New-York tribune., 1918-07-20
Diamond Stars Must Get to
Work" or Shoulder
Gun
BY w. !. Macbeth

professional baseball, which for
more than forty years has ruled the
court of sport loving affection i'll this
great country, was dealt is probable
death blow, for the period ,f the world
war at least, by Secretary OF War New
ton D. Baker at Washington yester-
cay afternoon. -
Secretary Baker, on an appeal taken
to him from a ruling of tn, local Obs
had declared Catcher Eddie Ainsmith,
o. the Senators, engaged in non
essential occupation Chat of playing
baseball), substantiated the first rul-
ing In .erethy opinion handed down
and which will be found elsewhere on
this page, the Secretary IF War held
that not orly Ainsmith but all pro
fcssional baseball players are engaged
in productive and non-essential m
dustries or. labors and that, therefore,
to the whole profession must be ap-
piled the work or fight" mandate of
Provost Marshal General Crowder.
Can Be No Appeal
The ruling of Secretary Baker, from
which no appeal may be taken, means
in word, then, that baseball must
temperamental stars forsake for the
nonce the leather and ask for the
pick, shovel or hammer or plough. In
a word, all of the players between She
ages of twenty-on and thirty-one must
qualify with thirty-six hours labor a
week at some business or labor es-
sential to the winning of the war. The
alternative is the olive drab and rife
for play toy.
There are sixteen major cluos-eight
in each of the National end American.
The rosters Of these c.ubs embrace 318
active athletes. CT the number, 247,
according to Official figures, are amen
able to the "work or fight" mandate.
With comparatively few exceptions, all
sixteen clubs will be completely riddled
as the result of the ruling of the Sec
retary of War. Indeed, the Philadel-
phia National League club stands to
lose all sixteen of the men now on it's
payroll.
When the blow from Washington
struck home none of those employers
or officials most directly concerned Of
the big New York colony happened to
be in town. President Tener of the Ma
tional League was in Cincinnati. Presi-
dent Harry n. Hampstead of the Giants
was in Indianapolis. Colonel Jacob
Rupert president of the Yankees, was
in the Middle West, and Charles Fl. Eb-
bets, president of the Brooklyn Dodg-
ers, was also in the Middle West. In
the absence of these magnates none of
the lesser officials would discuss the
subject for publication.
But from the attitude expressed else
where by the Solons of the game it is
evident that the promoters of organized
baseball are ready to submit gracefully
and patriotically to the authority which
looks upon the national game as non
essential.
All three members of the National
Commission, which is the supreme
court of organized baseball, individu-
ally expressed this striking and edlfy-
ing sentiment. The financial powers of
baseball are prepared to make any sac
rifice which the Administration believes
essential to the successful prosecution
of the war against autocracy and bar
barity.
And it will be financial sacrifice if
the parks must be consigned to the
moth and dust, as seems absolutely
certain at the moment of writing.
There aye in existence at the present
time in the eleven cities which COM
prise the major leagues two circuits
no less than fifteen baseball plants. In
every city but New York each club has
its individual home.
Big Investment Involved
Of the fifteen parks in operation all
save one are most modern and capa-
cious in every respect. Fourteen of
the fifteen are of steel and concrete,
the plant and grounds representing an
initial expenditure of upward of half
million dollars each. With player in
vestments thrown in each major league
club represents at the most conservative
estimate an investment of $1,0O0,OOO.
There seems nothing but the paddock
for the parks. Few major league play
ers but have outlived their usefulness
when they have passed the thirty first
milestones of their lives. 1t is doubt
full if enough of such could be herded
together to outfit one league Of eight
clubs, let alone two. To think Of en-
ploying young players. those under the
age of twenty-one, would be quite as
senseless.
Only players of experience can get
by in the big show And few players
are experienced enough to make even
fair imitation of major league class
at such tender age.
1t would seem, then, that the pro-
moters of organized aseball will soon
have to wind up this business for the
period of the war, at least. Even if
enough oldtimers could be procured
to patch up teams, the public would
not take to such makeshifts readily.
1t regards its baseball religiously. 1t
would suffer no travesty to be made of
the game.
There was talk some little time ago,
before the Secretary of Wars verdict
had been rendered, that in case of an
adverse decision the two major leagues
might be merged into >one circuit of
eight clubs-rival interests syndicated,
ip short. Such a step might make it
possible to recruit enough "has- beens"
to round out the present season, any
way But it is doubtful if such ANAL
gamation would long sustain public
interest.
The very bone and sinew of present
day interest in the national game has
been fostered and fomented by that
innate rivalry between the factions
supporting the respective rival leagues
and by the fervor created through the
annual intermingling of the respective
champions in the October series for
the championship of the world.
The powers of baseball are plainly
nonplussed by this unexpected, ad-
verse decision. They were so secure
in their deductions that the national
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