Honolulu star-bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1912-2010, 1916-11-23
Starl6lgI!s!!gJtii!ll}S{ s.! P as. Sport
ON THE BASEBALL SITUATION.

Editor Honolulu Star.Bulletin
Sir. In the issue Of your paper on
November %. an article has taken oc-
casion to put the Pacific, the Oahu
League and myself. and baseball in
general here. in a false and mislead-
ing light So far as il concerns me,
or the park in which | am interested,
! ask the privilege OF correcting some
Of the statements
To begin at the beginning, your pa.
per states that | was quietly dropped
as manager OF the Pacific League soon
after tbat organization came into be-
ing This is quite untrue, as / never
had anything 10 do with the Pacific
I.eague-if I may call group of gem
tlemen who fOreEather around
lunch table a league i
The article discusses the rise. and
what your writer would have us TO
understand. the fall of the junior
league He states that when the
Santa Clara series was PLAYED, word
was passed around that the young
Dlayers could have an opportunity TO
show the fans what kind of ball they
'--fII3l bldN bliJ at TIC luol lHOllitlb
they were dropped.
For this. he seems 10 blame me. At
that time ] was vice-uresident of the
mark. manager of the Oahu League and
the juniors, but | had no vote in set
tling the program Of either of the
said leagues. being subject to the de-
cieions of the boards Of directors
As a great many ball fans will re.
member, the juniors did not partici-
pate in the Santa Clara series. As.
vour writer should remember, but
from his article apparently does not,
the reason the juniors did not play
was due to a decision of the directors
CT the Oahu Baseball League-a deci-
sion which opposed as long as |
could. Personally | wanted to see the
juniors play, (it was at nv sugges-
ton that they play the preliminary,
as ] was one of the leading spirits in
getting them ORGANIZED as an amateur
organization. Mr. Soper and Mr. w
T. Rawlins of the A. A. u will con-
cur in this statement. BY reason of
the work did for that organization,
a number Of players who were class
ed as professionals were returned to
the status of amateurs.
The opportunities in Honolulu for
baseball are so great, the interest in it
so apparent, and the work done by en-
thusiasts for the game so worthy OF
praise, that it seems to me strikingly
unfair and sportsmanlike for your
paper to go out of its way to misrep-
resent the baseball situation here.
Your writer is familiar with the facts,
as he has been taken fully into the
confidence of the league in the discus
sion Of its plans.
| do not wish to accuse your sport
ing editor of an unwarranted and sell
fish ambition of getting baseball play
ers into his own camp, that is, the
camp Of the Pacific League, and elm
mate several gentlemen who have
been actively working for the upbuild
of the sport here. But his article in |
the issue mentioned looks undeniably |
suspicious. E.~
Let us close this letter with short |
reference to the game at the Athletic |
Park on Sunday, the 18th inst. On |
Thursday, the 9Th inst, | was notified |
by Mr. Fl. f. Hushaw, one Of the so |
called" directors of the Pacific League,
that they could not schedule a ball |
game on Sunday, and suggested that |
the park be turned over to the Japa-
nese bicycle men. AS we had the All |
Stars en- route here, the local teams |
wanted to practise, and so | decided |
that this plan was inadvisable and |
made an effort to schedule a game for |
Sunday ! succeeded in getting the !
25th Infantry and Travelling Chinese
lined up for game by Friday morn
ing Then / notified Mr.. Merrick,
your sporting editor that this game
would be played on Sunday and he APP
proved the card, but the announce
ment was not published. And half an
hour after spoke to Mr. Merrick over
the phone, Mr. Samuel Mott rang me
up and said that there would be no
such game unless the Pacific. League
got 20 per cent of the net receipts. |
told him | could not very well con-
sent to that, as | had made other ar
Mr.. Mott added that he
had the park and was going to SEIZED
ule two Pacific League games instead. /
We finally compromised that the Pa
cifc League should not get anything
from the gate, but should be allowed i
to play the preliminary game, the ex
pense of the game to be borne by the H
park The players showed up for the
game Sunday and everything went
along well until your representative
went down to the Chinese and told
them that the Pacific League was run,
ming the game and could take any
thing it wanted to take out of the
gate receipts. The Chinese thereupon
refused to play They came to me
and wanted to know who was running II
the game and ! told them that the
park was and that the Pacific League
lad nothing whatever to do with it,