New Britain herald., 1919-10-23
MINORS ARE AIDED
 BY BYDRAFTEXEMPT
|So Says Dave FultZ, Head Of h.
 ternatiOnal League

Il " IhS hiillli leagues, pailiCu- Slarly leagues of higher classi- hcation, and there is no Likelihood ot j the minor leagues again entering into an agreement with the majors by which the baseball drafts will be re- l $sumed. So said Dave Fultz yesterday < in discussing the minor league situa- uon. Fultz is president of the New international league and member of the national board, the executive body z of the minors
 Fultz will represent his league at the < minor league conference which has been called for Springfield, Mass, on November Il. While Fultz declined I ito predict any legislation which might be transacted at the annual meeting of the minor leagues. he said the meet ing would be one of the most import ant ever held by the National Associa- ton of Minor Leagues. It will be the first session of the minors since the abrogation of the old national agree ment.
 II can, of course, speak only for the ! &International league" said tultZ, but l have no doubt that the doing away with the draft was one of the greatest blessings that ever came to the minor T leagues.
 Freedom Causes Prosperity. Much of our returned prosperity was due to this new freedom. 1t gave our clubs more prestige with their own fans. Jack Dunn of Baltimore es- timateS he made about $5O,O0O thlS 8year, and he attributes every penny of x it to the elimination of the draft. Even with a championship club he would x have been unable to draw in Baltimore With the old draft rule still in effect. lD cf ho T1h h1n tn crn tn the Baltimore public and tell them that if Baltimore developed any play CTS they would be kept in Baltimore. The result was that the fans patron ized International league ball Tn Baltl- more as seldom before.
 'Another thing proving the value or draft exemption to our league is the increased value of minor league clubs 4 from last winter to the present. To show the way the value of our fran chises have gone up I will cite some offers made for the Binghamton fran chise.
 "Binghamton will not be in the lea que next year, but instead of the lea gue searching for a place to locate the franchise the offers are coming to us and we can take our pick. We have "a one offer for this club which Is just five times aS much as the sum for which we let the Reading franchise go last winter.
 Also Will Help Players.
 And in the long run exemption from the draft will be of value to the players. The renewed interest which this draft exemption has brought to our league and others situated as we are means that we again can pay our players more money. As the great body of players must play in the minors it is to their interest to see minor league pay as high as it's bus iness warrants.
 "ClubS diSpOSing of players to the majors also got better prices and will continue to do so. Some clubs like Baltimore may elect to keep their 3 players, and it is great sense O1 satisfaction to a minor league clul owner to know he doesn't have tc sell a player unless he likes to. For. merly he had to sell him, because i the star wasn't gone by certain date some club would capture hin In the draft.
 We certainly are satisfied with tho new arrangement, and I think mos of the other leagues will vote at thu Springfield meeting that their frs year under the new conditions wa
 
 zest for the entire minor league field
 Personally I do not see the neet of any agreement between ourselve and the major leagues. We had bus iness dealings with the majors las season, as before, and everything worked smoothly. All that seems necessary is for the major leagues tt respect our players and territory, ant for us to do the same. In tha event I do not see any cause fo friction
 Winter Sport Resumed.
 The faVorite winter sport of sellin the Red Sox again has been resum ed The 1920 number of this serial 500 will be released. James A. Gallivar the Bostonian congressman. is tn new bidder to go after the Red So, according to winter league gossi from the Hub. Jim Gallivan, 1t ma be recalled, is the congressman wh got himself quite a bit of unfavorabl publicity in February, 1918, by writ ing to Josephus Daniels, secretary C the navy, asking that twelve cd members of the Red SoX in the nav be given furloughs for the baseba season.
 All that seems to be the matte with the story is that Harry Fraze who t5 here at present, yesterday dt clnred he never heard of any Gall van offer. He says no one has mad him any offer for the club and l. has no idea of selling 1t.
 "Jim Gallivan is quite a close pol sonal friond Of mine" said FrazG last night, land if he contemplate making me any offer for the Red Sc 1t is reasonable to assume he woul tell me something about it.
 "This IS old stuff about me denyin am going to sell the Sox. I hay