Show I I MATTYS MATTY'S MA COLUMN Sport Comment and Views By Christy Mathewson the New York Giants' Giants Famous Pitcher Copyright 1915 1015 by the tho Wheeler Syndicate Inc It was riot not so long a ago o I predicted that too many lawsuits lawsuit and investigations in would materially injure bac baseball for tho the public is h in tho the sPort and not in the tho wrangles growing out of it Therefore I think the tho present action to determine whether vliet her organized baseball is a trust truet is a good ROod thin thing for it should go n a long w ways Ys during the tho off season eaon when there are no pennant t. t races in m progress to clear up tho the row ro between organized baseball and the rc Federal cral league It should mean that there wont won't be several lawsuits pending throughout tho the season with fans uncertain whether bether a s star r will represent tho borne home club or whether ho lie will be he with the outlaws It is just t tire the e sort of hou house cleaning that baseball ha needed for moro more than n a year It is my notion that the Federal league will ivill tOmo conro out of it t. t the loser anti and it looks to me like the last li stand of the outlaws the card which tM have bavo on thoy decided to stake ever thing If the case goes against ng and his crowd I dont don't tho Federal league will wiH attract much attention ever c very or much again Of course the tho Federals have bare helped many of oC tho better known players t to higher salaries provided pro for in contracts of from ono one to three years but they have havo hurt burt quite as 8 many players ors as the they have helped and they wi wil wilf injure a n much Jar larger cr number ur this season I will ivill admit that tho the Federal league resulted in tho the Giants giving mo Ino a very erV generous contract after tho the outlaws outlaw had made me an offer to manage one of their clubs club but I did not uso use this otTer offer as a wedge c. c In fact I said to Mr Hempstead the president ot of the tho New V York club cub when hon I met him at Marlin not q quito to a n year ago to arrange arrango the tho new con tract trad H If If you ou have ha rca read in the thc newspapers that tho deral league mado made me inc a In an offer I i dont don't want you to think that I have conic como here bere to use uso it as a 3 means t to get tet a higher salary I intend to finish out my days with organized baseball 1 if 11 you caro earn to make mako me ma a n. fair proposition However lowe I don dont don't t doubt hilt but that the tho Federal league activity it was partly Instrumental In Ia in the tire good contract which I signed with irith the Ofa Giants ts However r i it did not call calI for as ns much as the Feds offered me I know that TV Ty Cobb anc and Tris Speaker and others have also been benefited by the outlaws But Dut how ho about the tho rank ranI and file man who is is carried by a bl big league team in periods o of prosperity and nad who is cut down when retrenchment sets fets in 1 Tho now player limit will wm send back to the f bushes or keep out of jobs iob this season eaOn many manyen very en f fair players who bo would otherwise be carried The new cv rule which is intended to cut down expenses will handicap cap the tho mana managers ers sine since I the figures ures show that every cn club in both big bug leagues carried moro than twenty twenty- one men on its pay roll roU throughout hout most of last season Many In players who might have ha made good iu in the tho big league if they thoy had hall tho the chance ma may never nove get the tho opportunity t because of ot tho the superficial way in in which th the managers will wil necessarily be forc forced d to cut down tho the large squads s which will report port to the tho spring pring tra training ning camps Lot us look Ionic at past history a n. moment to see ee what t stars stare of the last lust few years would have ht been thrown o into the tho discard disca had the tho managers been heen for forced ed to eon confine ino tho number of men on their clubs to twenty one plovers I very much doubt for or example if McGraw v would ever have hap carried carrie dRubo Rubo Mar Marquard ar t in pla place o of a veteran through h those lean two o years i if f C he hI had been per mitten to hold bold only twenty ono men on his Iris club Yet I figure that that Rubes pitch pitching in was largely largely- responsible for the winning of tho the pennant by the Giants ill III n 1012 HH and 1013 If If McGraw had turned him loose his bis club might never ne have hayo won on those two championships Connie Mack ack patiently carried carrie Eddie Collins on the tho bench enc for two tro years while he was wa learning the thc camo for tho tholo o wore days das of pro prosperity for the Athletics Would ouM Connie havu hau carried earned this t r and cut loose a 1 feh veteran ran as ho he would have c been forced forcel to do if tho the league laws had then pro provided ed that his clubhouse J c could harbor no DO more moro than twenty twenty one one players I doubt it Yet Connie recouped sonic some of his falling fortunes lately by selling Collins for a matter of about OOOO Jimmy Jinmy Archer came up rip to tho the big league three times before ho he was lS finan finally accepted on once co to Pittsburg once to Detroit and finally to the thc Curos Cubs ills Bin work since he got a chance shows what hat a a. valuable man mati he O is and clearly dearly indicates that be ho was wo never given iren a no fair tryout when he first tried to break in even eyen un under er the tho looser conditions prevailing in tho those o lays days If another Jimmy Jim Jimmy nn- nn my Archer should arrive from frol l the minors this spring his chances of makin making making g good goil would be bo greatly Teath reduced l b by the new ness player limit rule He lie probably wouldn't oven enn be he well looked at Jt McGraw would have c hired Schaeffer as a tonic for the team except for the now new 10 player limit The Tho bad financial season in tho the minor leagues leaguE last t summer has deci decided e most of these club owners to cut expenses and nd reduce salaries to the bone All the tho small clubs win will carry earry fewer prayers players and man many owners arc are planning sweeping changes in the tho makeup of their teams as s they do not not feel fecI that the old men will deliver as too good baseball for them with their salaries reduced because they would naturally he be dis cd If I nm am going going- to cut salaries ns as I must do o to keep my mv property from bein be- be in ing a I losing proposition again nain this season declared a prominent m minor nor league ue club owner oner to mo mc recently I am coin going to begin with n a now new set of players for forI or orI I can cant t see ee the tho oM old ones aries working orkin their heads off for less money They didn't work any auy Ill too bard hard for what the they got last rear vear Tho The situation means menns hardship on the players of the tho lino because there will willbo willbe bo be fewer fower openings n in tho the major an and l minor minor leagues n and d the tho minor league salaries s will ill bo ha cut right und and left The Tho player is 15 t th the tj sufferer in tho end cad from this war ar HP lie i is M l feeling feeling- it now |