Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1918-04-13
ALEXANDER THE GREAT
NAMED IN DRAFT QUOTA
Charlie Weeghman, the Sport Loses
$4,000 Bet With Selective
Service Act.

The test Of the sport IS III the losing,
and Charlie Nccghman, the mIlionalrc
Chicago baker, who broke into baseball
VIA the Federal League, andWho. rs owner
Of the Chicago Cubs. hashcd IN sport
dom calcium most Of the winter as the
hero with the flowing bankroll, Is now
getting his test. Grover Alexander the
Great, for whom he paid S50,0W % the
Phillics, was Yesterday placardcd as one
OF the L. members Of the next draft
quota of Howard county Nebraska, IN
which Is located AlCCk home town, IT.
Paul
The dozen are booked for transfcrcncc
to Camp Funston during the tINc days
beginning April I'll. which means that ln
about tWo weeks the career ot the great
est living baseball pitcher Will terminate
temporarily. at least
The carhness ot AleCk call was 4
blow to the baseball world particularly
10 the Cubs, oNncr, manager. PLAYERS and
fans ndcr the quc~tionnaTc Alcck was
tlcketed IN Glass =, hut the expectation
was that he would not he called until
midsummer Or later The dispatch an
nouncing has selection III the nest quota
spread across the country from ~t Paul.
Il caGnc'to AIcch. with the abs at t,uth-
nc. Oklahoma. lie sand be- had NO
knowledge of the call. but tins is prob
ably only because the telegraph can beat
the mails Oh long-dl>fancc service
Locally the event tends 10 lI~tlfv tho
judgment of President Baker oi the Pint
lies, for making the deal for which he
was 80 generally ccn~urcd financially
the local National League Cub Is ahead
the $4,000 paid il by NccGhman and
even the most rabId AlcNandrIan must
admit for the interest d the Phiis q
Prendergast IN the box i worth TWO
Alcxandcrs in tie army.
Baker and Neeghman each took d
chance Baker won Ncc-hman lost
The news hat Necghln4u rl-uJ between
the eyes, according u dispatches from
Chicago.
What's that, Read il again" cN-
claimed WecEhma when the dispatch ad-
viSlng OF Alexander : call was read over
the telephone.
CUBs LOSE $4,000
THAT certainly Is a wallop 4 serious
shock for the Chicago club. NeeghInan
said. II means that We shall lose $4,000.
There wa@ ii stipulation IN the deal Wlth
the Philadelphia CInb hal ii either Alex
andcr or killifer was called INTO fbe
army 80 DAYS before the opening of ID"
season the deal would be called of hat
time of course ha, passed
While we are sOrTy 10 lose hllu e>pc-
clally Al tins TIME We are glad 10 help
the government IN any way and OF
course will do nothing 10 obtain hIs re-
lease
Weeghman later admitted for the first
time that Alexander had been paid i
s. 600 bonus for Joining the Cubs TIN,
season He had been considered q hold
out, as he had demanded part OF hls
purchase price from the Philadelphia
club. " eeghman gave him $1,000 70 sat
lsfv him
Alexander is the first baseball star Of
magnitude "a be called to the colors
Alexander probably will be able 70
pitch two or three games for Chicago. az
the season opens 10 DAYS before the time
he must report at Camp Funston. Man
ager Mitchell had already selected hun to
pitch the opening game Of the year when
Chicago opposes 81 Louis on April Is
Weeghuan lost ever way Had Alcck
been called 70 the colors before March -
the deal would have been off and the
purchase price returned ~ the Chicago
president by the Phllics
The only thing thar would bring
Weeghman out ahead would be the early
termination of the war II the conflict
runs Oh and on and the renowned Alcck
sees foreign service, tho effect on hi-
pitching ability Is likely a. bc dcyas-
tating
That is Why those gaInes Alcck PITCHES
will have u peculiarly tragic note IN them.
drobably the last great performances Of