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Show I iJI CLUBS LIKELf !" 10 DISREGARD LIU I' Will Retain Ball flayers to ' Keep Them Away From Federals. It ia being ' whhspcrcd in. American Jeayuo circles, and Iiari bccnannounccd liy at least one National league manager, man-ager, that the "Mr shows" mil not regard Ibo twcnty-flvo-mcn rule thiB stiuincr. writes- 13. A. Bachelor in the BSSnPot tho Boston Braves was tho Tivsi man to drop tho hint ihnt swell a plan was proposed. George is authority, for the, atemofit that Tils loagn.i wfl pay absolutely no attention to any limit tins year, b ut will permit club owners to hung ou to all Iho men they rare to pay. This is aimed nt tho Federals, the idea being, not to tnrn any iilayon loose who mipht bo snared by tho "out-laws." "out-laws." Of course, not many big Ieafiiiors nro let co entirely onco they sign "P, but there aro many morf who would, jump to the JTedorals rather than accept ac-cept a minor league assignment, but who would bo perfectly content to sit on tho bench all summer. in select society so-ciety just 'as lonff their ohcclss arrived ar-rived .every first and fifteenth. President Navin of The Detroit ulub has heard nothing official regarding tho American lcaguo'H policy Jn tins respect. Ho says,, however, that ho would not be surprised to sec the limit disregarded so that plovers might bo keut out of tho hands of the l-ods. Some Could Be Spared. "There will bo some men taken ! south by every hjg loneiio club wnftin wo would be very glad to. let the 1 cdor-nls cdor-nls have," ?aid Mr. Uavxn. '-In fact, -nidging by some of the recruits who liavo tried to fool me, we couldn't find n moro offoctivo measure of fighting tho 'outlaws' than to wish a few. nt. these fellows pn them. At the same time, it would be foohsh to turn .any H good plavers loose so that tho. new . (eaeue might grab .them. Probably , Soft club? would bo willing to carry l a little excess hnggage rnst for tno ; sake of helping in tho tight. , Jt is almost a certainty that tno Federal league will have to alter its avowed policy ip one respect if it , intends in-tends o keep on doing business. This is in regard to paying all tho money to the pin vers themselves instead ot to the minor league ""'licni. ' Tt w.is announced by the "outlaws when thoy first began to make a noise that thev would not buy anybody, "Wo will givo the men the money instead of tlw owners' said) the lieds. "If we want a player, all we will havo to do is to offer him a bonus and he u-ill sign with us ;jnst as soon, an his other contract runs out." II Some Advantages. I In some respects this plan is a ! yood one, as it enables tho athlete to 1 reap the harvest instead ol tho magnates mag-nates who exploit them. But on the other hand, the very existence of minor mi-nor league ball depends on selling plnv-: plnv-: ' crs. Tt was announced not long ago by Secretary Farrcll of the National As-i As-i soeiation of Protessioual Baseball leagues, that nt least 75 per cent of 1 tho clubs in classes below A A fail to !, juakc money under present conditions. Whatever may be said uboutthe tremendous tre-mendous revenue accruing to, tho major 1 league magnates, it cannot bo denied . i that the majority of minor league clubs arc supported by men who nro real fans, and who back baseball, because thoy like the game. It is a matter of I patriotism with many of these iellows. ,.l They want their towns to have baseball , like that supported by a neighboring aud rival settlement and are willing to , go down into their jeans to help out. xj Immense Sum Involved. Even as it is. when the majors are II turning over something like $400,000 A n year for plavers, .it is a rare thing SI for the little circuits to .make money, l! and if this sourco of revenue is taken i! away, it will be hard to find men suffi-1 suffi-1 ciently patriotic to baclv a ball team 1 ina small town.. . f Tho result, if the Federals do not S see tho light, will bb that the httlo l leagues will be almost a thing of the . past. "With the disappearance of tho I small circuits, the crop of young ball i players will fall off terribly and in time tho colleges and sand-lots will bo " about the onlv recruiting territory for the majors. This will hurt the Federals Feder-als just as much as anybody else, assuming as-suming that they expect to put on top-notch top-notch ball, and will result iu a very much slower grade of baseball in the course of a few years than that, now being played. Collegians and semi-pro " . fcssionnl tosscrs cannot- be developed , in sufficient numbers to make up even one good major league, lot alone three. Latclv. it is understood, the Federals Feder-als have intimated that thoy may change their miuds about giving pluy-i pluy-i crs all the money and that they will I buv from the clubs just as the major ft leagues do at present. It is to bo hoped, for the sake of baseball in genii gen-ii oral, that fhov do this. |
