The Washington herald., 1922-01-30
FREE-ACENT CLAUSE
MAY DECIDE ACTION
OF SMALL LEAGUES
3 Clubs for, 3 against, 2
"On Fence" on Proposed
Amendment.
By RAY HELGESEN.

Inc major leagues latest pro-
'posal anent the draft-their recent
oner to raise the draft price to
s'SOo-will face a real fight and
may or may not be accepted by
the Class IA organizations when
they meet in New York early next
month to decide whether or not they
VIII amble along without the draft
or accept the majors proposal and
in that way earn the everlasting
gratitude of the bigger magnates.
The latter, of course. depends on
whether or not the word gratitude"
is in the vocabulary of any of the
majors magnates.
Jack Dunn. chief owner and man.
aSer of the Baltimore club of the
lnts. claims that the big boys
don't know the meaning of the
word in question. Dunn says some
of them couldn't even spell grati-
tude. And as Dunn's never-ceasing
chatter carries lot of weight with
the INT" magnates It is quite pos
sible that they may again follow
his counsel at the coming meeting
as they have done so frequently in
the past.
Baltimore. Buffalo and Newark
are said to be against the draft
under any and all circumstances.
Toronto. Rochester and Syracuse.
however. are in favor Of the ma ajors'
latest proposal. while Reading and
Jersey City are said to be ION the
fence"
However. from present indications
the new draft. as recently pro-
posed by the big leagues. is be-
lieved to have about an even
chance Of being accepted.
In some minor league circles II
is rumored that should the majors
agree not to sign college players as
well as other free agents then il
is likely that the Reading and Jer-
sey City clubs will cast their votes
with those of Toronto. Rochester
and Syracuse so that the present
agreement between the majors and
minors may be amended so as to
accept the bigger leagues latest
PROPOSAL which raises the draft price
to $500
The minors say that the raising
of the draft price really amounts
to nothing. II merely clouds the
issue. they contend But II the
present agreement can be amended
so that their terms are met in re-
gard to allowing them to draft
all the way down the line and limit
ing the majors to drafting only
from Glass AA clubs. ii is quite
within the realm of possibility that
despite Jack Dunn's frequent warn
ings the majors proposed amend
ment to the present agreement may
be accepted.
Following are some of the views
anent the proposed amendment
which are held by Stallings and
other officials Of the Rochester club
Of the new International:
The Rochester club has in
mind, at the coming meeting
of the International League, the
Introduction Of a resolution to
the effect that the International
League believes in the theory
of the draft: that it is ready at
any time. concurrently with the
American Association and the
Pacific Coast League. to accept
the draft. conditional upon two
things: That the National As
ISOLATION rules shall give to the
Glass "A leagues the right to
draft all down the line. fol-
lowing the major leagues draft
ing period. and (2) that the ma
jor leagues will agree. here
after. to sign no free agents.
Whether the draft price is made
$500 or $1,000 is of small con-
Germ. The majors have simply
tried to befog the no-free-agent
issue by increasing the draft
price from $1,000 to $500.
which really amounts to nothing.
1T may be that the Interna-
tionaI League will vote down
such "A resolution. l do not
believe so. 1t is merely some
thing definite, something con-
crete. 1t is a statement of po-
sition and gives the major
leagues something to work on.
And when tho majors come for
ward and say they will sign no
free agents they will have TAX
en- a long step toward the even
tual acceptance of the draft.
But that. to my mind, , the
first requisite and by far the
most important"