The Waxahachie daily light. [volume] (Waxahachie, Tex.) 1894-current, 1917-02-13
NO Base BALL UNLESS
PEACE IS DECLARED
MAJOR LEAGUES LIKELY TO RE-
MAIN IDLE WITH WAR DE-
CLARED OR THREATENED.
BY JOE S. JACKSON.

By JOE -. JAJkSON.
Just as soon as the present crisis
in international affairs suggested
possible war, its probable effect on
baseball became a fruit
full subject for discussion, both BY
those who conduct the sport, and By
those who pay for it. And, as seems
in these degenerate days,
the talk IL all of money rather than
of men - the certainty, that sal
aries will be further cut in
the cases Of those players who have
baked on acceptance OF terms al
ready offered, and the possibility
that baseball lovers. too busily en-
gagged elsewhere, will forsake the
sport and make suspension a neees-
sity.
There is another angle 10 this,
however, and that is the possible
loss of men. rather than money.
England has given freely of her golf
ers, her foot ball men. her cricket
ers, her tennis players and her pugil-
lists. So also, in lesser number, have
France, Australia and Canada, whose
hockey ranks, in addition, have been
sadly depleted. The same is true of
the central powers, though less is
heard of their losses of athletes, be-
cause their sports are not the same
as ours. as a general thing, and We
know less of their exemplars. A
name that may mean much In Ger
many. in spirit, may mean nothing
here.
Majors Have 500 EligibIes.
On the reserve list of the two ma
jor league clubs there are $50 names.
Some OF the men have been sent to
minor clubs since the roster was
complied, early in the winter, but
there have been additions that par
TALLY make up for these. At the
present time there are, In round
numbers, 500 men whom it is pro-
posed to take south in the spring.
4 very large percentage of these ath-
letes range in age from 90 to 30
years Less than 10 per cent OF them
are above the figure last named
They are Just at that stage of life
when men can most easily with
stand the hardships of campaigning
ard can most quickly be taught the
duties Of soldering.
Possibly not a large number OF
these would volunteer. In case of
war, Bat some would, and not all
would come back. The Michigan
troops that went to the Mexican Dor
der lost few OF their men, though
they never did any actual fighting.
II 1t came TO a pinch and Uncle Sam
should be forced to name the men
who must go to the front, the bail
players, because of their youth and
physical fitness, necessarily would be
in the first draft. And even were
baseball in full swing they would not
escape. Uncle Sam does not recog-
nize either the National commission
or the Players Fraternity. A base
bali contract to him would be a
scrap of paper.
Have Good Team Ready.
Save for the fact that it must earn
enough money to pay. besides oper-
ating expenses, at home and abroad.
approximately $7o.ooo in salaries to
the is men already under under con-
tract, or as good as signed, the De-
troit club has no cause to fear that
the present furry may interfere
with its plans. Sixteen men are
known to be under contract, their
names having been announced. In
addition, 1t Is understood Ehmke's
contract. signed when he reported In
the fall, also covered 1917. Heilman
has announced that he will be at the
training camp in advance of the
Tigers. So he can be counted on the
list.
When Detroit was in the thick of
the pennant fight last fall Jennings
was carrying but 2i men. He could
have gotten along with two less. as
he had four catehers, one more than
he needed at any time. and could
have dispensed with Fuller. using
Burns as utility second baseman on
the few occasions that an infield
shift was necessary. The present
roster would not win a flag. but 1t
would make fight for the first al
vision. lining up as follows; Catch