Evening Republican, Volume 17, Number 213, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 6 September 1913 — RESERVE RULE IS ESSENTIAL [ARTICLE]

RESERVE RULE IS ESSENTIAL

8o Says John Montgomery Ward, OldTime Ball Player—Needed to Maintain National Game. John M. Ward, who probably knows as much about the workings of baseball as anyone, having been a player as well as a magnate, says: “The reserve rule is essential. It must be kept in effect to maintain baseball. When the brotherhood was organized the fight made by the players was against a salary limit. The contract in those days contained a clause which reserved a player without his consent But things are different now. The modern contract includes an agreement by the player to permit bis employer to exercise an option on his services for the ensuing year. If it weren’t for the methods employed by organized baseball the players would not be drawing such large salaries. The national agreement and the national commission Are bulwarks of the game. Should they be abolished players who are demanding $15,000 would be forced to accept $1,500 Instead.”