, 1923-07-22
MICKEY DEWNE
APT TO BE IN
BAD With lands
Newark Manager Has
Talked Too Much.
BY I. E. SANBoRN.

49,
Unless Kenesaw NJ. lands, over
lord OF professional baseball. is of
watch. one Mickey Devine. who has
been managing tho Newark team of
the International league. is likely to
learn the folly of talking too much
In fact, he may ascertain from the
high commissioner that baseball does
not need him any more.
Not being In the big league lime
light, It may be necessary to Introduce
Mr.. Devtne to the more remote por-
lions of baseballdom and to outline
the situation in which that gent has
placed himself.
MIR. Devine Dragged.
When Devine heard recently tina the
folks who own or control the Newark
club desired to tie the can to him and
appoint a new manager, he Dragged
openly that II h Newark club fred
him he would board a train for Chicago
to call on Commissioner lands and
tell tho judge something he ought to
know about the internal affairs OF that
club. The price OF keeping his mouth
shut was TO be retained as anage or
given a chance at 4 major league sal.
airy.
The nature Of the beans Devine
threatened to spill was not disclosed.
but for some seasons there have been
strong suspicious that the relations be-
tween the Newark and Baltimore clubs
of tho International league were too
intimate to stand a third degree investi-
cation and a fearless application of
the rules against syndicate baseball.
Nothing to prove these suspicious has
been and they have been
righteously denied by Jack Dunn and
tho ostensible owners of the Newark
outfit.
In Bad Either Way.
It may be Devine's threat had moth
ing TO do with these suspected afiilia-
lions md he has other Interesting in
formation up his sleeve. He went no
farther than to say he could tell lands
something he ought to know, and his
threat apparently had weight enough
with his employers to delay the aiixinE
of the tinware to his managerial per-
son.
Now. II Commissioner Lands Is not
on watch he is quite likely to send a
peremptory order to Mickey Devine TO
take a train for Chicago and tell Just
what It is h he judge ought to
know" In which case Mr.. Devins 10
in bad either way from the jack. II
he spills information to prove that
things are not as they ought to be in
the Newark club ownership or In its
relations with the Baltimore club, the
high commissioner Is likely to ask De-
vine some embarrassing questions az
to why he has been a silent partner to
such conditions. waiting until he could
use the threat OF exposure to benefit
himself. That savors OF blackmail, you
know.
May Get Fired Anyway.
II Devine welches and declares he
was only ~foollng, having no incrimi-
mating information to give. the high
commissioner Is liable to hand him q
blue envelope informing him that pro-
fessional BASEBALL can get along with
out his services indefinitely. For tho
published threats of the Newark man
ager have done baseball much harm.
whether they are %groundless or true.
The bird that fouls its own nest Is not
allowed to flock with the more re-
spectacle clans OF h feathered tribe.
Probably II 40 gets in a jam Mickey
Devine Will fall back on the good old
overworked alibl and claim he
said n OF the things attributed to
him by the newspapers, but that the
hCTlueo lulubAnta Ant yarn anu NIoNc
II just TO get him in bad. That sort
OF thing has been lone to the hard
working scribcs by others much higher
up in the diamond world than Mickey
Devine. And they have been allowed
to get away with 1t.
But Lands Knows.
Commissioner Lands a had a
great many years Of close association
with newspaper men. He knows how
unlikely It Is that any one employed
by a reputable paper ever has or ever
Will write n yarn that had no founda-
ton. He is not likely to let Devtns
get away with II.
And while the high commissioner IL
about It, II syndicate baseball is such
n helnous o1ense hat It can be used
by a man like Devine TO hold his job.
how about that tangle in the Pacific
Coast league? The courts which ~
fused to give n clubs representatives
a right to recognition in the directors
meetings OF the league must have bad
some evidence TO INDICATE President
Mccarthy was right In barring that
clubs delegates.
Also how about the chain store syn-
dicate operated by the st. Loui. Ma
uonal league club. according to com
mon report? Syracuse and Fort Smith
apparently belong TO the Cardinal
chain. Judging by the orders Mike
Doolan received from Branch Hickey
recently.