I was responsible for terminating 1 the Athletics -Phillies series. Connie l Mack was piqued at the time. He charged bad faith on my part; inti- mated that as my club held the cham pionship and his was down in the race 1 I declined a meeting in which l had
 nothing to gain and all to lose. He ! pointed out that when conditions had been reversed his champions had alv ways accommodated the Phillies. ] MT Mack was wrong in his surmise, ! I can assure you. But I do not think
 he can deny that we both benefited by not playing the series I know my 1 club did. In spite of the bad weather l our business last spring was the best l in ten years.
 ''Ten years ago the seasons opening in the major leagues was the classic event of baseball It was attended
 with all the picturesque display and 1 enthusiasm of the modern worlds 1 championship series. That 1t has fallen to relatively unimportant in | cident can be charged directly to the l fact that major league cities have been surfeited with baseball before the I regular seasons. If every major l league club was careful not to appear
 at home until the day provided Ry | schedule for the seasons opening it l would not be long before the opening | day games would be quite as impor- 1 tant in public interest as they were l ten years ago."
 1 Gan Kill Practice 1 The National league, of course, has l it in it's power to terminate this ap- l parent evil. By stopping it's members ] from scheduling spring games at home | with rival American league clubs the practice would be killed. There are rules in the big leagues which pre- vent clubs of the same company from l meeting except by the unanimous con- sent of all the club owners. Baker, like most of the other major | magnates, believes that inter-Ieague games Tn the south are DeneHc1al to Y, the early development of the clubs in | fast company. He would prevent such 1 meetings only in major league terri l tory. He believes, however that games between teams of the same l league should not be tolerated. | 'The Cubs lost irreparably in pres 1 tige last spring by playing the cham pion Phillies," he said, Chicago failed to win one game of a long series. Back home the Windy City fans had been led to believe by weeghman and Tinker that they were in line for a National league pennant The city never recovered from this early spring disappointment"
 If the National league favors such
 a rule as Mr. Baker will propose 1t
 may not be made effective until 1918. Already arrangements have been made , for spring series between the Dod-
 gers and Yankees Washington has
 planned to entertain @ numb Der of Ma tional league clubs at the Capital City In any event there will be an unusual number of inter-league spring exhibi- tions, for wherever possible two teams of rival leagues will tour northward in company, playing the most fertile towns in transit.