Douglas daily dispatch., 1926-02-11
TARDY EXPLAINS
BASEBALL IDEAS
TO Ell PASAONS


In an, effort to inform the. Ell Paso
baseball management in regard to the
attitude of Douglas fans on the ball
situation in this city, ]. w Tardy
has written the following letter to
the SLAM Bangs" column of the Ell
Paso Times.
The letter from the local man,
which has been published in the Pass
City paper reads as follows:
Dear Sir:
If you are still the same SLAM
Bangs" you will understand this; if
you are not, will you kindly consider
it anyway?
There is much maseball talk just
now, pro and con, and 1 believe that
Douglas should be heard and her .po-
sition made clear.
FIRST: We are for baseball Of a
superior class None other will pay.
We tried the indifferent kind the
first half of the season, and the
Douglas directors have prematurely
gray heads and ten years less of life
expectancy, as the life insurance
company might say, as a result.
The last half we had a ball team
and 1 want to tell the world that the
outlaw did it. Not because he is an
outlaw, but because he can play ball.
| will say, and know that every
fair-minded interested person will
agree, that the addition of Buck
Weaver and Chick Gandill saved the
Frontier league last year. Whatever
surplus Ell Paso, Juarez and Fort
Bayard had is the direct result of
the drawing ability of the Douglas
team after we added these fellows
and began to play ball. S.
The president of the Frontier
league told us to add them; we did
it, and we are not ashamed of it, and
instead of being ':cussed'' we think
the officials of the various Frontier
league teams should give them a vote
of thanks. M
The so-called playoff in Ell Paso
terminated badly, but there were 10
men who are eligible to play organ
lied ball responsible, as against two
outlawss. Douglas is willing to
charge two-twelfths of that incident
to Chase and Gandill, no more.
The directors made the error, or
made the thing possible, by forcing
these teams to play ball after the
season closed and after their pay had
stopped They were managing them
selves, and naturally could be expect
ed to make. a mess of it. Not crook
ed, understand, but just a case of ''ifs
we. lay down on Douglas against
Juarez we will have another playoff
ourselves" with the same medicine
dished out when the second playoff
took place.. 1t was Simply a case OF
you ayed down on US now we lay
down on you"
All this can be rehnedied by signing
the players up under contract and by
having the season end after the last
game of the playoff is decided, and
by having officials of the league that
are not directors or officials of any
one team.
SECOND: A class d league is out
of the question because these towns
will not support every day baseball
and if they would, class ID bail will
not satisfy the fans. Glass D ball.
is little better than the sand lot va
riety Our poorest players of last
season would be stars in class D. Any
man who knows baseball knows that
this is the truth.
Aguilar's case should prove to any.
one that the Frontier league was
playing baseball of brand as good
as the Western league or better all
through the last half. My Denver
/ friends told me that the Douglas
team was a better team than Den \
verS.
This so-called Arizona State league
of last year was supposed to be of a
class ID calibre. On several occasions
the Frontier league teams met them
and the result was always sthe same.
Not one game was lost to them, and
1 am certain that any team in the
Frontier legue could have beaten the
best of their teams 20 straight times
without taking one defeat.
had letter from over at Fort
Bayard and they cannot see organ
lied BASEBALL; neither can BisIbee, and
for that matter, any other place with
the bare exception of Ell Paso; so why
not throw down the gates and give,
the fans what they want? 4
1t doesn't suit Lands, I know but
we owe him nothing. His place is
secure so why should he forever per-
secute those that he won't allow to
play in the big leagues?
Douglas is going to play ball We
dependent baseball and Buck Weaver
is going to pilot our players to many
victories. 49 I'd
We like Ell Paso, we like DR.. Nc,
Camant and Frank Hodges, and i
personally know of no one in Ell Paso
that / dislike. We are going to play
ball and I wish we might again play
there, but if we can't we cant and
this is the story, for we refuse to
sacrifice men that we know will
draw at the gate and finance the
team, for men that can't draw their
hat and for whom we will have to
sweat blood before they are paid
After reading this letter if you
blame us, write me.
Yours very truly,
j. w. TARDY. !