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Show P!TY THE POOR BASEBALL MAGNATE VVHILK the plaj'crs. through tho medium me-dium of Dave Fultz, aro preparing prepar-ing tho griddle for tho club owning class, reciting their many grievances against tho drawers of contracts. It may be Just ns well to call attention to ono big handicap under which the club owner labors. At nil times tho player has It in his power not only to nullify his contract with a club owner, but ho can nlo deprive de-prive him of a. large negotiable .-sset Just as surely na If he yegged the dcugh out of a strong box. Death, accident, aulklncss, whim, butter but-ter opportunity or any one of a multitude multi-tude of reasons may Induco 11 baseball star to quit a team nftor his purchase for. say. 310,000. Tho day after ho ro-ports ro-ports to his new owner If he chooses to quit tho nrona tho purchasing mag-unie mag-unie Is 10,000 cold beans "out" and those beans aro spilled with no hopo of recovery. Many Instances of this nature have occurred to blight the hopes of magnates mag-nates even moro than they Injured their pocketbooks. Probably tho three most notable oxnmplea In history are thoso of Amos Ruslo, Mlko Donlln and Floldcr Jones. For a whim and a matt or of 4200 fino Rusle quit cold on tho New York club. At the time he was esteemed a greater pitcher thnn'ls "Walter Johnson today. No doubt the club'H ownors, had they Imuglncd for a moment that Ruslo was in a permanent sulk, would have novor let the mnttor drift as far tu they did. Mike Donlln quit tho Giants when his presence on the club practically meant tho Championship to McGraw. Ho ritlrea because of a S-'.OOO a year difference over salary. His retirement cost the New York club at a low estimate esti-mate JG0.000. Fielder Jones quit at tho zcnjlh of his career and his ability as a player and leader. Ills retirement put Co-mlskey's Co-mlskey's club on tho toboggan, besides taking a big wad of kalo from tho Old Roman's stock book. Death has cost team owners nome of their asaot3 beforo they have had a chance to use them at all. A caso was that of Alan Storkc. whom tho Cardinals Cardi-nals traded to Cincinnati. He died beforo be-foro donning a Red uniform. Whims or alleged business reasons sometimes touch tho club owner In his purse, as was tho caBe with tho groat pitcher Orval Overall, who dccldod between be-tween seasons that ho was all through and quit cold. Tho magnate makes big money, hut he also has big losses and pays heavy expenses, If he falls to land a winner ho generally gravitates around thti moro oxlstenco stnge. It's one point the players should think on when thoy draft their bill of rights. |