Evening Republican, Volume 18, Number 67, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 19 March 1914 — Big insurance on players [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Big insurance on players

Policies for SIOO,OOO Carried on Wal- , ter Johnson and Ty Cobb—slso,ooo on Manager McGraw. To guard against the loss that would be occasioned by the death of or injury to their ball players while riding on public conveyances, 14 major league clubs are paying premiums on nearly $3,000,000 worth of accident insurance policies, covering their men. The Cincinnati Nationals and New York American league clubs are the only ones that do not carry insurance on their players, but it is said that they are negotiating at present with insurance companies and will soon insurb them. Walter Johnson, the Washington pitcher, recently was insured for SIOO,000, while a SIOO,OOO policy has been carried for a number of years on Ty Cobb, the wonderful Detroit outfielder. Hans Wagner of Pittsburgh, Nap Lajoie of Cleveland. Tris Speaker of Boston, Eddie Collins of Philadelphia, JOe Wood of Boston and many other stars in both leagues are said to be insured for amounts ranging from $25,000 to $75,000. The Detroit club has its entire team insured for about $150,000. Some are insured for $5,000, others for SIO,OOO, all according to their value to the

team. Ty Cobb and Hughie Jennings are insured for SIO,OOO. The St. Louis Nationals carry a policy of $150,000 on the entire team and an extra SIO,OOO on its manager. The Chicago Americans are insured for slo,ooo* each, under a blanket policy, which makes the total amount around $300,000, as additional insurance is carried on the manager. In addition io an extra policy carried on Lajoie, Joe Jackson, Vean Gregg and Manager Birmingham, the Cleveland club, it is said, carries about $250,000 on its players. The exact amount of insurance carried on fte players by tbe Chicago Nationals and Pittsburgh is not known, but it is said that both teams carried about $3,000 on the team proper and an additional $25,000 on the manager. None of these policies covers injuries

received on the ball field- The clubs have repeatedly tried to get such policies, but the insurance companies* re fuse the risk, declaring that the money they would have to pay out each year for injuries to ball players on the field would be more than the sum they would collect in premiums. The New York National league club carries the heaviest insurance of any club in the big leagues. Its players are insured under a blanket policy that places a premium around SIO,OOO on each of the players. In addition to this it carries $40,000 extra on JJathewson and $150,000 on Manager McGraw —a record premium.

Walter Johnson.