EDITORIAL COMMENT
BY JOHN B. FOSTER.
PROGRESS OF AMERICA'S NATIONAL GAME
Two more nations have been conquered by the national game of the United States; a whole race has succumbed to the fascinations of the greatest of all outdoor sports. Both France and Sweden have announced their intention of organizing Base Ball leagues. That of Sweden is well under way. Indeed, they have a club in Stockholm and there are more to follow, while the French, who have gradually been awakening to the joys of athletic pastime in which they have hitherto chosen to participate in other ways, hope to have a new league by the expiration of the present summer.
There is no doubt as to their intention to play Base Ball. They are making efforts to procure suitable players from the United States to coach them and the French promoters of the sport are determined that their young men shall be given every opportunity to take advantage of the game of which they have heard so much, and have seen so little.
Last year in the GUIDE it was the pleasure of the editor to call attention to the fact that the Japanese had so thoroughly grasped Base Ball that they were bent on some day playing an American team for the international championship. It is not probable that such a series will take place within the next five years, but not improbable that it will take place within the next decade. When the Japanese learn to bat better, and with more effect, they will become more dangerous rivals to the peace of mind of the American players. They have grasped the general theory of the game amazingly well, and they field well, but they have yet to develop some of those good old fashioned "clean up" hitters in which the "fans" of the United States revel.
This season it comes to the attention of the editor of the GUIDE that more progress has been made in China in regard to Base Ball than in any fifty years preceding. True, there was not much Base Ball in the fifty years preceding, but now there is. There is a league at Hong Kong. There are Base Ball teams at Shanghai and other cities.
Dr. Eliot, former president of Harvard, who recently returned from a trip around the world, holds that Base Ball has done more to humanize and civilize the Chinese than any influence which has been introduced by foreigners, basing his statement on the fact that the introduction of the sport among the younger Chinese has exerted a tremendous restraint upon their gambling propensities.
It is a rather queer fact that where the civilizations are older in the countries of the Occident there is a greater tendency to gamble, especially among the young, than there is in the newer America. Doubtless this is largely due to the lack of athletic pastime. The young of those countries know little or nothing about simple amusements which are so popular in the United States, and acquire from their elders their knowledge of betting and taking part in games of chance, two evils which unquestionably have done much to degrade the race as a whole.
Base Ball has caught the fancy of the younger generation and the boys. Once they get a ball and a bat in their hands they are better satisfied with them than with all the gambling devices which have been bequeathed to them by a long and eminent line of forefathers.
So it would appear that the introduction of the national game of the United States into China is likely to exert a humanizing influence which shall go further than legislation or sword, and if only the missionaries had grasped earlier the wishes and the tendency of the younger element of the Chinese population, the country might be further along than it is with its progressive movement.
In the Philippine Islands the younger generation simply has gone wild over Base Ball. Progress has been noted in the GUIDE from time to time of the increase of interest but it is now at such a pitch that the boys of the islands, wherever Base Ball has been introduced, simply have deserted everything for it. They will play nothing else. The cockfights and the gambling games, which were also a part of the amusement of the younger men, have been given up. The little fellows who wear not much more than a breechclout play Base Ball. They have picked up many of the American terms and one of the most amusing of experiences is to stand outside the walls of old Manila and hear the little brown boys call: "Shoot it over. Line it out," and the like, returning to their native language, and jabbering excitedly in Filipino whenever they arrive at some point of play in which their command of English fails them.
Twenty years from now a league including cities of the Philippines, China and Japan, is by no means out of the question, and it may be that the introduction of Base Ball into all three countries will result in a better understanding between the peoples and perhaps bring all three races to a better frame of mind as relates to their personal ambitions and rivalries.
In connection with the widespread influence which Base Ball is having on both sides of the world, on the shores of the Pacific Ocean and on those of the Atlantic Ocean the editor would like to call attention to the theory which has been advanced by Mr. A.G. Spalding, the founder of the GUIDE, as to the efficacy of Base Ball for the purpose of training athletes, that has a worldwide application.
Mr. Spalding contends that Base Ball has lent no small assistance to the athletes of the United States in helping them to win premier honors at the Olympic Games since their reintroduction. Mr. Spalding was the first American Commissioner to the Olympic Games appointed to that post, the honor being conferred upon him in 1900, when the late President McKinley gave him his commission to represent the United States at Paris in 1900. Mr. Spalding, with his analytical mind has reasoned out a theory which is undoubtedly of great accuracy, and which is further corroborated by an interview given out in London—strangely enough on the same day that Mr. Spalding gave utterance to his ideas in Los Angeles—by Mr. J.E. Sullivan, American Commissioner to the Olympic Games at Stockholm last year, while returning to the United States after witnessing the triumphs of the Americans. Mr. Spalding said:
"I cannot say that I am at all surprised at the result at Stockholm. History has been repeating itself in this way ever since the celebration of the Olympic games was inaugurated at Athens. America won the victory there in 1896; she triumphed again at Paris in 1900; our athletes defeated the contestants at St. Louis in 1904; the victory was ours at London in 1908, and it was a foregone conclusion that we would win at Stockholm.
"But there is food for thought in this uninterrupted succession of triumphs. Why do our athletes always win? All other things being equal, the contestants in the country holding the event should naturally come to the front. Their numbers are always greater than those from any other country and the home grounds influence is strong. However, that advantage has not in any case prevented American success.
"Therefore there must be a cause. What is it? Measured by scale and tape, our athlete's are not so much superior as a class. The theory of 'more beef' must be discarded. We may not lay claim to having all the best trainers of the world. We must look to some other source for American prowess.
"I may be a prejudiced judge, but I believe the whole secret of these continued successes is to be found to the kind of training that comes with the playing of America's national game, and our competitors in other lands may never hope to reach the standard of American athletes until they learn this lesson and adopt our pastime.
"The question, 'When should the training of a child begin?' has been wisely answered by the statement that it should antedate his birth. The training of Base Ball may not go back quite that far, but it approaches the time as nearly as practicable, for America starts training of future Olympian winners very early in life. Youngsters not yet big enough to attend school begin quickening their eyesight and sharpening their wits and strengthening their hands and arms and legs by playing on base ball fields ready at hand in the meadows of farms, the commons of villages and the parks of cities all over the land. Base ball combines running, jumping, throwing and everything that constitutes the athletic events of the Olympian games. But above all, it imparts to the player that degree of confidence in competition, that indefinable something that enables one athlete to win over another who may be his physical equal but who is lacking the American spirit begotten of base ball.
"An analysis of the 1912 Olympian games shows that the American showed to best advantage in contests where the stress of competition was hardest. In the dashes they were supreme; in the hurdles they were in a class by themselves, and in the high jump and pole vault there was no one worthy of their steel. Whenever quick thinking and acting was required, an American was in front. Does not this fact prove that the American game of base ball enables the player to determine in the fraction of a second what to do to defeat his contestant?"
WHAT A SEASON OF BASE BALL COSTS
It may not be out of place to say a few words in regard to the greatly increased cost of Base Ball. There are some sensational writers whose hobby is to inform the public about the great receipts in Base Ball. Usually they exaggerate from twenty-five to thirty-five per cent.
Now as to the expense of Base Ball. Figures at an approximate for the National League will be offered. Railroad expenses for mileage alone $300,000, including spring training trips. Hotel bills $65,000. Sleeping cars and meals en route, $80,000. Salaries to players, $480,000. Total, $875,000. Add to this $30,000 for the salaries of umpires and their traveling expenses. That makes $905,000.
Now not a penny has been appropriated thus far for the salaries of the president of the National League, the secretary and expenditures of the office nor for the salaries of the business departments of the various clubs, nor for ground rents, taxes and a dozen and one other things, to say nothing of that well-known old item "wear and tear."
The receipts of Base Ball barely cover these expenditures. The alleged profits of Base Ball mostly are fanciful dreams of those who know nothing of the practical side of the sport and are stunned when they are made acquainted with the real financial problems which confront club owners.
But the money that is contributed to the support of the game almost immediately finds its way back into public channels. Less than thirty per cent. of Base Ball clubs realize what a business man would call a fair return on the amount invested.
A well-known writer on economic topics interviewed owners of Base Ball clubs as to their income and outgo. One of the best known of the National League men took the writer into his office and spread the cash book of the club's business before him.
"You may go through it if you wish," said the owner, "but here is the balance for the last day of the year."
It read as follows: Receipts, $250,505; expenditures, $246,447.
"That's answer enough for me," said the writer. "I am through with any more essays on the affluence of Base Ball 'magnates.' I think it would be better to extend them the hand of charity than the mailed fist."
THE NEW ORGANIZATION OF PLAYERS
The formation of an organization on the part of the major league ball players during the closing days of the season of 1912 was looked upon with some misgivings by those who remember only too well what happened when a prior organization of ball players was formed.
In the present instance those foremost in perfecting the organization have also been foremost in asserting that the players' organization's principal aim is to co-operate with the club owners.
If this object is followed with fidelity and to its ultimate conclusion there is no necessity to fear any grave disturbances, but there is a dread—that dread which is the fear of the child that has had its hands burned by the flame, that a selfish coterie of players might obtain control of the organization, set up a policy of unscrupulous defiance and destructive opposition and retard for a moment the higher development of the game.
There is no organization, either of unscrupulous Base Ball players or unscrupulous club owners, which will ever find it possible to destroy organized Base Ball. The results that organized Base Ball have brought about will never be annihilated although grave injury could be temporarily wrought by a force defiant to tie unusual demands made by the sport to perpetuate itself successfully.
It is simply out of the question to control Base Ball as one would control the affairs of a department store. Base Ball has its commercial side, but its commercial side cannot maintain it with success. There must be a predominant factor based upon the encouragement that brings forth admiration for a high class sport. This factor can only be fostered by the ability to maintain not one, but a group of high class teams.
Any ball player imbued with the idea that the "stars" should be grouped together in the city best able to pay the highest salaries simply is an enemy to his career and to those of his fellow players.
Without some handicap to assist in the equalizing of the strength of Base Ball nines of the professional leagues there will be no prosperity for the leagues or the clubs individually. No better evidence may be cited to prove this than the fact, repeatedly demonstrated that in the smaller leagues Base Ball enthusiasts in the city best able to pay the largest salaries frequently withdraw their support of the team because "it wins all the time."
To-day Base Ball, in its professional atmosphere, is nearer an ideal sport, a better managed sport, and a more fairly and equitably adjusted sport, than it ever has been, which is manifest proof of its superior evolution. Had results been otherwise it would have retrograded and possibly passed out of existence. Carefully comparing its management with that of all other sports in history the Editor of the GUIDE believes that it is the best managed sport in the world.
It is true that improvements can be made. It is evident that there are still commercialized owners not over capitalized with a spirit of sport. It is undeniable that there are ball players not imbued with a high tone of the obligations, which they owe to their employers and to the public, but it is as certain as the existence of the game that progress has been made, and that it has not ceased to move forward.
For that reason players and owners must be guided by a sense of lofty ideals and not be led astray by foolish outbursts over trivial differences of opinion, easily to be adjusted by the exercise of a little common sense.
BASE BALL PLAYED IN SWEDEN
In connection with the subject of "Base Ball For All the World," for which the GUIDE expounds and spreads the gospel, the Editor would submit a very interesting letter received by him from Sweden. it reads as follows:
Westeras, Sweden, Sept. 14, 1912.
To the Editor of the GUIDE:
We hereby have the pleasure of sending you two copies of the rules, translated and issued by the Westeras Base Ball Club, into Swedish from the Spalding Base Ball Guide.
The work of getting the book out has been somewhat slow on account of that the work of translating, proofreading, etc., all had to be done on our spare time, but it is done now, and I think we have succeeded pretty well, everything considered. The books will be distributed by a well-known book firm, Bjork & Boyeson, Stockholm, and will soon be available in all the bookstores in Sweden.
We got some advance copies out just in time for the Olympic Games, and I had the pleasure of presenting some copies to Commissioner Col. Thompson, Manager Halpin and others of the American Olympic Committee.
As you know, so did we have a game of Base Ball at Stockholm with one of the Finland teams, and as it may be of some interest to you to know the preliminaries to the game, I am writing to relate how it happened.
In trying to arrange for some amusements in the evenings at the Stadium, the Olympic Committee wrote us if we would be willing to take part in a game of Base Ball at Stadium some evening during the Stadium week. As our club this year was in poor condition, on account of some of our best players being out on military duties, we hesitated at first, but then decided to risk it, knowing very well that whoever we would play against, they would not rub in to us too hard. We pointed out to the Olympic Committee that it would not be very hard to get a team of Base Ball players picked out from the American athletes taking part in the contests, but as they would not be prepared for Base Ball, suits and other needed articles had to be provided for. We were then told to get necessary things ordered, and so we did. We ordered suits from a tailor in this town, after a pattern that I got from Spalding's this spring. The suits were of gray flannel, with blue trimmings for our team and red trimmings for the American. I also ordered bats and gloves, and with the things our club already had, we were very well equipped.
The Olympic Committee, Stockholm, then received a letter from the Olympic Committee, New York, saying that if a game of Base Ball could be arranged for during the Olympian Games, they would bring two teams along on the Finland. The Olympic Committee cabled to come along, and sent us a copy of Mr. Sullivan's letter. I knew, of course, that if the game could be played by two American teams, it would be a much better game than if our team took part, and told the Olympic Committee, and wanted to withdraw, but as they did not know for sure how it would be, told us to go ahead with the arrangements just the same, and so we did, and by the time the Finland arrived, everything had been arranged for.
The Olympic Committee has selected the evening, 7 P.M., of the 10th of July, for the game, and thought that this would be suitable to the Americans, but as some of the players had to take part in the contests, Mr. Halpin would not risk them then, so it was finally decided that a game should be played the 15th, the Americans to play six innings between themselves and then six innings against us.
Well, we had a game at the training grounds. We played six innings, and Mr. Halpin was kind enough to let us have a pitcher and catcher from his men. The score was 9 to 3, and it could just as well been 9 to 0, perhaps. Well, at any rate, it was the first Base Ball game, as far as I know, that ever took place in Europe between an American team and a European team, with England possibly excepted.
Mr. Halpin said that the Americans were going to play a game the next morning between themselves, but that game did not come off. There was probably no time for it, as the Finland left Stockholm the same day. Very likely the American boys were somewhat disappointed in not being able to play between themselves, as anticipated, and perhaps I should not have pushed our game ahead, but as long as there was a Base Ball team in Sweden, it would have been strange if it had not played, and it gave our boys a chance to see how the game should be played, and they certainly did take it in. Had the game been played as it was intended and advertised, on the 10th in the Stadium, there would very likely have been a bigger crowd present, and the game would also have been more talked about in the papers, but then we will have to be satisfied as it is.
Our club has been practicing all summer, twice a week, and on the 24th of August we gave an exhibition game here at Westeras, between two teams from our club, the suits made for the Olympic Games coming in very handy. I send you herewith a clipping from a local paper describing the game, and also a picture of the two teams with myself and the umpire included.
At our game here we distributed the "Description of Base Ball," written by you and translated into Swedish, and it came of good use. Next year we intend to have our teams appear in the nearby cities around here, so as to give people a chance to see the game, and it will not be long before they will start it in Stockholm, so I think the game is bound to be popular here also,
Mr. George Wright, of Boston, was the umpire at the Stockholm games, and as he was very kind to us, we would like to send him the picture of the club, and hope that you will forward us his address.
I am, for Westeras Base Ball Club,
Yours truly,
EDWIN JOHNSON,
Electrical Engineer.
THE NEW NATIONAL AGREEMENT
Unlimited satisfaction must be had by all who are connected with Base Ball over the greatly improved conditions by which the season of 1913 is begun under the new National Agreement. While it perhaps might be exaggerated boastfulness to affirm that Base Ball, as a professionally organized sport, has attained perfection, it is not out of reason— indeed, quite within reason—to observe that Base Ball never had such a well balanced and perfect organization as that by which it is regulated at the present time.
The principal fact of congratulation lies in the safeguards and provisions which have been thrown around the players of the minor leagues and in the equitable and just measures which have been agreed upon to provide for their future.
As a general rule it may be taken for granted that the players of the major leagues can take care of themselves. That is to say, their positions, if they are expert in their calling, and conscientious in their deportment, really take care of them.
No club owner, unless he is maliciously or foolishly inclined, will jeopardize the interests of his team by acting in a wilfully unjust manner toward a player who is cheerfully and uprightly offering his services. We may hear of occasional exceptions to this condition of things, but if these occasional exceptions chance to arise, it is inevitably certain that the owner in the long run will suffer to a greater degree than the player with whom he deals unfairly.
It is the history of Base Ball that more inequitable treatment has arisen by fifty per cent in the minor leagues than has had its origin in the major leagues. The reason for this existed almost wholly in the inability of Base Ball as a whole to bring the minor league owners to a realization of the injury that they might be doing and to extend such punishment and insist upon such regulation as were necessary to change this undesirable condition.
By the organization of the National Association of Base Ball clubs the minor leagues, for the first time in their history, placed themselves in a position where they could demand proper enforcement of regulations for the government of the sport, and by their alliance with the major league clubs, under the articles of the National Agreement, a general working basis was effected whereby compliance with rules could be insisted upon.
The result of this admirable condition of affairs is that wisdom and equity now rule where there once existed chaos and at times something akin to anarchy in sport.
At no time in the history of the game, which is so dear to the hearts of the American people, has the general legislative and executive body been so well equipped by the adoption of pertinent and virile laws to insist upon justice to all concerned as at the present moment.
The new National Agreement is an improvement upon the old and the old was a long, long step in advance of anything which had preceded it. The mere fact that club owners and leagues were so willing to adopt a system better than its predecessor wholly confutes the absurd assertions of the radical element that there is no consideration shown for the player.
To the contrary, every consideration has been shown to the player, but the latter must not confound with the consideration shown to him the idea that his interests are the only interests at stake in Base Ball. The man who is willing to furnish the sinews of war has as good standing in court as the player who furnishes the base hits and the phenomenal catches.
So perfect is the system which is being attempted to be set in force by the new National Agreement that the young man who now essays to play professional Base Ball may be assured of steady advancement in this profession and a generally improving condition if he will be as honest by his employer as he expects his employer to be honest by him.
The graduated system of assisting players, step by step, from the least important leagues to the most important is the most perfect plan of its kind that has ever been devised. There may be flaws in it, but if there are they will be remedied, and if modifications are necessary to make it more perfect there is no doubt that such modifications will be agreed upon.
As proof of what the new National Agreement may do, although it has barely had time to be considered, the editor of the GUIDE would submit the following for consideration:
Ever since the National Agreement was organized the members have always striven to aid the players in their efforts to gain the top rank in the great national game. They have had a hard proposition in handling all of the cases that have been brought to their attention, but their decisions in all cases were absolutely fair and impartial. Then the matter of the new agreement occasioned many hours of laborious work on the part of the members of the Commission, and when the instrument was finally announced it meant that all of the parties to such an agreement were satisfied and that there could be no improvement. There was one detail that covered a wide field, and that was in the matter of players; drafted by the two big leagues and later sent back to the minors. Under the old National Agreement it was possible to pick up a player by means of the annual draft from one of the Class C leagues and just before the opening of the season send him back to the club from whence he came without ever having given him a chance to land with a club in some higher organization.
Realizing that such players were not given a chance to advance in the Base Ball profession, this matter was thoroughly thrashed out and the new ruling under which all of the National Agreement clubs operate was adopted. Now it is possible for a player in any of the smaller leagues to be drafted by a major league club, and when the latter party does not care to retain possession of such a player he is first offered to the Class AA clubs. All of these clubs must waive on him before he can be dropped farther down in the list, and if such should be the case he would then be offered to the Class A clubs. In that way the player, although he is not fast enough to remain in the two major leagues, is always given a chance to advance, for if any of the clubs in those classes higher than that from which he came had grabbed him he was bound to receive an increase in salary. That meant that he had his chance to advance, and that was the sole purpose of the National Agreement in drafting such a rule.
During the past drafting season there were sixty-nine players drafted by the two major league clubs, and of that number twenty-seven have already been sent back to the minor leagues. The Class AA and A clubs claimed all of these twenty-seven, and it is more than likely that there will also be many more who will be given trials by the big league clubs during the spring training season and who may later be turned back to the minors. Of the twenty-seven players thus far sent back seventeen of them advanced in their profession, a tribute to the sagacity, wisdom and impartiality of the members of the National Commission. The decision, as announced by Chairman Herrmann of the National Commission pertaining to this return of drafted players, is as follows:
------------|-----------------|----------|-----------|--------------
Clubs. | League. | Players. | Drafted | Drafted By
| | | From |
------------|-----------------|----------|-----------|--------------
Louisville |American Asso. |Stansbury |Louisville |St. Louis N.L.
Chattanooga |Southern Asso. |Balenti |Chattanooga|St. Louis A.L.
Sacramento |Pacific Coast |Berghammer|Lincoln |Chicago N.L.
Sacramento |Pacific Coast |Orr |Sacramento |Phila. A.L.
Sacramento |Pacific Coast |[1]Young |Harrisburg |New York A.L.
Sacramento |Pacific Coast |Drohan |Kewanee |Washington.
Indianapolis|American Asso. |Berghammer|Lincoln |Chicago N.L.
Indianapolis|American Asso. |Cathers |Scranton |St. Louis N.L.
Indianapolis|American Asso. |Metz |San Antonio|Boston N.L.
Indianapolis|American Asso. |Kernan |Oshkosh |Chicago A.L.
New Orleans |Southern Asso. |Bates |Newp't News|Cleveland.
New Orleans |Southern Asso. |Wilson |Knoxville |Cleveland.
New Orleans |Southern Asso. |Betts |San Antonio|Cleveland.
New Orleans |Southern Asso. |Drohan |Kewanee |Washington.
New Orleans |Southern Asso. |Williams |Newark, O |Washington.
Portland |Pacific Coast |Williams |Newark, O |Washington.
Portland |Pacific Coast |Drohan |Kewanee |Washington.
Portland |Pacific Coast |Bates. |Newp't News|Cleveland.
Portland |Pacific Coast |Grubb |Morristown |Cleveland.
Portland |Pacific Coast |Wilson |Knoxville |Cleveland.
Portland |Pacific Coast |Betts |San Antonio|Cleveland.
Milwaukee |American Asso. |Beall |Denver |Cleveland.
St. Paul |American Asso. |Berghammer|Lincoln |Chicago N.L.
St. Paul |American Asso. |Miller |Harrisburg |Pittsburgh.
St. Paul |American Asso. |Booe |Ft. Wayne |Pittsburgh.
St. Paul |American Asso. |House |Kewanee |Detroit.
St. Paul |American Asso. |Drohan |Kewanee |Washington.
St. Paul |American Asso. |Beall |Denver |Cleveland.
St. Paul |American Asso. |Balenti |Chattanooga|St. Louis A.L.
St. Paul |American Asso. |Agnew |Vernon |St. Louis A.L.
Omaha |Western League |Wilson |Knoxville |Cleveland.
Omaha |Western League |Williams |Newark, O |Washington.
Omaha |Western League |Betts |San Antonio|Cleveland.
Omaha |Western League |Drohan |Kewanee |Washington.
Buffalo |Internat'l League|Schang |Buffalo |Phila. A.L.
Buffalo |Internat'l League|Dolan |Rochester |Phila. A.L.
Buffalo |Internat'l League|Cottrell |Scranton |Chicago N.L.
Buffalo |Internat'l League|Clymer |Minneapolis|Chicago N.L.
Columbus |American Asso. |Drohan |Kewanee |Washington.
Rochester |Internat'l League|Dolan |Rochester |Phila. A.L.
Montreal |Internat'l League|Connelly |Montreal |Washington.
Toledo |American Asso. |Hernden |[2] |St. Louis.
Toledo |American Asso. |Stevenson |Oshkosh |St. Louis N.L.
Toledo |American Asso. |Bates |Newp't News|Cleveland.
Toledo |American Asso. |Wilson |Knoxville |Cleveland.
Denver |Western League |Heckinger |Racine |Chicago N.L.
Denver |Western League |Drohan |Kewanee |Washington.
---------------------------------------------------------------------
1: Subject to investigation as to whether New York American League Club has title.
2: Subject to investigation as to whether St. Louis American or National League Club has title to this player and how secured.
A WORLD'S SERIES PROBLEM
Much discussion arose after the finish of the last world's series as to whether the adjustment of dates had worked satisfactorily. The contention was that playing off a tie game on the ground where the game had been scheduled might work some inconvenience to "fans" and result in an inequitable allotment of dates, simply to conform to custom.
It was asserted that the importance of the series demanded that it be a home-and-home affair, dates to alternate regularly, regardless of all ties or drawn games. To obtain opinion that is sound and practical the Editor of the GUIDE sent forth the following letter:
NEW YORK, January 31, 1913.
During the recent world's series it so happened that a tie was played in one of the cities, which compelled both teams to remain in that city for another date. Before the series was over this arrangement resulted in one club having five games on its home grounds and the other club having but three games on its home grounds.
It has seemed to some that it is unjust. It is also contended that it is unfair to the patrons of the game to schedule a contest and then not play in the city specified after some had traveled many miles to see it.
Will you please give the GUIDE your opinion as to whether a change would be advisable?
Very truly yours,
JOHN B. FOSTER, Editor Spalding's Official Base Ball Guide.
Answers were received to the request for a "symposium of opinion" as follows:
"So far as having any effect on the chances of the two teams is concerned, I don't think having to play more games on one ground than on the other makes any material difference. Where cities are sufficiently near each other for games to be alternated daily, it would perhaps be fairer to spectators to do so, irrespective of ties; yet it seems to me that a tie on one grounds should be played off the next day in the same city."
W.B. HANNA, New York Sun.
"In my opinion the arrangement on tie games in the post-season contests is a poor one. I saw the result of it in the series between the Cubs and White Sox last fall. Two tie games were played and the confusion and inconvenience it caused the fans was deplorable. It is unjust to the followers who support Base Ball. It is also unjust, in a small way, to the club which has to play two or more games on its opponent's field. Players when away from their home grounds, in a fall series, are more or less under a nervous strain. If there was confusion, inconvenience and difficulty in a local series as a result of a tie game, the folly of the arrangement must appear more absurd when towns like New York and Boston are involved. Dates should alternate, tie or not tie."
OSCAR C. REICHOW, Chicago Daily News.
"We are in receipt of your favor of the 31st nlt., and wish to thank you for the opportunity presented.
"It is our opinion that a tie game was played and it should be considered as a game. Either side had an opportunity to win and any advantage that the home club might have had was lost when it failed to break the tie.
"It is, therefore, our belief that this game should have been played in the other city.
"As to it being unfair to the patrons who had traveled so far to see the scheduled contest, there is no doubt that they were afforded a sufficient amount of amusement and excitement for their trouble, in witnessing a closely played contest."
J. G. T. SPINK, St. Louis Sporting News.
"It seems to me that the game should be alternated between the contending cities regardless of ties. The tie game gave Boston five games on the home grounds, while the Giants had only three. Besides, many persons, who traveled to see the games in New York, were inconvenienced."
JOHN E. WHEELER, New York Herald.
"I think that the scheduled programme should be played through irrespective of the results of the respective games, and any extra playing or playing-off should be done after the originally set schedule is completed."
H. P. BORCHELL, Sports Editor New York Times.
"I believe it would be inadvisable to change the method that now prevails. While the situation which arose last season did seem unjust to the New York club, I think the very fact that Boston had five games on its home grounds, and the Giants but three on their own diamond, was an answer to those ill-advised skeptics who are always ready to raise the cry of hippodroming.
"That same situation is not likely to again arise for a long time, and I believe the rule as it stands is a guarantee to the public of the strict honesty of the world's championship contests."
DAMON RUNYON, The New York American.
"A change in the rules regarding world series games would he fairer to the patrons of the sport. Here in Chicago this past fall two ties were played and, as a result, there was considerable confusion over the ticket arrangements. How much more is the case when two cities are involved? A condition which allows five games to be played in one city and only three in another is scarcely fair to the two teams. By making a schedule calling for alternate games in each city, irrespective of ties, everybody—fans and players—would get an even break."
MALCOLM MACLEAN, Base Ball Editor Chicago Evening Post.
"I think it might be fairer to both world's series contenders to play a regular schedule, regardless of the fact that any tie games may arise in the series. Under the old system of playing the tie off in the city where the tie game is played, it brings about a great deal of confusion. Many fans make arrangements to see a game on a certain day and are greatly disappointed when the game is played in a different city. Of course, the old rule of playing the play-off game on the same grounds as the tie game, is fair to both contesting clubs, as it is merely a matter of chance where a tie game is played."
FRED. G. LIEB, New York Press.
"The rules regarding the manner of scheduling games for the world's series should not be changed. There are times when they apparently work a hardship to one team or the followers of one club, but, after all, they help to throw the necessary safeguards around the contests. As for the argument for not playing off a tie game on the same grounds, thus disarranging the dates and inconveniencing the fans, patrons of the world's series games are accustomed to this, since bad weather frequently cuts into the event and causes postponements.
"In a way it does not appear fair that one club should have the privilege of playing five games at home to three games at home for its opponents. The rule of playing off a tie game on the same grounds is a fixture in Base Ball. As to the other game, this was a question of the luck of the toss of the coin.
"The fans have to trust to luck as to the number of games they will see in a world's series, this depending upon the number of games played and possibly upon the toss for a seventh battle. In 1905 the fans of Philadelphia saw only two games in a world's series with New York. In 1910 only two games were played here in the series with Chicago.
"Any time a club has three games on its own grounds in a series where four victories decide the issue either it or its followers have not much chance to raise an objection."
WILLIAM G. WEART, The Evening Telegraph.
"It was, of course, to the disadvantage of the Giants to be obliged to play five of the eight games in the post-season series last fall on the grounds of their opponents, but this came as a result of one tie game on the Boston grounds and being outlucked on the toss to determine where the deciding game should be played. This tie game unquestionably caused much inconvenience to patrons because of the change in the schedule made necessary because of it.
"It is not clear to me, however, just now these things can be remedied without disturbing the balance of an even break for both teams more violently than was the case last fall.
"I do not believe there will be another series just like the one of 1912, and so, in my opinion, an immediate change in the conditions governing these series would not be advisable. It is not clear to me just what changes could be made. One club or the other is bound to have the advantage of an extra game on its own grounds, providing seven games are necessary. The championship in nine out of ten contests will be decided in seven games or less.
"Then, as to having the games played according to an arbitrarily fixed schedule, so as not to inconvenience patrons—that would be out of the question, being open to the objection that it would then be possible to have every game that figures in the result of the series played on the home grounds of one of the contestants. For instance, tie games or unfavorable weather which would prevent a game being played in one city, would throw all the games to the other city where there might be no tie games nor unfavorable weather. That would mean four straight, if it so happened that the home team won the games, and the loser would never have gotten action on its own grounds. That would be considerably worse than five to three.
"So it looks to me as if the patrons would have to take their chances in the future as they have in the past."
JAMES C. O'LEABT, Boston Globe.
"It seems to me that it would be better to alternate (in case of a tie), as a team able to tie its opponent on a hostile field would be entitled to consideration for this performance. I am very certain, however, that the players of both clubs in the recent world's series were satisfied with an arrangement which minimized the amount of traveling they were called upon to do.
"Persons who had seen a five-inning tie game terminated by rain would hardly be satisfied. It seems to me that the rule as to alternating ball parks should be applied strictly, but only in case the tie game involved went nine innings or more."
FRANCIS EATON, Sports Editor Boston Journal.
"To me the feasible thing to do appears to be to insert a clause in stipulations covering all short series of a special character, such as intercity, inter-league and world's series, making it compulsory for the teams to alternate between the cities or grounds of the competing clubs."
PURVES T. KNOX, New York Evening Telegram.
"Why wouldn't it be a good scheme to toss up for the deciding game only in cases where an equal number of games had been played in each city, and, in cases where one city had seen more games than the other, to play the deciding game in the city which had seen the fewer games?
"I do not believe it advisable to change the commission's rule regarding postponed games. The rule now provides that, in case of a postponement, the clubs shall remain in the city in which the game was scheduled until it is possible to play. If this rule were changed and there happened to be a week of bad weather, as in 1911, the teams and many fans might be forced to travel back and forth from one town to another for a week without participating in or seeing a single game; and it might happen some time that the jump would be between St. Louis and Boston."
R. W. LARDNER, Chicago Examiner.
"A change in the rule governing the playing-off of tie games in the world's series should be made. The teams ought to appear in each city on the dates named in the schedule drawn up before the series starts, unless the weather interferes."
WILLIAM H. WRIGHT, New York Tribune.
"Drawn games are as unavoidable as rainy days in world's series, but not as frequent. They operate the same in their effect on the contest for the world's pennant and in causing confusion among the patrons by disarranging the schedule. It would be manifestly unjust if, after a rain postponement, the competing teams did not remain and play the game off before playing elsewhere. That might result in playing all of the games in one city. Since drawn games are treated like postponed games in the regular season, and are of infrequent occurrence in world's series, any other arrangement than the present does not seem advisable. The patrons, who should be considered always, would be among the first to object if each team did not have an equal show to win. In the last series only four games that counted were played in Boston and three in New York and if New York had won the toss for the deciding game the situation would have been reversed. It would be manifestly fairer to play the seventh game if necessary in some neutral city."
L. E. SANBORN, Chicago Tribune.