| Show J I PRESS I CAUSES TROUBLE I Exp Expert rt Declares r s Fans Are DiS' DiS I gusted With Boosting t I of Recruits J Ii I InY S i nY BY HUGH i iM S. S PULI IT ORg ORE than sixty minor league bat ball I M MORK VI drafted purchased an am and recalled are arc now on active trial in the thc major leagues Perhaps 17 11 players have been gathered in by th the I scouts and tipsters to be tried out oui bY byi major teams The result i is that the lineups of or practically cv every ry club in inthe the tho big circuits save Interested Interested Inter Inter- ested in fights fight f for r position present presen re en strange weird bd erratic lIneup lineups l changed almost eVer every da day The public Is paying to cee see manager eAp experiment with new and unknown wn m material ma- ma ma-M ma and paying pain cham championship to watch spring training season base i base j trail ball Already a a. S score Ote or more of ot the tho youngsters purchased from the minors minor hove have been discarded 1 sold or or traded n s worthless Others are arc being collected chiefly to be used as trading material by astute owners and managers Perhaps Perhaps Perhaps Per Per- PerI I haps not over twenty of or the players will Wll last in the major leagues lagues If from th tha collection of oC weird athletes now foisted upon the thc public a half hatt dozen doe I jj really reali first CIa class f players are arc developed It will be far above the average J Somehow v club owners o and managers managers' 9 themselves themselves' do not bot appear to realize tha f b by their tactics they aro are cheapening and I damaging the national sport port Few o them can sea seo seo that they are hurting their own business and destroying the the- lIvo interest of the fans I do not ad i ft ad-ft t vance this as m my view I know it be f cause each week I talk to score and i often otten hundreds of live JIve baseball and the they feel the same way about it The truth is Is' that with the iS d bled prosperity of baseball there ha haa come an era era of ot pre press s boosting that is doing more to baseball as a sport and aa u a a. business L than anything Iso else i Consider the big failures of the pr present pre pres- t en ent t season The greatest have be been n tM th Cincinnati Reds the New York m Highlanders High i b br r landers lander and the Chicago White Many persons are sincerely puzzled t to understand the pitiful failures fl of thes theae thee i f teams of the Cleveland Clevelend team of ot the the- Philadelphia Nationals These club club are not nearl nearly ao so great as u th tb fans generally believe e them to be AH All Alli t of the five with the exception of tn the Phillies stands now just about where whet t It belongs and always belonged no noran Thor ran the race about as an they should h har hs- i idone I Idone done with the exception of th the I Sox Box and the Reds who by early I spurts lifted themselves a s little r rIn 1 In percentage and perhaps IB In position than they really belonged belong 1 Tet Yet ninetynine ninetynine ninety ninety- nine out of ot every very students of baseball baseball base base- 1 ball and all BaTe sare one on among mone a mUtton million fans will declare that the team taini tell fell down and argue arKue that the they ought to tobe tobe tobe be hl higher er In the theTo rae net To To Much Hook I vola The TeNOn reason for tor the dl of ot the fans tans anc and to a Jar large e a a. eon- eon tributary cause of ot the failure o of the teams ha bu bet been the press preas of oC of young ball players and the work of ot the publicity agents of ot the owners ari and 5 managers The hopes of ot the fans fan hav have been raised far tar beyond reason by the th th j glowing stories of ot how good rood certain players are some rome players have ha been rendered nervous ous and useless s. s other have ha swelled 51 and gained such Inflated Inflated Ideas of ot th their ir own owe importance that they 1 were be beyond ond teaching and beyond control control con con- troi of managers before they learned enough to play major league balL Cincinnati has tho the trouble In form Every winter the press agent as of the team work desperately Inventing stories to exploit tho the skill and speed of ot players Each spring the Cincinnati public has been stirred to great expectations I and as soon as te team shows Its iti weaknesses the pub public 11 c. c angry and disappointed disappointed disappointed dis dis- appointed turns against the players antS manager and makes conditions worse The players th themselves feel teel it and th the thel result Is a broken team This season the high expectations expectation were lifted to the tha altitude above e where Doc Doe Cook tried to got ot The team started winning When the Inevitable faltering due to weak pitching came the public was worse orse than ever er Today scarcely a handful of spectators att attend nd games there the th players are disgruntled disorganized and anti all are disappointed yet yet tho the team stands in percentage extremely close to where it H rea really II belongs on comparative strength of clubs club White Sox Sex Another rh The Chicago White Sox Sex Is another team that has be been bean n Injured b by the tho lavIsh lavish lav lay ish lab advertisement of Its players It i j ia Ls L's a R joke oven even among the White Sox Sex fans They greet each new player as aR Heres I another Cobb The Tue pre press s has palled upon them theta If It the they should find tInt players us liS great as as' they arc are claimed to tobe tobo bo be it would take a n long long- longtime time for tho the I fans fan to believe the thc Almost every player secured is at once touted as a a. world beater tho the cr crowd wd reads read expects to see wonders and hoota hoots when tho the player falls fails to live h up t to his advance notices Philadelphia the Highlanders and some i other othel teams teams teams' hate haVo suffered from the same thing I hL have often heard hear complaints lally from froni Chlea Chicago o fans tans that the baseball baseball base base- 1 ball writers rs of ot Chicago favor Cavor the tho Cubs This rIds Is and it not ot tru true truo In the nr first t place President personally Is far moro more popular than the thc head of the tho I Cubs Cuba But Dut there thero Is an element that enters entel'S between them Manager Chance I lis Is not as popular us ss Jimmy Callahan I II Iet yet et et the complaint i is that the Cubs got get ot I the tho better of oC It The Tho reason Is that Chance Is ls perfectly frank and open with tho the writers of baseball who are arc his friends He trusts them they ther trust him limit Have Un you OU el eer noticed how lion much more Intelligent ent and 1 fair fall the criticism I of the Cubs Is 15 than tItan Is the accounts oC or j White While Sox Sex games games' The reason is la that Chance tells the tite reporters the tho inside of or e If It he lie Ilo g not wish It printed he requests that It be bo not printed print print- ed and it seldom ever eyer Is Thc ric reporters I know Imo what Is II going on understand r conditions ami are arc able ti l to write fairly and Intelligently not on only o of oC the games but of or the thc players The White So Sox mana management seldom gives out an any in information In- In formation The rhe l' l reporters have havo to U use uso their h e eyes es ann and guess or print the vivid press n agent ent stuff sture d dait oit out to them Callahan has tried to cOrrect this and antI has succeeded to some extent I Chance Explains No 0 baseball writer however or eX experienced I ene wilfully makes mistakes Tb The manager who Is wise enough t to give o f him him the tho facts even If 11 on only to use I Mi lila guidance fairer ac ac- F counts The Tine other da day a n student of the tho game gamu was talking to mo nie of or a curtain certain f. f critic i I L 1 cant can't understand It It he be remarked When Iten hen ho Ito writes write for fot the Cubs ho he seems I Ito to know the tito gums gamo hut but when a writes P of ot the thc r team ho he dOt i He lie scarcely I could understand that U wa was instructing th the young re reporter reporter reo- reo fl porter and that he lie leall really was wa as reflecting J knowledge e o of b baseball whereas where where- H as fiS when lien on tho south side ho Ito was Wa writing writ In log ing what he Inc knew and saw sav himself iM It I |
