The Washington herald., 1917-10-24
MAJORS CONSIDERING
IMPORTANT CHANGES
Shorter Season. New Players Sal
aies and Limit May Be De-
cided Upon.

New York, Oct. 23.-Baseball men
already are wondering what the
status Of major league baseball Will
be next summer IL the war Is not
ended before that time The outlook
Is dubious. although Ii Is the senti-
ment of high officials in Washing
ton that the continuance of the ma
tional game shold be encouraged.
It Is almost certain that many of
the minor leagues will not risk an
other season under the conditions
that existed last season II the war
Is undecided next summer II Is also
certain that there viii be some
important changes among which
may be a shorter major league sea-
son and no worlds series.
Before It Is time to think abont
baseball again, another draf- Will
have been put into operation, which
is certain to draw more players
from the game than the first draft.
In the meantime many players also
will enlist in the service and will
not be available next summer. With
lists of casualties prominently be-
fore the public the interest in the
game Is sure to suffer. Also, next
summer the taxes on baseball admis-
sions will be in operation and this
will be another drawback to the
game. Investment in liberty bonds
and the high cost of living will tend
to make baseball fans more econom-
ical about their amusements, and
the major league races will not at
tract the interest that they have In
the past
1t would not be surprising IL both
major leagues at the annual meet
ing next month should decide on a
140-game program. This would start
the season later in April and bring
the finish along toward the end or
September. BY this arrangement
some OF the club owners figure they
will be able to cut down running ex-
penses considerably, as a month can
be clipped on the players contracts.
A change of this sort Is sure to
bring a storm Of protests from the
players, but many of them will con-
slider themselves lucky next year II
they play at all. 1t is not likely that
the two major leagues will do any
thing definite about next years plans
until next spring, because much de-
pends on the development of the war.
The player limit also is sure to get
d1Oluer DlE CUT anu II Ine IudJOT
league clubs play next season it is
likely that the roster will be limited
to about eighteen players Condi-
tions will be such that the prosper
Gus days OF the ball players will have
to be curbed until the war is over.
The few players who have contracts
for a term OF years consider them
selves fortunate, and next season
there will be less OF these than ever
before.
There Is sure to be some opposition
from some Of the club owners on the
question Of shortening the season.
Schedules Of 40 games have been
tried by the National League in the
past, but the 154-game program was
found to be more profitable. When
the National League was made up of
twelve clubs the schedule included
only 132 games II the short war
time schedule Is adopted the season
will begin about the last week IN
April, and will be finished before the
end of September. This will insure
better conditions for a world series,
II that event Is played.
The leagues probably will wait un-
til next spring before they decide
about another world series, because
by that time the clubs may be so
badly on through enlistments that the
big classic will have to be laid on
the shelf for a while. Economy will
be the watchword with both club
owner and fan, so the prosperity Of
the game Is sure to be affected.