Evening star., 1928-10-17
PLAN IS BROACHED
TO HELP TRA|LERS
Scheme Enabling Them to
Buy Surplus From Leaders
Is Suggested.
BY WALTER TRUMBULL.


"OR long time it has looked to
l. me as if some real effort should
be made to strengthen the weak
i clubs in the major leagues.
There always are three or four
clubs against which even a sure-thing
gambler would bet 100 to /, and they
do little to add to the general interest.
Their role is that of punching bag.
It is true the second division clubs
receive the preference in the draft, but
the draft doesn't mean much any more.
Higgins didn't try to draft a player
this Fall, his theory being that if some
club hasn't thought enough of minor
Lacquer to buy him, he isn't good
enough to bother with. The entire
American League drafted only eight
men.
The situation is this: A leading club
doesn't often need a whole lot of new
strength. It can concentrate on few
new players. club in seventh or
eighth place probably needs pitchers,
catchers, infielders and outfielders. How
is it going to get them? Only by yealS
of building, and lot of luck.
Buying minor league ball player at
present prices is slightly more OF
gamble than playing the wheel The
small league may look like leaf from
Joe Miller's Joke Book in the majors.
An almost" good ball player is as use
ful in fast company as an almost good
egg in an omelet.
Poorest Clubs Taxed Heaviest.
So the clubs which can least afford
1t either have to make the biggest IN
vestment and take the biggest gamble,
or else go on trusting to luck that tney
will pick up a few jewels IN the ASH
pile or stumble across buried treasure.
There are not enough great players
to 90 around. There never have been.
Your correspondent has been peerlng
at ball players for many season, ana
has seen only one Mathewson, one Copp,
one Wagner, one Johnson and one KUN.
New York paid $125,000 for Ruth, but
many a club couldn't have PAID tnaG.
At the time it was considered Dig
price. Ball players have gone up. Ruth
today would bring many times TINS orig
inal price. And again the poorer clups
couldn't afford to pay. The trouble Is
that they would have to put up Cne
cash, and banks do not tinance a. oea,s
on as sky blue deal as ball player
A broken leg or a sprained arm means
that the goods are worthless.
With Sunday base ball and winning
team certain clubs can afford to Spend
money in experiments. They can Vlr-
tuallv corner the market. Other CLUBS
are not on a basis which permits them
an even chance. An ideal race would
be one with eight clubs coming TO tne
wire under blanket. The ideal is pc
yond the reach of humanity, but some
thing should be done to make for more
equality. What? I don't know. They
srI,% - nf Things.
Offers a Suggestion.
Each club for example. is allowed 40
men I'D to June Is. Then it. has to
cut down to 25. Let us suppose that
on June IS each first division CLUB OF
the year before was permitted to make
q list of 20 men, and that the seventh
and eighth place clubs of the year be-
fore each were permitted to buy, at
fair fixed price, one man from each
of those first four teams, taking their
choice of any player not included In the
reserved 20. Say the fixed price was
$4,000 player.
In this manner each of the two weak
est clubs would have chance, at an
investment of $4,000, which it could
manage, to get four promising ball
players. Each of the first division clubs
would lose two ball players out of its
store Of plenty. It would keep all but
two of its reserves. But the richer clubs
couldn't corner the field.
This scheme might not work. There
are objections to it, as there are to
every scheme. The fact remains that
some plan should be worked out by
which it would be possible for weak
and comparatively poor club to build
itself up, strengthen its league, add ex-
element to the race, and give the home
fans a run for their money
In the end, this would mean a great
er financial return for all the clubs
copyright, 1928, by North American News
paper Alliance1