New Britain herald., 1922-01-06
MAJOR LEACUERS
 DISGUST CUBANS
Feeling on Island Has Turned Against American Transformers

Transforming ball players who have found it to their pecuniary adcantage to migrate to Cuba in the cold winter months and perform for the edihca- ton of Havana and Santiago fans, will find their visits to the tropics much less profitable in the future than they have been in the past.
 You can't fool all the people all the time" Is the way that the Cubans are putting 1t now and as our taste which began while Battering Babe Ruth was down there last winter has become so intensified by the barn. storming aggregation this fall under Otto Miller of Brooklyn that teams Of stars from the states won't find much of the long green promised them for future visits.
 Were Hcros Once
 A decade or SO back. when Con- nje Mack's all conquering Athletics wer the big thing in baseball, the Cubans were crazy to see the stars from the American league and won derful inducements were handed out with the result that Eddie Collins and some of his mates found their visit to the island very unmunerative. Every star in either league was as much of a hero in Cuba as in the United States and local celebrities like the Black Mathewson" soon sprung into the limeight.
 The As on their first visit made a fine impression. So interested did the natives become in our national sport that men like Victor Munez and Conte. sporting editors of the leading dailies in Havana, were sent to cover the worlds series and after Cuban players like Marsans and and Luque were added to the Ameri- can teams men were sent to New York Cincinnati and Washington to send daily stories of the ball games, in- cidentally by Marsans, Luque, Con- gales or Acosta.
 Sentiment Changes
 When Almedia got in bad with the National league and sent home col ored stories of his alleged treatment here sentiment changed and the Am ican players came in for lot of pret- ty sharp criticism. But the attitude of the visiting players from the states was largely responsible for this change of sentiment.
 Just as soon as the Cubans began to realize that the American players looked upon their visit to Cuba as nothing more than junket, our stars commenced to fade as an attraction. It stands to reason that a player who had gone through the spring training and thereafter an arduous big league campaign of 154 games was hardly in the mood to overexert himself in ex- hibition conests.
 But the Cuban fan has an alto gether different idea of things. The games has progressed amazingly down there in the last ten years and there are scores of players who could hold down good jobs in high class leagues in this country. These men were on their mettle when the Amer ican reached there, were crazy to test their strength against the stars from the states, and when victory occasion ally came their way they lost some of their high appreciation of American big league talent.
 Claims of Indifference
 During the visit of the Brooklyn players under Otto Miller, the Gu ban fans made wholesale complaint about the indifferent attitude of the Failure to take the game seriously and an utter indifference to the result of the games has banished the American big leaguer from the list of attractions in the future American players will not find a visit 10 Havana or any other Cuban town productive of any great financial profit. |