Show ODD onn CONTRACTS Of BAll BALLPLAYERS PlAYERS Magnates agnates Have to Deal With Queer Characters in Sign Signing Signing ing Up Talent BY HUGH S FULLERTON SIPI a 11 I pl cr to a contract Queer quor conditions ks joke ot oC the entire matter motter Is that te eer ws WILS A 8 contract made In base buse Iii op on the regular contract that would hold for tor ton ten minutes II a turf of law but just the same they are becu o the bas tIon or f the country make their own and enforce them theman Man an have to deal deILl with some odd and often otten the contracts the they make with Ith the players who as a rule know ot or law and little ot bust busl UfO arp things I once helped high ft a pitcher who In his con contract contract tract that hf he Was to be permitted d to take taku two of tobacco a day and smoke a cigar each day He had bad heard board that ma major majot jot jor gue e players were forbidden to te or H W and ho he did not to be or of the these e privileges Waddells an Odd One ODe Oss of f th oddest things ever entered Into Was th the contract between the 1 rago National If league club and George Georgo Edward Waddell as rained framed by Thomas who Was 0 and is one ot of the tho best bast kl ir the world Rube had In th lb language c or of T Dono hue t through h In Pittsburg He Je wu threatening to SO SOral sev ral member or of th team and as on cue of hiM hh Boston him hm so 80 lid did Chicago o ton offered to give him for tor the or of the And Chicago was wan willing to 71 him only 2400 Loftus wal wa delegated to sign n Rube and make him be glad to knock off 1100 from his from the end of May to the middle or of October Loftus cornered Gore Edward and jollying him I Ill lii tH you Tom said Eddie Id rather play pia with yUh you than with Boa Bos ton but they otter offer me 1100 more mora Than all right akl Tom Dont let t a little thing like ilk that stop you ou from joinIng a good ball club with a lot ot of good 1004 fOllows For Tor perhaps hap halt half an hour the they argued In that line and then Tom said nl atoll III you Eddie what Ill do You cn that and when we get to Nw York ork Ill I 1 buy you OU the best Panama hil ha I In town MI II right said Gego o Edward II t put that In the contract It In the tho contract I ft HI George Ed perfectly satisfied I and joIned the team When S flIP got ot to New ew York Loftus bought him I I Ih I 1100 S SN 3 N Never v r Kept Contract lamee A JL once onee a from frum AlL Ala to one ot of the ever fTer framed and nd If that play rr er had IIVO up V to his hla agreements the thc National I Iague a te would have hav seen the th tar itar that ever the game somethIng happened to him be for Hon o h died ton to lIve At an any rate h it to keep th contract The pf pr wrote rop to Hart during the thi and to told him how bow good lie ho was Amon other things he said I hit 9 this summer I Welt wail In t tin hI and cnn can do as a S Nn I league e My ty fielding a wa 1111 1 Ud ad tt It would have havo been bee U g helter ut for tor the bad bIld scoring we bay hav 0 down hero and bad players on our ou r whose hoe errors were charged to me m I will III I to hit In the ti II uri J 1500 Hart it Ht forwarded him a t I for the season pro pr lIn LI l did U is 16 Ii agreed The COT con I trail wn and returned but the Ui LO appeared That Was one or ie ral n win the pennant it tr kr Race to Get Player f i th the moat hunter hunt r r ir in the world wol returned Crom n nIC 1111 W trip with ith a contract signed up in due cl IC form I 1 I W ws fI In war days and both bot Ii rt after n a c certain LO I HC for the winter Finally Finall ly tJ ayer far Car up in En I It T t dc tb See eo who 10 t f I t i Ti halt a start on the rep rei i 11 or of th rival league and mn le e L I the best of It He lost his grIp at Great F alls but plunged on and found the thc i po player layer p He knew that the next train only o n a few tew hours behind Would bring tho th e rival rhal and that a bidding match for tor the th e services ot of the player would result Ted found the player made mado terms and was w as reaching for the contract to be signed s when the train bearing his whistled w In Then ho he dIscovered that he had h ad lost loet the tho contract with his hi grip He thought Quickly and jerkIng off ocr his c wrote out the tho contract terms I Upon It ft and the player signed just as the gent agent a ot of the rIval league loague appeared rhe fhe story attributed to C Dryden that Ted T ed signed the tho player for the Boston club lub c and that Conant refused to him h im for tor the tho lost cur cuff Is declared untrue repay repa Joke On Reporters One spring In Chicago we had an entire new n ew crop ot of baseball reporters turned l and upon them I perpetrated a joke j oke It was wan just before the opening of If the he t baseball season and the same old grist g rist of senseless gossip was being re hashed h Ono One morning I turned loose a tory story s to tho effect that J Ryan had not signed s hI contract That day James A Hart was besieged by b y angry reporters who accused him in nil a ll sorts of wa ways 8 ot of favoring me and Ing l ug me Inside Ups tips They demanded ex cx p and apologies Hart was be w and pained until they showed him h im the paper with Ith a story ston to the e effect that hat t R Ryan an was not sIgned The joke of oC it was that during hIs 1115 t wenty years cars with the ChIcago National league eague l club Ryan never signed a con tract t Agree Not to Drink There Thore are dozens of players In each major league who sign contracts Poach each spring pring s n agreeing not to drink during the season eason s and to forfeit certain sums Qt of mone money In case aco they thoy break some or o f them keep one ot of these agreements There Thore was n a case like Uke this in the old Chicago ball club The player was a man who was religious and a man or of his word In I n every sense and besides that a crack InS i ng good pitcher but he could not resist drink when he met a crowd of good fel ol lows l That season he signed an absolute pledge with the management agreeing not to drink during durinS the year and t tt for felt for each time he broke the agree meat ment Late In August wo we played In Pittsburg and the player pitched one of the greatest games of his career That night ho and I 1 and a a couple Ot Of others jumped to Boston leaving the tho rest of tho ho team to play an exhibition on the tho WU way The Tho evening was hot the car stifling and the beer cold Some one Invited him to drink and he refused although ex cx pressing a great longing for tor just one bot tie tle Alt All the tho ur urging of the others failed Caned to shake him Finally I remarked Hart Is at the Walton alton In Philadelphia Wire him and set get permission to take a drink We Ve wrote this message James A Hart Walton Valton Philadelphia May lIay I 1 drink a bottle of oC beer The message was as sent from some place down In I In the thc evening and as the train rolled Into Erie there carne came a reply from Hart who had read the of the at The Yes six abc bottles and Ill pa pay for them |