New Britain herald., 1922-12-29
LEAGUE TO INQUIRE INTO BENTON CASE
His Record Must Be Cleared to
 Return to National League

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 New York, Dec. 29.--Before Rub,
 Benton. former Giant pitcher. take his first windup for the Cincinnati 1 Reds next spring. the National league will insist on an inquiry into his req
 connection with certain incidents 1T
 baseball history. 1t was learned or
 unquestionable authority from Ma, tional league men here yesterday | The investigation will be made or
 the demand of several league mag
 mates and 1t will take place at the February meeting of the senior cir. cult.
 The National league, in other
 words, is not satisfied that Benton's record is entirely clear. In the words of a baseball official yesterday, the league believes that Benton is fire sponsible, player who has made conflicting and contradictory state- ments concerning certain matters In this stand the organization takes sides with Ban Johnson and against Garry Hermann, who declared in a statement on Wednesday that Benton should have a gold medal instead of being attacked by Johnson.
 Herrmann's statement was in an- swer to Johnson, who was quoted as follows on Tuesday: Benton had in- formation from Bill Burns that the White Sox were to throw the series and did not inform the baseball au- thorities of it. Instead he took ad- vantage of it and bet, winning s1,500. That is why I do not think he be- longs in the American league and why he will not come into it."
 Benton promptly denied that he had won more than small bet of $20 on the series, and explained that He also said that he had seen Judge Landis in Louisville and was assured that his record was clean and told to go ahead.
 Reasons Not Known.
 Judge Landis' reasons for making Lllo oLdJCIlCilt dl v LOL hAOW H. tOht one thing is certain--that the Ma tional league is not yet ready to go along with him and give Benton -lean bill. The attitude of the elder organization was explained as fol- lows yesterday by an official who prefers to be anonymous:
 '"The National league knows of nothing definite against Pitcher Ben ton, but the opinion of many club owners is that he is irresponsible and inclined to make one statement one day and another statement another day. The pressure from these own CTS has been so great that without any shadow of a doubt the players status will be fully looked into at the February meeting. We know that he was released by the Giants in ming, but there are certain happen ings before that which ought to be cleared up.
 For one thing, Benton's testimony before the Chicago grand jury was to the effect that he had won only $20 on the 1919 series, but in other state ments he mentioned another and big ger sum. Also. he accused Charley Herzog of having offered him bribe to throw a game between the Giants and Cubs at Chicago and mentioned a saloon as having been the scene of the alleged bribe offer. When Ben- ton was asked by league officials to point out the saloon he was unable to do so. These are two contradic- tions that we are still puzzled about.
 '.In short, now that Benton is on the point of returning to the league, many of the magnates are insistent that these vague points be cleared up, in justice to all concerned. Ger tainly it would be better for Benton if the matter were settled once and for all."
 Strange Action.
 Despite this version of the contro- versy, baseball men here could not understand why the National league did not take some action when Ben ton was released by the Giants. He was allowed to go to St. Paul and play in organized baseball. Not murmur was made until big league teams began bidding for him, and it was not until after Cincinnati had signed him to contract that the began their agitation.
 They now find themselves flying in the face of both Judge Landis and Garry Hermann. The latter says that his club stands solidly behind the commissioners endorsement which puts Garry and the judge on one side of the fence and the Ma tional league and Ban Johnson on the other. Strange bedfellows are developed by the conflicts of the national sport
 As far as the Giants are concerned, Benton is O. K. Secretary Jim Tier ney, speaking on behalf of the club yesterday, said that the Rube had been released in 1921 simply because he did not win. McGraw became convinced that his good left arm had lost its cunning and he shipped him to the American Association. Il
 McGraw was detained at his home yesterday and was not present to verify this statement of the clubs