The Washington times., 1929-01-31
.EX T0RTI)N
IDEA GE I s
FOOTHOLD
BY Davis J. Walsh

NEW YORK, Jan. S0.-Al-
legations are being alleged to-
day that baseball is beginning
to regret the moment OF weak
ness in which it lent its au-
spices to the project by which
PLAYERS arc rewarded at the
end of the season because they
were detected in the act OF
being valuable to their en-
ployers.
such a man ought to be re-
warded. of course. if only in recog-
milton of his unique tendencies, put
IL seems, unfortunately, that the
project has an inclination to give
the winner ideas and, as everybody
knows. a ball player with ideas Is
very liable to be a terrible thing.
In any case, they are blaming
the most valuable player awards,
for the fact that Mickey COch-
rane, of the Athletics, and
Freddy LindstrOm, Of the Giants,
are definitely listed among the
hOIdOuts of the 1929 off season.
Cochrane won the American
League award without any great
contest; Lindstrom made the Ma
tional race with Jim Bottomley so
close that New York felt it had
been chivvied most grievously when
Bottomley was declared the winner.
They say Cochrane wants $4,000
extra for consenting to associate
himself with the Philadelphia ball
club and it must be conceded that
this is a lot of money. even. II he
doesn't get it. However, the fact.
that Cochrane became ambitious
concurrently with the award OF ne
league prize may be mere circum-
stance. as quite probably is the case
with any demand Lindstrom IS
sponsoring.
Both had big seasons and un.
doubtedIy would have been com.
nlitted TO extOrtiOnate notions,
even If nobody ever had heard
of q player who actually was
valuable.
The average club owner viii sub
scribe to this theory in part, while
filing an exception to the claim
that PLAYER awards have little bear.
ing on the situation. He viii admit
that the player needs no incentive
in the matter of asking for money,
90 he naturally is somewhat irked
that he. out of the largeness OF his
great. big heart, has provided the
incentive, anyhow.
According to his testimony, the
ball club loses both ways by the
transaction. First in money, which
is always first, and second, because
somehow the player seldom reacts
favorably TO the honor that mas
been bestowed upon him. They
point to Cuyler as a. prize exhlDll.
Il is a fact that he never was the
same player after he got the. lnod.
in 1925. They point too, to
Hornsbv and Vance, whose work
deprecated, although personally is
cant see iHornsby hugging the
honor to his bosom. Granting That
he isn't the man he was and lla sTit
been for several SEASONS, his de-
cline obviously is a matter Of nature.
ANYHOW, the makHateS dFCr
sure they have made a big mis-
take. with the whole business
and why they didn't figure that
cut in the beginning, / can't tell
you.
Certainly, they had ample warn
ing from the fact that once they
had to kill the automobile prize
that used to go to the league batting
champion. OF course, this melted
nobody to ravage the treasury the
following year because a batting
champion becomes a ravager auto
matically and without the slightest
provocation.
The award was nullified because.
I4ajoie got seven or eight infield hits
in the final double-header OF the
season to beat Cobb out Of the
championship, upon which it was
decided that baseball probably would
contrive to bear up bravely without
this business in the future.
The most valuable player awards
happily are arrived at. in a
much less, haphazard way. They
have their recommendations, too.
But whether these balance the LA
bilities, which include campaign log
rolling and the dissatisfaction fos7
tered among defeated candidates, is
a question that must be answered
nv ha SnhaII itself