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Show SPOK TLIGH T n Ex-Mighfies Got Little Mazooma By GRANTLAND RICE 1 Tht hounds of spring art now on winter's traces. 1 set Parnell advancing to the hill. I see fast Slaughter busy on the bases As lank Ted Williams leans against the pill. And who is that How marching from tht pen? Why, bless my soul it's big Joe Page again Pay Check Then and Now (VR ATTENTION was called, as you might say, to a number of salaries paid ballplayers recently. Joe DiMaggio and Ted Williams wora tVla nlir C7 OHf! s but there were sev-J sev-J eral that ranged from $35,000 to j $60,000, including .Bob Feller, Stan Musial, Tommy Henrich, Jackie Robinson and a few others. We are not in- Min.i4 In m U a A That was a total of $9,000 for Walsh and Jackson, who today would be cheap at $70,000 a year. Mafhcwson's top salary was $10,000. So was Hans Wagner's. Matty was easily- a $60,000 pitcher and Wagner an $80,000 or $100,000 ballplayer. How many are now around who have led a big league eight years at bat, in addition to being be-ing tabbed the greatest shortstop short-stop of all time? Cy Young was winning 20, 25 and over 30 games a year for a royal stipend, ranging from $3,000 to $8,000 a season. Maybe it was only $5,000 a year. He won only 512 games and wound up practicaDy broke after 22 years. Compared to old-timers, the ballplayers today are business tycoons and financial geniuses. They are getting paid 10 for 1 above the kings of yesterday. yester-day. An ordinary .260 hitter today can get more than Wagner, Jackson, Jack-son, Walsh, Mathewson or Alexander. Alex-ander. Ty Cobb made his money from a soft drink, not from a soft club owner. ... Shorter Pay Longer Years The old system of lower pay at least had one extra advantage for the club owner. The ballplayer had to hang around longer. For example there are a few 10-year men left in both leagues. Bat at the golden distribution dis-tribution which took place from 30 to 40 - years ago or some 20 years ago look what happened: Pop Anson hung on for 26 years. So did Jack Quinn. Ty Cobb spent 24 years in big-league big-league harness and Hans Wagner Wag-ner was on deck 23 years. Tris Speaker and Nap Lajoie adorned the infield and outfield for over 22 seasons. Cy Young was a 22-year man. Remember these wore all stars the top of the flock. There are any number who worked on the big time lot for 15 to 18 years. But today Joe DiMaggio is one of the long-time veterans left. Managers will tell you that the game has grown so much faster than it used to be that only a few exceptions can outlast 10 or 12 years. Well, Cobb hit around .330 in his 24th campaign. Wagner was still a star in his 43rd year and his 23rd season. I'd rather have had Wagner at 38 or even 40 than any shortstop in the game today. Someone asked Jack Quinn one day how it was that he was still pitching after 24 seasons. "That's easy," Quinn said. "A wife and six children." Grantland Eice tears over anything any-thing that happens in this upside-down world, but it seemed at the moment that tears were due for the old guard Matty, Alexander, Cy Young, Lajoie, Walsh, Delehanty, Joe Jackson on through a long list of ballplayers, ballplay-ers, certainly the match of any we have today. I recall the feud that developed between Nap Lajoie and Ed Delehanty Dele-hanty of the long-ago Phillies. "We were getting $2,500 a year," Lajoie told me once. It might be remembered at the time both were hitting around .400. Delehanty had just struck off four home runs in one game. They agreed to stick it ont together for $3,000 a year two ballplayers who today would be good for at least J75.000 a year. It seems that only Delehanty signed for $3,000, leaving Lajoie out in the frosty cold. So Larry jumped and signed with the Cleveland club of the new league for $8,000 an incredible incred-ible salary, paid by Charlie Somers, the millionaire. Then I looked back and recalled Big Walsh who pitched 66 games in 1908, of which he won 40 and saved 12 others. The great Walsh threw his arm away that season for the princely sum of $4,500, paid him by a wild spender known as Charles Comiskey. Comiskey also paid Shoeless Joe Jackson around $4,000 or $4,500. All that Jackson could do was to chase Ty Cobb with a batting average of .410. |