The Bridgeport times and evening farmer., 1919-09-18
PLAYERS WHO
 JUMP SHOULD
 BE SUSPENDED

Pittsburgh, Sept. IS - There has been more or less of an epidemic of contract jumping in the major leagues this summer. A number of players of more or less renown have left their clubs in the lurch since the campaign opened last spring. Phil Douglas, the big pitcher whom McGraw pur- Jchased from the Chicago Cubs. while he still thought he had a chance to grab the flag; Scott Perry and Tom Rogers of the Athletics; Carl Mays of the Red Sox; Jimmy Caton of the Pirates, and others, have been guilty of hurdling acts which were not to their credit
 Barney Dreyfu8s has always claim cd that, when a player jumps his con- tract, he is automatically suspended, put perhaps Barney is wrong. At any rate, Douglas got off easy.
 The jumping of Carl Mays caused one of the biggest ructions the Amer ican League has ever known, and has resulted in a public washing of soil ed linen that did the sport no good
 Jimmy Caton hurdled from the Pirates to an Independent club at oil City, Pa, which is operated by Jake Pitler, a former Pirate infielder. It is said that he left the Buccaneers because the fact that Feb Terry had made good at shortstop had deprived him of a chance to play regularly. He found loaf1ng on the bench de- cidedly irksome, and jumped at the | chance to get into action with an in= dependent outfit Besides, Oil City has been paying big salaries to ball players of note this summer. Oil | City is .n the same section of the state as Franklin. to whose club two | of Connie Mack's twirlers hurdled when they became dissatisfied with conditions in Philadelphia.
 There is Q wonderful rivalry be- ! tween the two towns, and the packers 1 of the baseball clubs have been ! spending money like drunken sailors ' in endeavors to get together clubs ' that would be stronger than their rivals. It is said that Franklin's club cost it $4OO per game, and it is i not believed this figure is exaggerated ! to any extent, for Franklin went in for the best obtainable in the way of talent-and it is certain that it had to pay for it, for these players are not ! jumping major clubs for the fun of it.
 The pace that some of these inde-
 
 way of spending money for players is | a dangerous one, and it can only lead to disaster. The chances are that a year or two hence the towns that l now support Eilt-edged teams will have no baseball whatever They are 1 paying too much for their teams. They can't make any money out of them, and the "angels" are certain to tire of putting up the coin sooner or later.
 Out in Kansas City Casey stengel is said 10 be getting s1OO a game for playing with an Independent club managed by Roy Sanders, former Pi- rate hurler. He jumped when he was traded to the Phillies for George Whitted.
 Pitcher Leon Ames of the St. Louis Cardinals, appeared on the payroll of the Aluminium company team of New Kensngton on Labor Day. and was baten by the Allegheny Steel team of Tarentum. Pa.
 Manager Hickey of the Cardinals. said that previous to Labor Day Ames had been paid in full for the ! remainder of the season and allowed to quit, but later the Phillies claimed him under the league rules. so it is not known if he will return to pro- fessional ball or stay with the New Kensington factory team.
 Ii is hinted that there was not the best of feeling between Hickey and Ames, and that the manager charges the veteran pitcher with ingratitude, while the twirler feels that he has not been fairly treated IL is said that the two discussed matters not long ago, and, while Ames admitted that Hickey personally had been con siderato of him, he believed that, by virtue of his long period of service in the National League he was en- titled to certain favors.