Eagle River review. [volume] (Eagle River, Wis.) 1890-1927, 1925-01-08
Baseball Showdown Is
Due Soon, Says Ban
DISSATISFACTION AT DEsERTIoN
AND MUZZLEING OF AMERI-
CAN LEAGUE cHIEFTAIN
BY John Thomas Wilson

-
Victory, where is thy thrill? That
is the question one asks himself af-
ter mingling with baseball powers in
their mid-winter confabs, since the
December meeting at Chicago, where
in one Bancroft b. Johnson, Presidents
of the American League, was slapped
down by the club owners in his leag
ue in sustaining Judge Lands, base
balls dictator.
In truth, there is no thrill. There
is nneasiness. There is a feeling that
the battle not yet ended. The voice
of the fan is beginning to be heard
on all Sides And when Mr.. Fan
speaks then baseball powers must lis
ten-and make satisfactory replyIt
seems that making reply in this in
STANCE is the very thing baseball pow
ers do not want to do. 1t would be
much better were all details of the
matter dropped right now.
Fact of the matter is, baseball pow.
ers are not at all pleased with the
actions of Ban Johnson since his
humiliating ordeal at Chicago, when
seven of the eight club owners he
had so successfully served turned up
on him. 1t was expected that tho
great cheftain would step down and
out rather than submit to such public
insult
Instead Ban Johnson is sitting
Highland saving wood. Therein lies
the cause of uneasiness.
Isn't it possible, asked a seasoned
baseball authority the other day, that
when man is right and knows where
of he speaks, that he is hard man
to defeat? Perhaps Ban Johnson
knows what he is talking about when
he speaks of baseball having put the
there has been queer stuff put across
in our big league races.
Is there crookedness in baseball?
is Ban Johnson right in the things
he has charged? If these facts are
true, then isn't Ban Johnson correct
that NOW is the time to clean up
baseball, regardless of the cost at
the box-office? l think so-and until
the whole affair is gone into thorough
ly and fairly; all the facts made
known; the guilty thrown out of base
ball and prosecuted, | for one will
never sbe the same enthusiastic sup
porter of the game
Say Ban Johnson
Has the Evidence
Such is the pointed talk of the fam
And it is the very talk thatmakes
the powers that be feel that possibly
the death knell of Ban Johnson has
not yet been sounded.
Followers of sport, those in the
know" say that Ban johnson knows
what he is talking about; that he has
every bit of evidence he claims to
have; that the magnates are afraid to
let him talk; and that in many decis
ions the dollar mark is above honor
in baseball administration today.
All of this gossip is brewing a big
showdown in baseball. Fans of the
great game are first, last and all the
time American-an it is trait that
they will not stand for unfairness,
crookedness, a covering up, or the
kicking of a man when he is down
Perhaps Ban Johnson did not have
the rank and file of baseballs fans
behind him during all the years that
he was putting the American League
on it's feet and making it the great
organization that is today. It is a
fact, however, that since the "Chi-
cago muzzeling" the reaction has all
been in his favor, and many supper.
ters are found on every hand