Evening star., 1918-01-27

chise to Sacramento, the Portland ter
ritory was made availab bic for the new
circuit by the elimination of Little
Falls. The revamped organization.
which will ask to be given class A
classification. instead of the class 3
rating the Northwestern League had.
will line up with teams in Portland.
Seattle. Spokane. Butte. Tacoma and
Vancouver.
The transfer of the Portland fran
chise offers illustration of a remarka-
BILE depreciation in the value of base
ball property. Just two years ago
the Portland franchise of the Pacific
Coast League, was offered $15O.O0O for
his base ball holdings. He refused at
the time to sell, and later was unable
to. as no one wanted base ball fran
chise. About a month ago the coast
league met and voted the judge out
Of the league. announcing that Sacra-
mento would pay $4,000 for his fran
chise. This money never materialized.
Recently the Portland jurist received
word from San Francisco that he would
get a pleasant smile and the customary
legal tender of 81 for his franchise,
but would be allowed to keep his play
ers.
Reports that formal protest against
the new plan of dividing the world
series money will be lodged with the
national commission by a committee
with grain of salt. According to the
story, which originated in New York,
many players on clubs having little
prospect of finishing in the first di-
vision being anxious to get share
of the spoils will seek to have the
regulations amended so that all teams
except the tailenders will be declared
in on the divvy. This was provided
for in the original plans of President
Tener of the National League. but Ban
i h
two members of the commission. de-
cided to limit the cut to the first four
teams in each league.
1t is extremely doubtful that there are
themselves for the In-Bad Club that the
leaders of the ill-starred Players Fra
teynity became members of when they
reached the point where they were de-
voting more time and energy to an at
tempt to run base ball than to playing
the game. But the chief reason the
protest is unlikely to materialize is that
to have any weight it must have the
united support of the athletes 1t is
a safe bet that the members of the two
Chicago clubs, Tigers, Indians. Giants
and Cardinals. all of which confidently
are expected to win first division berths,
will show a profound aversion to the
scheme which would reduce the size
Of the pot they expect to whack up.
An example in patriotism that the
major leagues might do well to follow
has been set by the Portland Club of
tthe Eastern League. class B organi-
cation. In sending out its contracts for
next season the Portland club has no.
titled its players that all those who en-
list will receive the difference between
the salaries they would have gotten for
playing ball and their pay from the
government. One player, Billy Tamm,
already has taken advantage of the
offer and has enlisted in the Aviation
Corps. Shortstop Eddie Murphy, who
was with Portland last season. also has
gone into the Army. but will not benefit
under the ruling, as he was recalled by
the st. Louis Browns last fall.
President Tener already has an
nounced that Hank Gowdy's dependents
will be taken care of by the National
League should he be injured or ef-
faced" but with their strong financial
backing the major leagues could well
afford to follow the example Of the
Portland club and make similar pro-
vision for those of their players who
enlist.