Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1918-12-24
PLAYER LIMIT
CAUSES WORRY
Whole Bunch of Athletes Will
Be Ticketed For Minor
Leagues

A twenty-one-p player limit, as re-
Gently adopted by the American
League. means a lot of work and
worry for the managerial gents of
the junior circuit between the present
and the start of the 1919 flag race.
Pruning a big league roster may seem
q simple thing. but it's not. and figures
prove 1t. On the reserve list of Ban
Johnson's league there are 260 names.
The new law allows 16S names, eX-
elusive of bench managers, and as
there will be two of the latter, 1t
means that approximately ninety ath-
letes will be ticketed back/to the
minors.
What is going to save some of the
managers-not to mention the players
is the little clause about men in SER
vice being carried on the inactive re-
| serve list until thirty days after their
tdIscharSe by Uncle sam. Many of the
men, however, will be ready long be-
fore the season opens. and few will
be left in service along about next
July, so sooner or later the pilots will
go through the trimming ordeal down
to the last man.
Red SOx Have Big List
For cutting possibilities the Boston
| Red Sox offer an unique situation.
President Harry Frazee has under
| reserve the nucleus of two pennant-
winning teams. Probably never in the
history of baseball has one club boast
| ed such a collection of talent.
1t might be well to mention. right
here that the gents who eventually
| buy the Red Sox will realize some
| thing better than 100000 from the
| sale of players. OF course, Frazee
may dispose of some of these athletes
before he let's loose of his ball club
in which event he will have to be
| termed a smart guy"
| Frazee finds himself with this re-
markable string of talent because he
| was quick enough to land on the
| golden opportunity Just year ago
Connie Mack publicly announced to
| his fellow magnates that Joe" Bush
| Amos Strunk, "Wallie" Schang and
J "Stuffy" McInnis were on the market
4 Some of the club owners wanted the
men, but preferred to think 1t over
Meanwhile Frazee sailed in, closed the
| deal and in the twinkle of an eye
made for himself pennant winner
out of team previously wrecked by
| enlistments.
The slicing of teams is a help and
not a hindrance to the successful con-
| duct of baseball. There never have
been enough men of the big league
caliber to fill every position on the
| sixteen major league clubs. Once in q
while one team will become top heavy
with first string men and other clubs
will be lacking in all but few posi-
| tions Thus under low player limit
| the material is better scattered and to
even up the strength of the respective
| contenders assures hotter race and
increased attendance.
| There is another angle to consider
| Certain managers have failing for
! attempting every conceivable combi-
| nation in an effort to win a game
| slim" Callahan and Fielder Jones
Jones were terrible offenders in this
respect. Neither would hesitate to
| exhaust a string of twenty-five play
| ers i'm a single game. Such methods
confuse the fans. cheaper the game
and make life miserable for the
| scrihes who have to keep the figures
! With the rosters cut down we don
/ have to read box scores that look like
a league roster instead of a team
| lineup.
Sales to he Brisk
| The cutting down process is golne
| to bring on a lot of sales and trades
Some of these may come off shortly
but in many cases the clubs will pre-
! fer to wait until later in the winter
as by that time It will be possible fol-
| them to get definite idea n to which
men will be released from Uncle sam 5
services.
The New York club furnishes an eX-
/ ample of what must take place. There
are fifty Yankees under reserve and
Of the men in service all but couple
are on this side of the pond. The REQ
Sox have forty-three on the reseve
list. The White Sox string embraces
forty-seven names.