New Britain herald., 1918-02-05
HOLDOUT EPLDEMIG
 IN MAJOR LEAGUES
Many Players Resent Action, Of
 MaSnatGS and Refuse to Sign

New York, Feb. 5.-When the club owners of the major leagues decided to cut salaries this year they argued that because of the war conditions and because of the big supply of available minor league players the holdout would be a thing of the past. The baseball players have taken the salary cuts in just the opposite way, and from indications there are going to be just as many holdouts as ever this spring and perhaps more.
 It cost President Wecghman just 5000 in cold cash last week to soothe the dissatisfied Alexander who, in ad- dition to this bonus, has salary of $12,000 year Al MamauX already refuses to play with Brooklyn unless he gets more money. Jack smith and Rogers Hornsby arc holding up Pres ident Branch Hickey, of St Louis, for more money, and Erskine Mayer, of the Phillies, refuses to accept the cut in salary which he has received. These are only a few of the hoIdouts who have already bObbed up to add 70 the club owners worries.
 Except for a few of the prosperous clubs there was a general reduction i'm salaries throughout both leagues While some of the club owners an- nounccd that the salary reductions would be small, nevertheless the tar dincss Of the return of signed con- tracts shows that there are going to be many more balky ball players this 1 spring than tl2e club owners bar i gained for.
 The Giants. the Chicago White Sox, ! the Cubs and the Boston Red Sox have i not adopted any wholesale plan of re- | ducing salaries; in fact, some of the 1 players on these clubs have had an ! increase for their good work last sea- son. The other clubs, however, are not in a position to boost salaries and ! they have been forced to retrench.
 A few of the Brooklyn players have signed, and there are a, few instances l throughout both leagues where play
 CTS are bound by contracts holding over from last year. The Yankees l sent out their contracts several weeks ago, but none of the regulars have
 yet signed, and Manager Miller Hug gins will commence this WeeH to ! round up his players and find out why ! the contracts have not been coming in.
 The major league players figure that they can hold out for more sal
 ary or at least hold out on a demand /! to get as much as last season, because | they believe that the major leagues 1 will need every one of their regulars
 who are not taken by the draft in or
 der to keep up the high standard of 1 play Last season someone in author-1 ity passed the word among the ball. | players not to enlist, and to wait un l til they were called. This impressed the players with their importance, and, 1 made them realize that the club own 4 CTS were anxious to keep them.
 The major league players do not1 take much stock in the talk cs theg club owners that they can sign all tho| minor league players they want. If al few of the clubs are able to retatrn most of their regular players the other
 clubs cannot afford to let their players | go and substitute for them minor league players and still hope to keep 1 up any sort of a pace in the lSagu1I ] races If one club is willing to payl !, the players the salaries they received last season, other clubs will be forced to keep their best players to make thei competition keen. The players realze1 that baseball fans do not want to ga
 to see a game between clubs whicfy are not evenly matched. And it i
 certain that a major league club with} a mum Der of minor leaguers in th1 1 ranks could not hope to compete Hpith clubs like the Giants and the Chicagd ] White Sox, who, from present indical | tions, will be just as strong as last season. There are no holdouts on these two clubs, for the signed con tracts have been coming in to the 1 headquarters of both of last year $ pennant- winners without interruption