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Show Coast Magnates Reported P to Be Bent on Ousting Salt Lake From Circuit Special Meeting of Directors Called for Saturday; Move to Reduce to Four Clubs Will Be Resisted; Re-sisted; if League Continues, Bees Must Continue With It. not have enough players. It was a chance for the Seals and they failed to take advantage of it. It is not known how miu'h money is behind the Seals or whether-those who are financing the club are willing to baclk a losing1 proposition, but it is known that there is no enthusiasm in San Francisco, and some of the newspapers news-papers are setting up a demand for the return of Harry Wolverton "to put some pep into the Seals." Would Parcel Players. It is no doubt regarded on the coast as a feasible scheme to oust Salt Lake and Vernon and parcel the players on the two clubs among those clubs which would remain. A cunning little scheme! Salt Lake has met every requirement. The club is in first place and the gate is tho best in the circuit. No condition imposed by the league has Salt Lake every failed to fufill. Its assets lie in its ball players and in its plant. That four clubs could confiscate the former, and render the latter worthless is not within reason. Fro?u this distance it looks as though the coast magnates are panic stricken. Now that they are brought face to face with serious difficulties they apparently apparent-ly are trying to crawl out from under at the expense of a club that is willing will-ing to go through even at a heavy financial finan-cial sacrifice. If the coast owners are not willing to meet the situation as Salt Lake is willing to meet it, then it i time to close down the league until the war is won and the pastime can be resumed re-sumed under normal conditions. Lane's 'views on the subject are not known, hut it is believed that he will take the position that if there is a league at all, Salt Lake must be in' it. j-xRKSIDKNT BILLY LANE of the LI Salt Lake baseball club left last night for San Francisco, where a special meeting of the league directors di-rectors will be held Saturday. The call for the meeting, so far as notice to Lane is concerned, was contained in a brief telegram from Allan T. Baum, president of the league. Baum gave no specific reason for calling tho meeting. The telegram said that ' ' questions of grave importance ' ' are to be considered. consid-ered. It is assumed that the situation presented pre-sented by the announced increase in railroad rates has prompted the coast magnates to call a meeting. This assumption as-sumption is based on nothing in par-ticular, par-ticular, and is a conjecture ventured because be-cause the. railroad rate matter appears to be the most pressing. There are, however, four other things l 't t. nay be behind the call for the ' 'Vting. The first and foremost of these things, as they affect Salt Lake, is the coast newspaper project to oust Salt. Lake from the league, cutting the circuit to four clubs. The second is a report that Tom Darmody, putative owner of the Vernon club, hae lost about all the money lie feels like losing and is ready to pull out. The third is the distress in which the San Francisco club finds itself. The Seals, in their recent position as cellarites, have been drawing little or nothing. They may be back of tile meeting writh an appeal for strength. The fourth is the possible effect of the "work or fight" order. Bees Will Stick. So far as throwing Salt Lake out of the league goes, it is safe to say that such a step will never be taken, even if court action were necessary to enjoin the coast magnates from executing their reported plii. Salt Lake is willing to quit if all the rest of the clubs quit, but it will ncVcr retire or stand for being retired unless the other five clubs also retire. If the coast club owners feel that the burdens which are being heaped upon the shoulders of baseball are too heavy to bear. Salt Lake undoubtedly would agree to suspend for the pcrio'd of llm war. Tt is easy to see how, by eliminating Salt Lake and Vernon from the league, and making it a four-club affair, the surviving sur-viving clubs could get much needed ball players. San Francisco, for example, ex-ample, is practically without an outfield. out-field. San Francisco fans will not go to the Seals' park if the men in charge of the club do not give them a team of pennant contending capacity. Seals Overlook Chances. The Seal owners have iterated and reiterated re-iterated their statement that they have tried everywhere and simply cannot get ball players. As a matter of fact, Salt VLake, as early as the training season, offered them "Ward Miller for little or k nothing. Moreover, Salt Lake offered iJii'in John Sullivan, a good outfielder, now leading the Northwestern league in both fielding and-hitting. Both offers were received wTith scant consideration, according to report. That was at a time when Salt Lake had a surplus of outfielders. Now Salt Lake has no more players than it needs and presently will |
