The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1916-1920, 1919-05-11
Big LEAGUES SHY
III ON PLAYING TALENT
Managers, in Need Of New
, Blood, Forced to Do With
Mediocre Material.
MINORS UNABLE TO ASSIST
i, Unsettled Conditions Have
a Curtailed the Development
of Budding Stars.
By sHORTsTOP.

Baseball Is facing its greatest player
shortage in years. Even with the great
majority Of players returned from the
service and with all the shipyarders and
stee, leaguers back. the big show still 10
! lacking wofully in talent.
Baseball Ia experiencing q remarkable
revival. The return Of peace, Sunday
baseball in the East, and the love Of
America for the sport, are bound to make
big league baseball a still greater insti-
tuition than II has been in the past. And
yet there are 20 few real players!
Even during the Federal League days
few ball clubs masqueraded around tho
country With such a wofui pitching
stan as the Philadelphia National League
! GLIB now Possesses. There isn't q
!, pitcher. among them who might be de-
!, pended on to win fifteen or eighteen
:, games a season. Jacobs Watson. Oesch-
! ser. Prendergast. Packard. woodward,
Flagstaff-what a pitching staffi
II Philadelphia were alone In such a
situation. it would not be SO bad, but II
Is state of affairs that prevails with
most National League clubs, with the
exception Of Brooklyn and Chicago.
Others are not quite as bad as the Phil
, lies. Boston has one top-liner in Nehf.
Pittsburg a good man In Cooper. and
AOeAS - PiohiShs JouhbSeof I"
Z Goodwin.
Better I'm Other League.
On the whole. the pitching situation 10
I better In the American League. though
the Browns have a feeble pitching stan,
and Connie Mack has little in Phlladel-
phia outside Of Scott Perry.
+ In other departments the grade OF
{ players also does not run as high as It
did half n dozen years back. Take the
Boston National outfield. Kelly. Riggert
and Powell. q trio OF minor ieaguers,
with little chance of Improvement.
Though It Is a strong pennant con-
! tender. Cleveland Is obliged to play the
veteran Doc Johnston on first base for
want Of q better man, while the st.
, Louis Browns can find no better third
baseman than Bronkie, a minor league
veteran, who. never will hit more than
IBIS in the big leagues. II he hits that.
Even In the old days, no minor league
team would come to town with such
battery material as the Phillies now
possess or an outheld like the Brave
trio.
Baseball managers will tell you there
10 no remedy for the situation. Stall
: lings will tell you he IL playing the
best outhelders he could get. "If you
can get me better player than any
] have, and he doesn't have to hit
much to beat Kelly, III make you q
nice present" said George Stallinss last
week.
Where Are There BetterV
Coombs will tell you the same about
his pitchers. "Can you give me the ad-
dress Of any able bodied pitchers that
are not otherwise EMPLOYER confided
Jack, discussing his problem.
There Is no place that the majors
can go to pluck fairly good man
who might MI in in an emergency. In
the halcyon days OF the International,
American Association and Pacific Coast
League you could get a man like Cra-
vath, Altizer, knight or even some
pretty fair pitchers for amounts rang
ing from $4,000 to $4,000. After being
a fiivver in the American League. Cra-
vath remained In the American Asso-
citation three years before the Phillies
= picked him up at the age Of 80 for
$500.
But where Is a manager to get ma
. teriai like that nowadays? OF the three
class IA minor leagues, the Pacific
Coast Is about the strongest However,
like the American Association, II has
a host OF players who are absolute has
beens. men like Jay Kirke who tried
to play first base for the Giants last
year after Holke had jumped to a ship
league.
The International League. fromerly
more or less of a feeder to the Eastern
majors as was the American Association
TO the West is struggling to get back
on its feet, with an array OF players OF
about the callbre OF the old New York
State League. Many Of them are boys,
or old time minor league veterans. Few
/, are anywhere near big league form.
College Stars Few.
The two years of war. as we'll as the
unsettled baseball conditions before
Uncle Sam threw his hat into the big
, ring. practically wiped out the farms for
ball players Occasionally you could
get a star like Coombs or Plank. who
could jump into the game with only coll
lege training. but such cases are the ex-
8 ception. There are few players that are
ripe for the big leagues without a GER
= tain amount of valuable minor league
training.
Following the period OF depression
, after the Federal League. salaries
> started to come down and few col
legians came into baseball. The game
no longer paid great salaries. and prom
Using college ball players thought It over
very carefully before they accepted an
offer to sign with a big league club.
They knew II they didn't land with the
big league team there was little chance
of getting any money In the minors.
Business conditions were good, there
gwere many fine openings for bright
young men. and the class Of colleEians
like Coombs, Collins, Harry Lord. Barry,
Ray Collins. Mathewson and BirminS-
!, ham who formerly went into baseball
{ started their life work In other fields.
There had been many predictions that
! the army would produce a lot OF base.
ball stars. But 80 far no service star
who was not In the leagues before the
A., war has shown anything in fast COM
4 pany. Take a player like Frank Poian.
who caught for Camp Sherman last sum-
mer and was recommended to the
z Giants by Benny Kauff.
I'VE had a crack team, and beat
pretty near everybody we played but
!, Polan was the only one on the team
that showed any possibilities OF being
! big Lacquer" said Kauff
Yet. at his best Poian IL class B
:. Lacquer who needs lot of development
before he could land a major league jon
> The public wants its baseball more
than ever before; but will somebody
d, please help its managers dig up some
real ball players7
q Bureau Removes Prejudice.
wAsHTSGToN. d c.. Nav n The Blu
= reau or Fisheries has been instrumental
In introducing to popular attention the
Ia ~