The Birmingham age-herald., 1922-01-15
Interruptions Managers Warned to Watch Step
Practice of Securing Players by Underhand Methods Must Stop, Say Baseball MoguIs
By GEORGE CHADWICK special CorrcspOndont of The Age-Hefald (Copyright, 1S22, by The Age-Herald)

-(Copyrtght, 1e22, by The Age-HeraId)
 New York, January 14.--Hints of another possible baseball scandal are seen in the warning issued by the advisory council of the major leagues against tampering with play CTS. It was intimated today that more strong words are to be spoken on the subject when the big league moguls meet in Chicago in a short time to pass on the schedules for thu 1922 season.
 Evidently somebody has "heard something.' Tampering with ball players is strictly forbidden by base oall law. Emphasizing of these reg ulations at this time can mean only one thtng-that some interruptions manager Is suspected of violating them, and that If he does not dis continue the practice he will be ex- posed and punished.
 Tampering with players is banned because 1t has the tendency to make them dissatisfied. It is resorted to, nevertheless, as a first step toward securing the services of an unusually good player who is signed up with another team. It is made possible by the fact that~ball players are not paid on a standardized basis. The keystone sacker of a tail-end club in a small city may be the best man playing that position, but he may not receive as much as $2,S00 in a season, while the second baseman in the 'big town" who cannot play second base for sour apples, gets not less than s4.o00. The difference in salaries O. various players, therefore, is made the basis for tampering with players.
 Slick Stuff, if True
 A manager who covets a certain ball player is not so foolhardy as to approach the player directly. He speaks out among his own players, commenting the man in question and intimating that the player receives Il larger salary than he suspects the player actually gets. His own play CTS. who know usually what the other fellow receives. proceed to cor rect their managers impression. telling exactly what the player act ually gets. Say the amount is s2,500.
 Twenty five hundred dollarsn h.. exolaims. That's darned punk salary to pay that man. He ought to get s4,o00 at least"
 The yeast begins to ferment. The next time the players encounter the covated man they inform him of the conversation:
 Say, you ought to have heard what the boss said about you the other day" They tell him. He said you should be getting four thousand bones and you'd be cheap at that.''
 That starts the player to thinking. Some afternoon in the course of a game against the same club he makes hit. When he reaches first base, the rival first sacker, who has his instructions, begins some such chat ter as this:
 "Hittin' 'em pretty. ain't you-you ain't right to be with that bunch of jim crows. Why, I heard the chief say that you ought to be on the best team ins the country. He thinks you are tho best in the business. Gosh, you ought to be with us!"
 The next time the interruptions manager encounters the player by chance as they are leaving the field.
 Great work on that play on Cha pin today" praises the manager. If you hadn't played our batter ex- actly right we would have beaten you to l."
 By this time the player is all puffod up and he Is sure that the rival manager would pay him a larger sal tnhH nc IS kctIinS. HIS IceltnB usually spurs him to do his best against that team to retain the good impression he has made. Fans also help the game along by pouring more honey into his ears. 'It's cussed shame that you are buried on a bum team" they tell him. You ought to be playing on our team"
 That Is how ''tampering" of one kind begins. The first thing is to get the player dissatisfied and the second Is to impress him that the team which seeks him Is the only one with which he should play. There have been instances where players have been led into excess by efforts of other managers to get them. One chap who had weakness for liquor was deliberately. led astray by coterie of an interruptions managers friends because the manager hoped to put him in bad with his own club so that it would be willing to sell him cheap.
 It is evident that the heads Of baseball have become aware of the tricks and that they are being used constantly.
 They have had some concrete case In mind when they Issued their re- cent warning. If they made an ex- ample of some manager caught re- sorting to such underhanded methods to get players by clustering heavy fine on him they might put a stop to tho practice.