The Washington herald., 1920-02-11
By GUS AXELsON.

latter was billed for three appear
ances during the day. After adopt.
ing the annual schedule. which calls
for the opening date April II and
closing October 3, to passing of sew
eral resolutions. the magnates
squared OF for the bout which was
unfinished in New York last win
ter.
Much oratory and some law en-
!ivened the first session of the
wordy battle between the American
League owners. The insurgents
came equipped with a battery Of
legal talent. President Comiskey, Of
the Chicago club. bringing in Fred
Austrian, a Chicago attorney. In
order to circumvent the rule which
prohibits outsiders from attending
the meeting. Mr.. Austrian went in
as vice president of the White Sox
Club. something which came as a
surprise to the battle SCARED mag
mates of the opposition. In this
early session enough progress to-
wards peace was made through the
insurgents. Comiskey. Rupert and
Frszee suggested an informal meet
ing before the regular night meet
ing which was called for o'clock.
At this informal gathering COM
mon sense was supposed to rule and
this left the free-fof-all to the ad-
Journed session later.
No lawyers were admitted to the
informal meeting and figuratively, the
dove looked down from the Intel
Although everything 7 during the day
was OF the executive order, enough
leaked out to make IL evident that
few of the combatants had misIaid
their vocabularies during the win
ter interval.
In the regular early meeting. Phil
Ball of St Louis, explained how that
letter written by Ban johnson to GER
tain club owners, and on which the
New York club is basing its 10000
suit against Ban. got out of his
keeping. This does not entirely
modify the insurgents. but 1t kept
the batlers from reaching towards
rthe hip pocket quite so often. and
the informal session was the result.
Then followed the night gather
sng where no holds were barred,
with President johnson still in the
chair, where the five faithful sus-
tained him during the birthstone de-
bate.
President johnson did not read
his annual report as had been his
practice, at any of the sessions, and
the insurgents wer not enlightened
much as to how the affairs of the
league stood.
In order to prevent the recurrence
of such as the Mays case, President
Griffith forced a rule through the
American meeting that no player
can be transferred after July 1. un-
IE
should use a player in violation of
the rule of the games in which he
should use a player in violation of
takes part will be forfeited. The
rule reads
Clubs shall not dispose of the serv-
ices of any player by trade, sale, loan.
transfer. or in any other manner. from
one club to another in the American
League during the period from July
o he closing of the championship
season in each year. except under the
regular waiver rules of this league.
Any club using the services of any
rlayer procured in violation of this
rule shall forfeit to the opposing club
each and every game in which such
player shall participate"
Connie Mack. of Philadelphia, intro
duced a resolution which directly af-
kected such a case as Pitcher Mays,
in that 1t prevents a player from ne
gotiating with any other club without
written consent of the club to ~
he belongs. This also applies to
owners in dealing with players. '...s
rule. as passed. follows: "a player
shall not enter into negotiations with
any other club for services without the
consent in writing of the club with
which he is under contract or reserva-
ton, nor shall any club owner, man.
ager. player or agent of any club ne
rotiate for the services Of a player
Of another club without the consent
Of the club having title to the players
services.
III . club owner. manager. agent or
player Of any club violates this pro-
vision the penalty for the bJst offense.
il the charges are sustained. shall be
a fine Of 5000. and for the second
offense expulsion from the league"
The waiver rule was also revised
to read that any club can recall a
waiver on a player IL he notifies the
president Of tho league within forty
eight hours. This. however. does not
apply to players who have been In the
service five or more years.
The rules as passed by the rules
committee were approved. The Ma
tionai League finished practically all
6f its business during the day. The
schedule was adopted despite the ef-
fort Of c. W. Murphy, former owner
of the Chicago club. to preven: the
league to adopt playing dates because
of an alleged debt Of over 10000 to
him Of the present owners OF the Cubs
The National also adopted the cne-
year period of grace for spit-ball
pitchers. The National owners raised
the waiver price from 1850 to 1850,
established a players limit OF twenty
five with thirty-five for the off-sea-
son. II endorsed the abbreviated dia-
mond for boys, put its stamp of ap-
proval on the rule changes and de-
cided to start the grounds in Coopers-
town. N. Y, where the first baseball
diamond was laid out by Gen Double
day In 1883.
An. EFFORT was made to prevent
trades of players after July 1 the
same as the American. but this was
defeated.
Johnston Accepts Invitation.