The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1919-05-20
DIAMOND STARS OF
TO-DAY ARE ''PLUTES"
compared With Pnny Reward Of Pio-
neers, Present Day Players Draw
Princcly Paw

Edward A. Goewey, Leslie's "Old
ran. offers what may be either a
pain or counter-irriiant to those
FASTENERS who are writhing i'll silence
Tor otherwisc) under The sting Of
Wartime salary cuts. In a recent is
sue of the weekly, he cuts loose with
! several paragraphs of enliehtenin-
statistics contrasting the unhappy
plight OF the present day tanned
slave with the luxurious life of those
pampered pioneers who seldom, if
ever, raised a yelp ct the size of their
pay envelopes. Here's what Ed"
has to offer in the way of consolation:
Baseball. like every other business,
profession or industry, throughout tho
lenFth and breadth of The land, suf-
fered hardships, sethacks and financial
losses b ,cause OF the war which called
The Huns bluff and beat them in the
showdown.
This season the work of retrench~
ment and reconstruction has begun
Most players have been cnmpe He'd to
submit TO salary cuts which reduced
their stipends to basis fair alike to
men and clubs. the number of players
allowed TO each team has heen re-
duced, and other reforms arc in pre-
cess of being carried ont The re-
forms are NOT in the line OF penuriouS-
ness, but conform to n scheme to make
the. pay OF the men on the field rea-
sonahle and at the same time yield a
profit to the team owners. something
which many of them have not en-
joyed in years,
Among Other things which today
make the burdens Of the club 'haaE~
mares genuinely neavy are tho high
cost OF food and lodcin~ for tho play
ers. the tremendous tax which the late
congress placed on AL sporting goods
down to the ffNo-ccnt bail Of the small
! boy, the ever-increasiug railroad
rates, and the ruling of the railroad
administration thar bats, Ais and
uniforms cannot ho carried as part Of
I The r!arcfS haeEase. III, nluSt IL
{ transported at baggage rates plus
war Tax.
About the only things on W hich
the team owners have not shaved
costs Ia date arc the prices paid for
I star- players aAtl fereItIl, fra nc. Il SOS
Eut no matter what retrenchmcnts
are made. let Inc players and fans re
member that the former are a thou
sand times better off than were those
who made the present existence of the
sport possible
Let Us pause and study tho diff
! terence between .he modern worlds
/ mpionship figures and those Of the
hrst series. played IN 1851. The ban
ner year of recent times was lai2
( " HrH tHf tridDtS ana isFa S4N staged
"A series of eight games one Of which
/ was an eleven inning tic; FIVE OF the
/ contests heing played IN Boston and
three in NeM- AnrA--Th Total attend
ance at those Carles was ash 9e1 the
total receipts, $500 44as the players.
share, sl47,51c.eS the clubs rakeon.
s293 s3l.Se and that Of the national
commission. $50 G{A 30 The next
hest year was 1910 when the attend
ance Was 1855 e5a and tho receipts
S4@a,StS and the eontesiing teams
were the Cubs and Giants in a SIX
game series. The players receive
their share from the frs, four games
Of each series and a. the paid admis-
sfors To the first four games Of the
series of 1915 and fal5 were higher
/ than al the first four games of 1919
their divYy' was corr spondingiy bet
ter In 1916 the players received
Sls2 .ao7 - and s1s2.SSs5s in 1917
The first worlds championship,
series, played in 1894, was between
tho Providence team and the Metro
politans, Of New York There were
three games, all played or the
grounds of The latter. but Providence
Won all three clashes and The champ
ionship by score Of go 81 and 1l-a
! The champs represented tho national
league and the defeated team the
American Association. The records
{, do not rive The attendance figures OF
! that series. hat the players Of the two