Evening star., 1930-12-12
SPLIT COMES OVER
MATTER OF OPTION
IA Circuits Think They Can
Reach Top Class Within
Three or Four Years.
BY HERBERT w. BARKER,
Associated Press Sports Writer.

n YEW YORK, December 12.-
M Definitely alienated from
1 Y the majors, the three big
minor leagues, American
Association, international and
Pacific Coast circuits, hoped to-
day to build their organizations
to the point where they can chal-
lenge the base ball supremacy Of
the National and American
Leagues.
Charles H. Strub, president of the
San Francisco club Of the Pacific Coast
League, thinks the minors, in three or
four years, can SO develop their circuits
as to compete on equal terms with the
two major leagues.
What They Plan To Do.
The program that the minors must
follow to achieve this is fourfold as
Strub sees it.
First, the minors must have some
sort of court of final arbitration such
as is represented now in the person of
Kenesaw NJ. Lands, high commissioner
of base ball
Secondly, the big minors must ADOPT
toward the smaller minors the same
att tude the ma iors have in the past in
the way Of leadership and help.
Thirdly, the big minors must see that
in order to protect their own invest
ments. they must offer financial and
material assistance to leagues of smaller
classihcations.
Fourth, the minors particularly the
class AA circuits, must build them
selves up IN the next three or four
years to the point where they can cffer
themselves to the public as new major
league circuits
Strub pointed out that the three class
AA organizations have a far wider dis
tribution than the ma jorS, covering as
they do the country from the East
Coast to the West. He belieVes that
the big minors, BY keeping their stars
instead Of selling them to the majors,
can develop within a few years to
leagues of major classification, in fact
If not IN name.
He added that it was his belief that
the majors. with their stars growing
older and no longer replaced by young
sterS who used to come in steadily from
the class AA minors. will have drop
ped so in standard of play that they
will not be able to compete with the
class AA teams. who will, in the mean
time. have hung onto their stars and
developed them.
Most cities represented in the three
big minors. he went on, are plenty large
enough to support major league base
ball. He hopes eventually to secure
world series recognition for the three
class AA organizations, believing the
public will come to demand it.
Course Majors May Take.
The majors. on the other hand, per-
haps will see to it that certain class
A leagues are strengthened to AA
standards and then select these cir
cults for developing their players. The
ma jors still viii be able to draft play
ers from the smaller minors Just as
they have in the past, but the fact re-
mains that most major league ball
players have had to have the benefit
of class AA competition before they
were ready for the majors.
The wide-open split between the two
groups came over the question of option
ing out players for seasoning and the
price to be paid fer athletes selected in
the draft. The majors wanted to be
able to draft players who had had four
years experience in the minors any
where. The Glass AA minors insisted
they be allowed to hold player three
years, regardless of what previous
minor league experience he had had.
AS for the draft price, the majors offered
$500 where SIT 500 had been offered
at the recent Cleveland conference. The
big minors declined to accept any sum
less than $4,000.
When the conference reached an
impasse the big minors suggested that
the whole matter be referred to Com
missioner Lands for arbitration and
decision. but the major league repre-
sentatives turned down this offer.
Most observers felt that a costly base
ball war was in the making, with both
parties TO the dispute sure to suffer
financially through increased expenses.
particularly in the price of playing
talent. There were no signs at all that
either side would move one inch from
the positions they took at yesterdays
conference