The Washington herald., 1920-02-10
Loyal Five Will Be Ready
For Hot Session When
American Circuit Meets.
by Herald Leased wire.

TdnhS OF I0e american League Is I1OEe
bitter tonight than ever.
The insurgents. consisting of Coils.
Rupert, and Huston, of New York:
Harry Fraxec. OF Boston. and Charles
A. Comiskey, met at the Offices of the
White Sox at Comiskey Park. and
PREPARED the plan Of battle they in
tend to launch at the American League
meeting tomorrow. While they were
IN session Ban johnson and his loyal
fve' convened at the presidents office.
II was reported that the loyal five"
oiled their steam roller and intend to
use it as forcefully as they did at
the meeting in New York last month.
II is said that Ball, Dunn, Griffith.
Mack and Navin will vote against any
proposition offered by the insurgents.
Want Open Meeting.
The insurgents announced tonight
that they will ask for an open meet
ing. by that they mean that the
newspapermen be allowed to attend
the confab and through the scribes
let the fans know the truth. They
are sick and tired of the back stair
policies of the American League and
want to lay their cards on the table.
II is probable. however. that the
loyal five" will vote them down on
this. They don't care anything for
the fans. but the money they get out
- ,bsm ~ Tho ticket windows.
The board of dire Ctors a. the Amer
lean League met yesterdaS and voted
TO abolish all freak deliveries, such as
the splitter. shine ball. parafine SalI
and licorice ball. Barring the spite.
these deliveries will be officially buried
with the opening OF the season in
April
Two Spit BaIIers.
Each club will be allowed this year
10 carry two spit ball twirlers. Ten
days before the first game the man.
ayers of the eight clubs must submit
these names to President johnson. Ii
any other pitchers but the two desig-
mated are caught throwing this damp
pellet they will be suspended in
definitely
With the close Of the coming sea-
soh no pitcher will again be ala
lowed to throw the splitter. Thee
changes are almost identical with
the ruling Of the National Lsa-ua,
rendered at their recent meeting in
New York. The only difference is
that the National League ,n.rhers
wh" now fling the splitter Will be
allowed to use it as long as they
remain in the organization. No
new pitcher will be allowed to use
this freak delivery.
a Home Run Counts.
a number of drastic changes were
made in the playing and scoring
rules by the joint committee OF
American and National Leagues to-
day. The most important Of these
Is that hereafter when a batter hits
2 ball out of the park in the de-
''ding inning Of Il game 1t will
count as a home run regardless of
bow many men are on the bases
ard an the men on the paths will
he officially credited with the scnr-
ing of runs. For instance. in the
past when 4 runner was on ba e
and scored. the batter was given
credit only for the number OF bases
touched before the runner on
tn" paths had crossed the p ate.
II the Yankees have thee men
n ;he lases and Babe Ruth should
:lam it into the stand it will count
A. a homer and all four men will
be credited with runs. the firal
core in this case being to / in
favor Of the Yankees.
stolen BnSr RuIe.
Hereafter no rum b. credited
With a stolen base Is a legiti-
mate steal. In tie - i one team
far out in front in the anal inning. a
runner was usually allowed to steal.
the catcher making no play for him.
That farcicaI steal runs for Sweeney
from now on.
In case of a catcher dropping a third
strike and the batter reaches first base
il no longer viii be charged as a
passed ball to the catcher. but will be
charged as an error against him.
The official averages are to carry the
rUHhe.s thrown out by the catcher.
The work of the ball players in pro-
tested games hereafter will count in
the averages.
The winning hit of a game will be
credited to the batter for as many
extra bases as the runner on the paths
may be from the plate at the time Of
the walIop.
Grifs' Rule Adopted.
Another good change in the rules is
one where. when the batter Is trying
to duck or sidestep a ball. whether
IL lands on fair or foul ground. will
be declared dead.
Charles A Stoneham. president OF
the Giants. blew in from Cuba during
the day. Treasurer Francis y. Nc.
Quade came on from the Big City and
the New Workers spent most of the
day trying to pull a trade for an in
fielder. Stoneham and McQuade hac
a talk with George Washington Grant
president OF the Braves. and this led
to the belief that the Giants made a
big offer for Rabbit Maranville.
Both Stoneham and Grant, how
ever. declared that they didn't even
mention Maranville's name. But a
famous saying of Harry Pulliam
was: Never take anything fol-
granted in baseball" Stoneham an.
nounced that McGraw would re-
turn from Cuba in about ten days
Miller Higgins. the Yankees man.
ager. was expected today. but had
not arrived up to late tonight
Nearly every other manager in both
big leagues Is on hand. scouts and
scribes are here from all over the
good old u. S. BY the time the
American and National Leagues &c
into session tomorrow there will
be such a mob on hand that the
walls of the Congress Hotel will
be bulging.
Murphy Enters Suit.
Charles Webb Murphy. former
president OF the Chicago Cubs
tossed a bomb into the assemblage
Of National League baseball mag
mates today by serving them with
papers in bill of complaint filed