Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1918-09-22
WAR WILL DEVELOP
| BASE BALL STARS
Good Players to Be Plentiful
When Leagues Again Open.
Benny Leonard Lucky.
RACEGOERS HERE PERK UP
BY DENMAN THOMPSON.

Whether the present generation of
base ball stars has bid adieu to the
diamond is a mooted question. 1t is
contended in some quarters that un-
less the war ends suddenly permitting
the operation of the leagues in full
force next season, not one in ten OF
the athletes now recognized as top
notcherS in the game ever will be seen
in major league uniform again. On
the other hand. there are those who
argue that if the suspension lasts but
one year the playing personnel VIII De
but little disturbed and thai large
percentage OF the present day head
liners will be available. There is one
point on which all observers agree.
however, that regardless of the length
of the period of inactivity the days
of long-term contracts and salaries
inflated beyond all proportion to serv-
ice rendered have gone, never to re-
turn
By the time eventualities allow OF
the publication of box scores without
the necessity for curtailing space be-
cause of casualty lists some few or
the players who saw service at the
front will be dead or incapacitated
for diamond duty, but by tar the
greater number of players, being men
of family. will have taken up essen
tial employment. But small per-
centage of these will drop out of base
up -'-"''" the bulk of them Will not
Be affected by a years layon, as their
l,su.al Woo. cohiDiied Win sa.ua
day, Sunday and twilight ball games
throughout the summer, will keep
them in condition. To these will De
added the new players sure to be de-
veloped in the shipyards and munitions
plants and in. the semi-pro and anna
teur ranks And with the reforms IN
evitable in the business adminlstra,
ton of the sport professional base oaii
will return upon more stable founoa-
ton, better and stronger than ever.
Good Players to Be Plentiful.
But regardless of whether the
Cobbs, Johnsons, Speakers and CHAP
mans ever again don the spangles
playing material when the national
pastime shall again come into It's
own The extent to which the game
is being played by the armed forces
of the United States assures this The
question of where skilled players are
to be found if the war drags on in
definitely is answered thus: In the
ranks of the Army. The big leaguers
who have gone to France will come
back in better shape physically than
ever before If they escape the casualty
lists. and it now is well recognized
fact that remarkable number of
good players are being developed in
the games played in the rest periods
back of the lines on the western front
among youngsters who. before they
Joined the colors. gave little thought
to their physical condition and never
realized it was possible for them to
become highly skilled performers.
Connie Mack, field director of the
Philadelphia Athletics and one of the
most astute men in base ball. shares
the views of Clark Griffith and nearly
all magnates and students OF the
game that the dark clouds of gloom
and depression now lowering over the
sport are silver lined. He believes
no permanent i'll effect will follow the
suspension of base ball. that there
will be no rupture of friendly rela-
lions between the major circuits and
thai there is no good reason for APP
prehension regarding internal affairs
of the American League. Although
he readily admits that some of the
magnates will be hard hit by the en-.
forced idleneSS. he believes it Will
prove a blessing in disguise as it will
give them a needed opportunity TO
formulate regulations calculated to
put the game on 4 better business
basis and restore the stars to the level
of the players of lesser magnitude.
The day of big salaries is doomed. ac-
cording to the tall tactician. who
adds it is likely. before the game is
resumed. that an ironclad agreement
will be reached among the magnates
not to pay any performer. no mat
tar what his prowess on the diamond,
more than s. 900 a year.
NO ball player who ever lived is
worth more than that amount for
a seasons work" Mack opines. en-
flated salaries have done more to hurt
the game than anything else. There is
no work in the world where man
receives greater compensation for
less effort than he does in base ball,
but the end has come. I have con-
tended for years that $4,000 for six
months play should be top money.
and this proposition will be put up to
the clubs when the next meeting of
the league is held