Tulsa daily world. [volume] (Tulsa, Indian Territory [Okla.]) 1905-1919, 1917-07-22
BASEBALL RULE
CHANGES URGED
Sanborn Says Time Ripe to
Improve Methods Of Re-
cording Players.
PRESENT PLAN IS OBSOLETE
War VIII Cause Conditions
During Which System Could
Easily Be Reformed.
uv l. r. sANBORN)

| (Hy !. T.. SANBORND
That some radical revision OF the
method Of recording a baseball play
er's value to his team IS necessary Is
generally admitted. but action to that
! end has been halted by two consld-
erations.
For a time the games prosperity
was so great-its promoters were loath
! 10 discuss any change for supersti-
tious reasons, just as manager VIII
not switch a teams lineup during n
winning streak If he can help IT. Then
came the uncertainty as TO baseballs
future under war conditions.
! So far all Indications are that the
war will remove most OF basebaIIs
former prosperity. but will not elimi-
nate the sport entirely, at least so far
ns the major leagues are concerned.
Their continued existence In some
form or other seems assured. no mat
ter If all the ball players OF eligible
years are aventually drafted for serv-
ice in the army. There are enough OF
them In the country over 80 years old
to man the major league teams and
they might play better ball than some
of the youngsters that have supplanted
them.
]
In the radical evolutions thru
which the nations pastime Is bound
TO pass during the next year or two
] there ought TO be chance to reform
the system OF records without doing
anybody much injustice. Some years
ago way was found to replace the
archaic system Of ranking pitchers ac-
cOrding to the games won and lost by
D a.. - Ina
irrespective of whether ~uns or n
dozen runs were made G. them. A
"vlctory" by a score of\I3 to IL
| boosted a pitchers average just as
much MS to 0 performance. OBJ
lection was made to the new pitchers
records on the ground that they
worked an Injustice TO the veterans
then In service on the slab who might
! beat Cy Young's record OF cumulative
victories" II they lasted long enough.
In the same way objection is now
/ made to all suggestions OF revising the
batting records because, II is said. IL
would work an injustice to the play
ers now In the game by destroying the
chance for comparing their work with
that of previous heroes of the sport.
| Inasmuch as the batting records never
have shown the real value of n player.
the argument is weak. But IL will no
/ longer have any force nj All II the war
| breaks up the ranks of the PLAYERS az
much as IL is expected to. The stand
ard OF the game will be changed so
much that comparative records will be
| more Valueless than they are now.
] Comn,rison q, JoLc C,o, No,,
/ '''' "'"c ''c" No"'
rot i"stth'e' II II JOKE 10 compare
the dovs when bo,srron couId oati
! for a bIah ~. lou, h,it ,,.h,a,,a, -
could bit ,ho ba,, 81 ~ -.
| 10 de,ivnr e,cb -, hau -, ~ ,,,,t-s
! or again T., 10 ,oi,o =, o".,S''.
nresant baso rurr,ro ,,o,,.oo l,'i.N,
/ those of ,bo d,,,s ,,,ha, ,te -. 49, 80
mi.ed crcdi,,n% 1850, ,,,i., -,
wbcnoyo, 49, -, s,,','e w" % %steai
on nm ,nf,oId nIo,, or aa,.a., >. nm
fv catch There oro oii Ltnds -, =,
constituencies in comnoring lhoseb,i,
records Of tbIe century ond Ias, 80
WHY not wine tho sIo,o clson ga -,
! n new ono during ,ho r.ars
| Tho nreeort rocor1 -, ,.,-
work is bnsod soIeIv on Tho ,,,,,,har
safe hI,s no malos ,rrasno,,,'.a ~ va
! length of tho hi,s 90 -, - y. 'Ie
manufacturinp rurs 7, ha '.i
n han game tbo, u.o,,ia - ~ W
Tba, 10 I, ,ha zoo ~, on 'sh''
greater nnmhsr ~ 80" NJ, maui .ne
waa decIoraJ ,,i,, ~ same
tho present svs,o,, ~, ,ia' sanIe'
bic I'm, r,,rs 49, 'e
games and Tho ,,a,, ~.n oal'
bIs ,oa -, -, Nv 'ai"e oi payer 10
/ -, 80 y" "O ""scu On ms seu-