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Show I Speaking of Sports r ' Landis Ruling Checks Illegal Diamond Deals By ROBERT McSHANE (Released by Western Newspaper Union.) N NOVEMBER 12, 1920, follow- ' ing the worst scandal in baseball base-ball history, major league club owners own-ers selected Judge Kenesaw Mountain Moun-tain Landis as the man to set their house in order. It has taken a full 20 years since the Black Sox scandal of 1919 for some club owners to realize that they chose a man who is fearless, honest and has the courage and determination de-termination to do the job for which he was selected. His recent ukase directed against "cover-up" deals cost the Detroit Tigers 91 players whose talent was valued at $500,000, and $47,500 cash which Landis ordered paid to 14 other players in lieu of making them free agents. A baseball cover-up deal is one in which a club which ostensibly holds a player's contract is merely holding hold-ing it for some other club. The cover-up is contrary to the laws governing gov-erning baseball. These deals usually usu-ally fall into one of two classes "gentlemen's agreements, in which nothing official is put into writing, and false transfer papers. Practice Not New These subterfuges are not new. In 1906 three National commissioners drew up what is believed to be the first rule striking at such practices. Infractions of the rule can be traced back to the year of its inception. Even as late as 1938 Landis struck a strong blow by liberating more than 100 St. Louis Cardinal controlled players. Baseball men today are worried. National attention has been focused once more on the structure of the player eontract which sends a player play-er into virtual serfdom from the time he enters organized baseball until he retires. Once a player j ' - 1 JUDGE KENESAW M. LANDIS signs his name on a one-year contract, con-tract, he is a chattel of that club, whether it be a cellar-position minor or a top-ranking major-league club. He can be sold, paid and traded as the owner desires. Even though the contract expires in one year the reserve clause makes him the property prop-erty of that club for life, or until he is traded, sold or drafted. At the end of each season every organized club sends to headquarters headquar-ters a "reserve list," and the law governing it reads: "Thereafter no player on any list shall be eligible to play for or negotiate ne-gotiate with any other club until his contract has been assigned or he has been released." Fighting a Lost Cause Which means that no player, regardless re-gardless of reason, can sever connections con-nections with that club and go out and sell his services to the highest bidder. All he can do is try to hold out for a few more dollars when contract-signing time comes around. In case the club owner does not agree with him on a salary increase the player is licked before he starts. If he refuses to play he is suspended and therefore ineligible ineligi-ble to play in organized baseball. A trip to civil court would result in blacklisting. Baseball is a tight-knit fraternity. If major league club owners exercise ex-ercise any judgment whatever they will see the justice of his decision against Detroit. More than that, they will applaud it. Rulings such as this have restored the confidence of the American people in baseball. The national pastime is fortunate to have Judge Landis as its czar. As a helmsman he is unequalled in any other sport. Baseball fans of the nation know that. Therefore it behooves club owners to keep their skirts clean of any unethical practices which result in the public's loss of confidence in the sport. His decision against Detroit may bring renewed efforts on the part of what little opposition there is to Landis to relieve him of his office. The rules, whether fair or not, are on the books, and It is Landis' job lo see that they are obeyed. Detroit Is a case in point. They paid for breaking the rules. There may be other club owners guilty of infractions infrac-tions of the baseball code. If they are, it would be best for them to straighten out their affairs in double (juick time. Baseball's present play--r contract system could not with-:nd with-:nd a close public scrutiny. |