New Britain herald., 1927-01-19
PLAYERS RELEASED
 FOR INC0MPETENCY
Cobb and Speaker Were Not Crooked, According to Johnson

60 IllN olNNu iHIOIipCltliIs and not crookedness. MT. Johnson said today. He called the Dutch Leonard charges against them in- consequential.
 Johnson revealed number of new angles to the celebrated case, over here Monday. but all related to laXness or overZealousness in managerial duties, and contained no hint of scandal
 The American leaEue proxy, who severely criticized Baseball Com the Leonard charges, mentioned Cobb's handling of players as mot to be tolerated in the American league" and his principal count against Speaker related to betting on horse races.
 Talk of crookedness had no part in our decision to demand the resignations of these two managers They simply were not equal to their jobs, and so they had to go.'
 This new and vital sidelight on the Cobb-Speaker case. publicity around which led to the investiga- tion of 1917 scandal charges, and the unloosing of a host of vague rumors of other baseball irreglhari- ties gave rather wan aspect to the possibility that any sensational disclosures would be made here Monday.
 A real row however, seems to be brewing In two quarters.i One re- lates to what will come to pass when President Johnson and his American leaguers meet here pre- liminary to the conference with Landis, and the other what, will come of the Johnson Landis feud when the two baseball leaders face each other. Landis is assured of the support of some of the club own CTS in Johnson's circuit, including President Comiskey Of the Chicago White Sox, who has been inimical to Johnson for many years. Dis patches from the baseball confer ence at French Lick Springs quoted Clark Griffith, president of the Washington club, as saying, John son should have resigned two years ago.
 When Commissioner Landis gave out the Cobb-Speaker investigation involving the charges of Dutch Leonard, former Detroit pitcher that the two former managers had knowledge of a thrown game in 1919, both of the principals denied the accusation and asked for a re- hearing, rumors that there was more back of the case than involv- ed in the published record, led Iandis to call a hearing here Mon- day to go further into the situation Attorneys for the two former ball players will be here and possibly the two principals.
 Johnson's explanation of the counts against Cobb and Speaker was given in these words:
 ''As leaders of men, they were failures and they were not giving their best to the public. The Leon- ard charges Involving them were jnconsequential, though Cobb's let ter to Leonard was foolish and something that should never have been written.
 The chief reason why the Amer tcan league will have no more Of them, is that they failed to, live ur to their responsibilities to the pub lie As baseball club manager Cobb should have been training ma rines at Paris Island. His way of handling players will not be toler- ated in the American league.
 Speaker allowed his club to drift into a habit of daily betting on horse races, and the American league has always been opposed to betting. Ball players are paid to give their. best to the public, and they cannot do that if they are thinking of winning S4,200 pools on horse race. Speaker has gambled all his life, and. if that betting habit had been stopped. I think the Cleveland club might have won the pennant last year.
 "'Talk of crookedness had no part fin our decision to demand the resig- nations of these two managers. They simply were not equal to their jobs, when they go to a ball game, that the players are giving their best ef- forts to win, and neither Cobb nor Speaker was getting the most out of his team.
 When the manager has betting commissioner in the park every day, placing the bets of the players on horse races it follows that the ball game is not receiving his entire at- tention.
 The league has a rule against betting, though it does not specif- cally state that horse race betting is meant. We do not mean that play CTS must not go to see races when they have an off day, or bet s2 but when a group of players wins s4,200 in one pool, certainly they are not giving their entire attention to base ball, as the public has right to expect.
 Cobb is one of the greatest play CTS the game ever saw. but when he began to threaten his players, that he would railroad" them out of the game, something had to be - done. wrote him more than a score of, letters, demanding that he stop his practice of signalling every pitch to the man in the box. which delayed games an hour or more. But he did not stop. He still is a great player, but he was a failure as manager