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Show v 0. B. LOST OUNCE j TO mBUWDUS WM Could Have Had Honorable I Peace With No Loss to Itself. IT-y Tribune Special Sport Ponicc. YOIi K, Feb. An analysis of tbo baseball situation at yiroMmt vou-, vou-, vim'os ono thai, organ Uod ba.oball nia.lo a ghastly orror when it nlorti'd, ut'tor the do so of tho li'l t saou, to continue 1 tbo warfare ou tho Viis. : Tho Feds by iroing through tho 1014 sousou satis iuvl jjrai'.i.ii'ally ovorvone but. tho-e oranizi'il magnates that they were . in tho baseball busitu-.-s to stay. Thiv f convinced Tho skeptics that hoy had f unlimited bankrolls and that, t hoy 'won Id uso them to get bull players of tho l'irst grade. ; Tbo r'aet that many of the TYdrral Jpng-uo club owners built concrete sin-! sin-! diums am signed men to threo-vour contracts con-tracts that were absolutely biinfing nm fjr them, should have acted as a ' ' tip-ol t ' ' Y ot the et ici:ing-a round purpies ot' the reus, eveu bo tore the HH-I soasou opened. But the organized" magnates wore blind. Organized baseball was perfectly jns-tifieQ jns-tifieQ io fighting the 1'Vd? when" ihoy first showed ilieir teeth a year ago. The Teds threatened to burst up tho t monopoly that the American and Na-j Na-j tionat leagues had 311 the major league I baseball world. To fight to pvuUcf itfl interests wn? the proper tiling ro do. f And That's what o'raaujzed baseoall did. It's the wiso man though ami ouly tbe j wise man who knows when ho '3 beaten t who knows when to quit, t Organised baseball wasn 't wise. It didn't know when to tuit. It had its : chance at tbe close ot the 1914 season sea-son to call things quits and ;-avo itself from further Jammings. But it refused the ohance, and things have come to a sorry state for organized baseball since. To make peaetTwith the .Veds at the close of the 4 sea so would have 'oft organized baseball little else than a waljop on its pride. It would have been something of an admission ou tho part of organized baseball that the Feds had forced recognition, bar That would be an admission only of a fact that tbo public knows now. ' The public loves a winner, but it also loves a game loser. When Peace Was Easy. Had organized baseball allied itself with the Federal leagun at the close nf the 1914 season how different things would be now. How much better for all the magrates and for all the leagues big and little. That trust suit never would have been filed. The International Interna-tional league and American association magnates wouldn't bo in a panic- as to tbe 1015 outlook aud baseball, instead of being in a disordered condition, would be back to normal and facing general prosperity. The organized folks wouldn't have had to concede much to make peace. All the Feds wanted was major league recognition. recog-nition. There is room for a Third big league. The schedules in Brooklyn oidd have been arrauged so that the Brookfeos and tbe Dodgers wouldn't JP clash. The Feds might have been will-iiiir will-iiiir to ifuit- St. Louis and move on to rtroit, Cincinnati or Washington, where there is only one major league club at present. There is room in Chicago for three big league clubs. The city 15 divided into sections aud iu each of the sections where the rival clubs an located there is a big enough population to support the club in that section. The Baltimoro situation could have been adjusted as it has bfen adjusted the transfer of the Internationa! league franchise to Richmond, Va. The Buffalo Internationa league franchise could have been transferred to Syracuse, Syra-cuse, N. Y., or some other big town iu the east. The Feds could have been permitted to keep the players they bad grabbed from organized baseball. That would have constituted-their spoils of war. Honorable Settlement. ' Settling the baseball war at the end of the 1H14 season, after the Feds had convinced all but the most biased that they were a permanent proposition wouldn't haVe been such a complicated job, would it? Organized baseball, had it formed an alliance with the Feds, would have ' drawn into its select circle a group of men who would have done them honor aB associates. James G-ilmore, president of the Feds, is a hustler, a figliter and a good man to be tied up -with. The Ward brothers, who own tho Brooklyn Feds, have made their millions by fair and honorable dealings. Walter Mullen, one of the principal backers of tbe Buffalo Feds, is a clean-cut type of business man, who has made a reputation for honesty and industry. Judge Harry S. Goldman and Carroll Eaisin, officers of the Baltimore Federals, have enviable reputations. Edward Ed-ward Gwinner, president of the Pittsburg Pitts-burg Federals, is a genius in a business busi-ness way. He's square, honest aud he '9 W game. Charlie Weeghman, owner of the Chicago Chi-cago Feds, is one of the highest types ! of sportsman that ever was connected ( with" baeeball. Ten yearn ago ho was j poor; today he is rich. He made his money in the restaurant busine&s and f he made it honestly. Otto Stifel, owner j of the St. Louis Feds, made most of his money in the brewery business, as did Jacob Ruppert, owner of the Yan- i kees, through close application to buei- 1 neps and by square dealing. 5, Yep, when you think it" all over it looks as if organized baseball raae a monumental blunder when it refused to come to terms with the Feds after the Feds had firmly convinced even tho I : skeptics that they were in the baseball business to stav. |