Show c ir MW 0 0 american association players club owners and managers of the american association have been un usually active since the close of the 1902 campaign and have not only signed most of their old players but a lot of excellent talent as well in all there are about men under con tract before the treaty of peace was signed which finally brought the association within the ranks of the na lional association of minor leagues the magnates who are associated with T J hickey romped through the pas tures of the eastern new york and other leagues affiliated with the na dional and secured a number of the most promising young players whose whoso records last summer indicated that they were on the list of comers 4 As a result the american association Is prepared to supply its patrons with high class baseball next year the indianapolis champions are practically intact and manager wat kins has secured some promising men to try out next spring columbus looks particularly dangerous and has some fine talent under contract it if some of the players the toledo club has signed play up to their last seasons reason s form the aggregation dent strobel has secured Is destined to occupy a higher place in the race than it did last year louisville looks stronger and some stars have been added to the kansas city and min nea polls teams wilmot having se cured some pitching material which Is destined to shine choosing players in the east ilion and Ding binghamton hamton want demong of the local father mathew team tor for a catcher binghampton Bing Ding hampton lost its star man hitter ritter who went to brooklyn howard earl of illon ilion watched demong work in several games last season both manager earl and count campau manager ot of the binghamton team are known as gleat men to develop players and youngsters who have signed with them have in many cases worked into the big leagues demong s friends believe that he would work better with 11 II on as billy scanlon his old pitch er in amateur days Is with that team demong has a wonderful throwing arm and the way he shoots the ball around the bases Is his strongest point he ile is 1 a very hard worker and gives a pitcher great assistance and enczur argement he Is a fair hitter and with proper coaching would develop into a fine base runner and hitter the el mira fans would very much like to see him play in elmira again this season but will wish him well if he decides to enter professional base ball el mira N Y herald nat onal league work the national league Is to be condrat upon the good work accod polished at its annual meeting work positively beneficial to itself and pos sibly good for the sport at large the old organization rid itself of factional ism put its bouse house in as good financial order as conditions would permit and returned to first principles by burying the dead issues of last winter and electing a chief satisfactory alike to itself the press and the public that euch such a thing should have been achieved so soon after the last fierce faction fight which split the league Is remarkable and attests once more the wonderful vitality and recuperative power of the grand organization the old ship of state Is now once more launched on a sate safe constitutional course with a united crew and an able pilot and therefore in fair shape to face the future whether that bring peace or continued war sporting lif life e brush would vote for ban john T brush president of the new york club was not visibly surprised B a 1 when be he saw A H soden s bug suggestion that the national and american leagues be consolidated into one twive tw ive club organization with ban johnson as president I 1 have always favored a twelve club league said he as I 1 regard it as the only basis on which baseball cm ern be conducted without loss to its promoters or discord I 1 am heartily in favor of the consolidation of inter ests in those cities where two clubs are now located and the formation of one national league of twelve clubs what of the proposal to elect john son president of the twelve club league was asked of brush if there Is a combination of the present conflicting interests and those interests desired ban johnson tor for pres ident I 1 certainly will not oppose his election 1 powers suspicious of big leagnes P T powers president odthe of ahe na lional association of minor leagues recently said he hoped the big leagues would reach an amicable settlement powers intimate d he was suspicious of the negotiations between the larger leagues and that the minor 1 eions would hold aloof till the fight was settled powers said any new national agreement would have to ba be minus the feature of heavy tribute heretofore paid the major leagues for protection that did not protect we need a new national agreement but we need it principally on account ot of the big leagues signed for washington club charles moran who has been signed by manager tom loftus for the wash ington american league club Is a na tive of that city he ile was born in washington twenty three years ago agas and began playing baseball at an early age when fourteen years old he waa 0 IV 71 atcher catcher and utility boy tor for the gon aga zaga college team of washington la in 1895 and the following year he was pitcher for the peekskill Peeks Peek hlll skill military academy team in 1899 1892 he began play ing ng shortstop tor for the georgetown erdity team where he has played iver ever since old time salaries the dl discovery covery of a few stubs from the check books ot of manager framl jack chapman of detroit 1884 make an in i te resting comparison with the salaries of bank presidents college professors and prominent divines players in those days were signed for a season of seven months and signed fortnight ly when detroit was admitted to the national league in 1881 pitcher derby and catcher bennet were the tho only members who received 1 1400 for or the season and hanlon 1100 was the only other member whose contract called tor for more than 1 1000 bennett dennett hanlon and pitchers getzell and weidman were the only 1881 men who were members of the big four and ten more team that won the championship pion plon ship three years and each was a star of ane first magnitude the book shows that a check tor for 45 was drawn in favor of john M ward manager of the new yorks being the club s percentage of the receipts for the last tour four games it played there harry wright manager of the phil adel phlas received a check for 05 tor for three games and borrowed tp meet his expenses exchange denounces contract jumpers george wright one of the greatest of the old time ball players has this to sa about the present condition of the game the contract jumper will contaminate any club or community and there Is no place on earth where his weakness will be played upon more than in new york I 1 blush tor for the old game where the contract jumper la Is welcomed diamond scintillations G A spooner of the of or last season has been signed by the st paul contingent J J Papa laus s terms to the toledo baseball club for his services have been accepted by that organization with gary cary de coughlin Coughl ln and moran manager lottus loftus of wash ington will have an infield hard to beat the philadelphia Da baseball club Is tor for sale col john I 1 rogers says the controlling son trolling interest can be obtained if the proper price can be secured chesbro the star pitcher of the year in the national league will coach the harvard candidates the coming spring last year cy young filled the tion all doubt as to where hartman ae te clever player of mckeesport McKee sport pa will be next year has been removed lie ile has attached his name to another st louis national league club contract in one baseball game played in kan sas city last season between the west ern league teams ot of peoria and kan haq sa city manager hart of the former says his share of the receipts was just |