The Washington herald., 1917-06-07
CALLING OFF SERIES
DISAPPOINTS FANS
Games Attracted Attention of Many
Baseball Bugs.

New York. June 6-The calling on
Of the tnIerleague series between the
clubs Of the American Association and
the International League was a keen
ooiisapPointment to the fans Of botn
The proposed series would be a big
novelty. II would attract the atten-
tlon OF baseball fans all over the coun-
try, and because Of the lo7g-standing g
rivalry between the two big minors,
with the prospect OF seeing 1t threshed
out on the field of play, interest
would have been keyed up to a higher
pitch In both leagues throughout the
regular playing season.
According to President Ed Barrow,
the International League would have
willingly gone through with its agree
ment He declares that the series was
called on at the instigation Of the as
soctation, and this action, he says.
win block negotiations for future se-
rtss OF the kind
That all Of the American AssocIa-
don club owners were in favor of
calling on the interleague games has
been denied by Col Wathen, owner Of
the Louisville club and vice president
OF the league. So II Is apparent that
harmony in association ranks Is not
eomplete. 1t appears that q few Of the
cub owners, who have power with
President Tom Hickey, became highly
alarmed after a few, weeks of bad
weather and prevailed upon him to
take the initiative in calling the
games OF.
President Hickey and George Te-
beau, owner of the Kansas City club.
visited New York prior to the opening
OF their season and made an effort to
have the interleague schedule rear
ranged. They wanted the series start
ed at a later date than that originally
give association clubs the benefit of
some double-header dates. They inti-
mated that they did not have conf
oence In the drawing power OF the In
ternational League cities.
This tnttmatton got under President
Ed Barrow's hide and he refused to
make any radical changes in the
schedule. Thus the bottom began to
1all out Of the proposed feature series
and the biggest minor league attrac-
, ton IN ths history OF the game finally
With war holding the spotlight all
over the world, association magnates
nnaly argued that they did not want
70 take a chance on spelling a good
that Il the series should be played un-
der adverse conditions and fail, future
attempts would be useless. In this
Harrow agreed, but he wanted time to
talk 1t over with his club owners, and
when he found that the association
was set on calling on the series he
knew IL would eventually fall Though.
However, the association called II on
on its own hook end then Barrow and
his leaguers called on all cooperative
relations with the big mid-Western
minor.
It is to be regretted that the series
VIII not be played. It would have fur
nished the fans in the two big minors
With fodder for a year to come, ano
with reasonable success 1t would have
been a good thing for the game. Big
league club owners were among those
who regretted its cancellation. They
wanted to see the plan tried out. for,
as Gary Hermann has admitted,
there Is a possibility that the major
league may adopt some new plan to
take the place OF the worlds series in
seasons to come, and this sort Of a
series has been considered.