New-York tribune., 1918-12-21

rcfp Y =
snorts, is in line for tremendous be
- be ;roned out, including necessar
.mbraces the proposed shorter schet
won't should he Of vital interest bee
award attracting the customary "h,
The majority Of major league club'
.wrers are satisfied that the plan
.,asr which the worlds series of 1918
.ss conducted was one gigantic failure.
,nased. II almost resulted in the ruina-
.;on of the game for wears to come.
rbs delay in the last game of the clas-
., occasioned by the threatened strike
= the Red Sc and Cubs injured the
,r+ In any city but Boston it prob
W., would have occasioned riot and
sssrsce ss'. that might have taken years to
use uss dawn. But the fault is not laid en-
s,sly At the door Of the players.
"IrSdsed. the part which the National
omission played in the preliminaries
,..S;ns up to the ultimatum from the
IDS series participants forms one of
na chief counts of indictment against
~ existing supreme government of or
s,n;sed baseball This is one of many
sss,,ar ssa.ons whv the National League has
..lsSved itself to stand against the re-
,Isction of Chairman August Hermann.
Pool Became Too Big
Rscause it was believed the players
,.St had reached an amount which
.srsstened the sporting incentive of
IA annual classic. e., held out temp
,as;ons for rival players to pair and
sooi mutual interests-the commission
.st spring changed its rules for the
sstribution of the pot 1t voted fixed
INNS for each participant-$2,0 900 for
sscb member of the winning team and
!, aal for each loser. The other three
s,st division clubs of each league were
n share on a sliding scale basis accord
M 10 final team standings.
Shortly before the 1918 worlds series
seran the commission decided to cut
n two the customary prices of admis-
sion to the big show. This was done
vthout consulting the players. When
Tho big show started and it was seen
the customary interest was lacking
sven at reduced prices the commission
realized it would not be able to make
GOOD the guarantee to the contestants
and have anything left for the other
irst division clubs. That was the
cause of the threatened strike.
But meanwhile the plan to have more
than the contestants share IN the
spoils had worked out very badly. The
failure of Cleveland to keep its sched-
ule at St. Louis Labor Day might have
resulted in a serious scandal, as the
race for first place positions was eX-
, tremely close. Players with clubs out
Of the fight for first division berths
protected themselves by seeking i'm
mediate useful" employment.
The majority of major league. club
owners believe it great mistake to
conduct the worlds series under last
years plan. They will point out at the
joint meeting that the 1918 attraction
was cheapened by the reduction OF
prices, maintaining that the public is
pleased to pay higher rates for high
class entertainment. And they will
attempt to show that none but the par
ticipants are entitled to a share of the
pool The idea that "to the victor be
longs the spoils' will be applied II
1919, if the radicals have their way
Frazee With Radicals
One of the radicals, of course, is
Harry H. Frazee, who so far has
resisted all the dynamite planted by
Ban Johnson to knock him sky-hlgh
from the Boston franchise; lFrazee
will propose to have the whole pot
awarded to the winning club. The
worlds champion players would take
all the players pool; the owner Of the
worlds champions all the money now
divided evenly betyeen the two.
Il will submit this proposal" says
fraEee, mot because ! figure | hav'
stranglc hold on next years pennant
or next years worlds championship
But believe it would tend to place the
game on higher plane of sportsman
snip In the estimation of the public
Certainly it would be a tremendous
sporting proposition.
For the last number of years tho
4 american League has been fortunate
enough to win most of the worlds
| .aampionships. But it does not follow
| ssh ,aat this will continue indefinitely. The
ua1'ie between the Cubs and Red So,
sas 50 close shat one error might have
%'ied the beans for u.s.
| AZ least" Frazee concluded 8"
! nlnS the club owners should share ne
mOre nor less generously than thu
.,aps involved. If we go back to tht
MY system Of dividing the players
SOOl sixty per cent to the winner an'
aul'y per cent to the loser the clul
swaers ss., should divide along the sam,
t.ao' Personally | think the WHINE
w - ar idea a corker and worthy ;
ht1ere seems to be lull in tn,
gp.ue Of words between Frazee an'
s MI johnson. Ban has not yet an
ss ssfed Harry's broadside of severa
4 ssss ago. Whether the hull is simpl.
vie TG calm before the storm time alon
Ii. ,n prove. But about the time Fraze
W.. W.. oack things were coming Ban
,s.narlses A. Comiskey followed tn
1 tt.saes t,ians lead with a stunner for his OIL
1 s'nau 'sao. he ridiculed Johnson 70
4 shns.,aihg out Frazee as the target o
bssss.l1er base Tor existing gambling evils j
| sSss sSSssoail and intimated very pointedl
1 ts~n.h ~' ne would not stand for any at
| thaps thu to railroad" the president o
] that M nee rec Sox Commy also intimate
ss nSs..aere mere was more pressing needs TO
| ou.s.a ou.'ss..aigatlon of scandal in othe
| h. sa OF the American League an