New Britain herald. [microfilm reel] (New Britain, Conn.) 1890-1976, 1917-11-21
CALAMITY HOWLERS
HURTING BASEBALL
Tales Of Great Losses in Majors
Last Season Exaggerated


is suffering from calamity howlers is
! rapidly dawning on wide awake base
hlal men. Garry Hermann, chairman
of the National Commission, and
Charley Somiskey, owner of the
worlds champion White Sox. have
,, both recently broken into print with
remarks which are not bene6ting
baseball any.
In addressing the minor leaguers at
the Louisville convention Hermann.
probably anxious to give a display of
sympathy for the downtrodden little
fellows remarked the big leagues also
, were having a most difficult row to
hoe and that it would be necessary to
adopt strong retrenchments to wealth
er another war season. A few days
later Comiskey said he would favor a
suggestion 10 pool receipts and play
ers in order to enable the big leagues
to play up to their old standards.
In discussing these interviews To-
cal baseball man, high up in the cir
c'cs OF the major leagues, who asked
20 have his name withheld, pointed
out the futility of such utterances.
"Hcrrmanns remarks especially
were greatly overdrawn,' said this Of
fetal. Judging from some of the
stuff recently seen in the papers one
would imagine that the two leagues
just went through one of their worst
years. That Is not the case. The at
tendance was not as good as In 1915,
a record year, but everything con-
sidered it was better than was antici-
pated.
Interest Keener Than Ever.
There is no denying that baseball
interest in the minors is dwindling.
This has been brought about by q va
riety of causes. some which the minors
might have avoided and others Of
which they were the unfortunate vic
TINS. The two year strife with the
Federal League left them in q bad
way, and pust as they saw a little sun
shine ahead the country became in
volved in the great world war.
But interest in big league baseball
IS keener than ever before. There can
be no better proof of this than the
widespread interest in the last world S
series, as indicated by the reports of
the country's biggest news agency. No
Sunday worlds series games were
played between 1910 and 1917, but de-
spite the war the demand for special
Sunday day service on the worlds Sc
ries last fall was twice as great as in
1910. So
you hear talk of a falling off In
interest in the worlds series games
during the last ten years. Five games
in 1907 between the Cubs and Detroit
Tigers drew 7s,O6s people and $1O1.-
! 1880 while six games in 1917 be-
tween the Giants and the White Sox
drew 1885 people and $426, 2O9.5O.
AS matter of fact the six games last
fall were played to more money than
any six games in baseball history.
Losses Greatly Exaggerated.
The stories of losses in baseball
last season also are greatly exaggerat-
ed. The percentage of clubs losing
money was no higher than in former
years. The Giants and White Sox
again made handsome profits. Cleve-
land had only one better season than
last. its banner year was 1915. Tho
Phillies and Detroit again had most
profitable seasons, the Tigers breaking
day Of the season
Both the st. Louis Cardinals and
Cincinnati Reds had their best sea-
sons financially in a long time. De-
spite reports to the contrary, the Yam
KEGS did not lose money, but were
i able to show a small profit at the end
of the season. The Red Sox made a
little money, and though Connie Mack
again finished behind, he had his best
season since dism antling his old team.
His expenses were low, and he came
close to an even break. Washington
was supposed to have lost money, but
Griffith said the club broke even
1.-The teams which lost the heaviest
on the year were the four second d.
vision clubs In the National League
! C,,n
| and the st. Louis Browns in the Amer
| inan ~