Evening Republican, Volume 20, Number 218, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 11 September 1916 — MANY PLAYERS HURT IN HUSTLE FOR JOBS [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

MANY PLAYERS HURT IN HUSTLE FOR JOBS

More star ball players have been injured this year than in any previous season in a decade and the fans throughout the country are mystified. They cannot understand why these accidents to stars should occur so regularly. The answer is that baseball is a different game this season. B’or several years the players have been reapharvest. The natural advancement of the game and the increase of the profits of the magnates caused the salaries of players to mount rapidly, and then came the w r ar between organized ball and the Feds. The players took advantage of the conditions and held the magnates up for salaries all out of proportion to their value, with the result that the majority of the clubs lost money in 1914 and 1915. There was nothing left for organized ball to do but make peace with the Federal league, and the retrenchment policy was adopted by the magnates. Almost every star player of the two Major leagues was tied up to tw'O or three-year contracts, the majority of which expire at the close of the present season, and the players now are hustling. In recent years the players refused to take any unnecessary chances. They were content to draw their salaries and preferred to take ho chances on injuries, realizing that a serious accident would hurt their earning capacity.

When the magnates announced that there would be a general out in salaries after the long term, war-time contracts nad expired, the players real-

Ized that they would have to get out add hustle or they would be cut even more than they expect. As a result, .they are making plays and taking desperate chances which were unknown in the last two seasons.

There is no question about the hustling of the players this season. They are working harder than ever, realizing that their new contracts vfrll be based entirely upon what they show this season and not on past reputation, as was the case when the Feds were in the field. Perhaps many fans have noticed how much faster the games are this year, Almost every club in two major leagues has been handicapped by injuries to star players, with the Athletics, Yankees and Indians the chief sufferers. One list places the number of crippled players at 51, but this includes many of the usual ailments, such as sore arms and lame shoulders, which are in no way due to the revival of the fighting spirit of the players.

Nineteen members of the Athletics and Yankees have been out of the game, each for a week or longer, and six broken bones are included in the list of injuries. Other players who have sustained broken bones are Lobert of the Giants, broken leg; Chapman of Cleveland, broken leg; Adams of the Phillies, broken finger; Cady of Boston, broken finger; Magee of Boston, broken wrist; Fletcher of the Giants, broken finger, and Archer of the Cubs, broken finger.

SOME OF THE STARS INCAPACITATED THIS SEASON.