The Washington herald., 1922-02-15
CHARGES DISMISSED
AGAINST OWNERSOF
BROOKLYN TEAM.
Moguls Vote to Back Up
Landis In His Stand
X. +. On Draft Plan.
By wEsTBRooK fpEGLER.

By wEsTBRooK |PEGLER.
NEW YORK. Feb. n. = At las,
Uncle Charley Ebbets may lift
again his -tousled iron-gray. head
and strut the stride of a free man
among men OF honor through the
Elens and glsdes and across the
barren goat prairies of his native
Fiatbush. Uncle Charley has been
acquitted.
The National League magnates in
supreme court. assembled at the
Waldorf ip their final meeting OF
the. off-season, found the venera BILE
owner Of the Brooklyn Dodgers not
guilty of tampering with one OF
William r. Bakers Philadelphia
rlayers, to wit, Art Fletcher. That
Is to say, the magnates found him
not so very guilty. and dismissed
the charge with the earnest request
that he not do IL again. They also
acquitted Branch Hickey, Of the st.
Louis Cardinals, who was accused
by Baker Of tampering with the
same player.
In an atmosphere heavy laden
with the fumes of ice water, the
magnates labored all day long in
the sacred interest of clean sport.
Those waiting outside could only
imagine with what ardent devotion
TO the holy cause of manly atbletf-
cism were these venerable gentle
men fighting on the advances of
a0rdid
transom there filtered from time TO
time ringing applause, vibrant with
the love of clean, unseinsh sports
uanship-phrases ringing like new
dollars just up from the mint.
-' Through the Transon.
1T seems to me there'd be more
money in II IL we"--one magnate
said and the watchers outside knew
the forces of commercialism could
not prevail against such stalwart
sentiment. But" said another, '1t
We invest this money IN And
So the meeting dragged on and on
until finally the door burst open
and out came Mr.. Garry Hermann
Of Cincinnati, every inch an ath-
lete-. rushing to catch a train for
home. Young America, standing in
the corridor. might never have sus-
pected these men of such disinter-
ested attachment to sport for the
sake of the game.
The National League. having nc
alternative, decided with felicitous
unanimity that everything Judge
Landis has done So far is entirely
bueno in all respects. 1t was fur
theT decided that he will be backed
up in any action he may take to
compel the class IA clubs to con-
sent again to the draft plan. which
means they'd be glad to kick the
double-A's IL the judge will first
knock 'em down. inasmueh as the
doubIe-As have kicked them three
times. smartly, in the same place
this winter.
They were formally apprised dur
ing the meeting that under the
proposed plan of raising the money
for the soldiers bonus, baseball
tickets. like theater tickets, would
he subject to a 20 per cent amuse-
ment tax. Being unable to do any
thing aboN this. the magnates
unanimously resolved to take no
action at this time. a further strain
on, their quality Of kindly forbear-
ance.
Trophy Plan Voted Down.
The American Leagues plan to
give a $1,000 trophy to the one
player proving most valuable to his
team was voted down in the in
terests of team play.
Kaiser wilhelm. manager of the
Phillies, spoke a little piece during
the Baker-Ebbets-R Hickey contrO-
versy. admitting that he told Man
ager Robinson, of the Dodgers, that
he, Robby. might arrange to con-
trive to suggest overtures 10 the
presentation of a business PROPOSE
ton to Art Fletcher. who at that
time was as useful to the Phillies
as a catnip' mouse to a cast-iron
catamount. because he wouldn't
play in Philadelphia II was on this
basis that the Dodgers approached
Fletcher On somewhat the same
understanding did Hickey flirt with
the former star of the Giants.
The magnates heard the evidence
soIemnly and inspired by their
Jealous regard for the cleanliness
of the grand old game. decided to
slap both Ebbets and Hickey nine
Iashes across the bare wrist with a
bIack-snake powderpuff.
Pat Moran of the Reds. Wilhelm
of the Phillies and Sam Breadon of
the, Cardinals were the only base
ball field bosses attending, and they
made no trades. The old slave
block was deserted except that Ben
ME ,Kauff. Buck Herzog and a few
other free men gathered about from
time TO time to discuss the days of
their happy slavery.
Two more umpires, both veterans
of Southern circuits, have been en-
Saged by the National League for
1922. Paul Sentell. a veteran play
er, formerly with Baton Rouge, At
lanta. Chattanooga. Galveston. Phil
adelphia and Brooklyn teams. and
for the last five years an umpire of
the Texas League, is one. Charles
Pnrman. of the Southern Associa-
-