Evening Republican, Volume 21, Number 130, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 18 June 1917 — BALL PLAYERS NOT EXEMPT [ARTICLE]

BALL PLAYERS NOT EXEMPT

Assurance of President Johnson That They Would Not Be Drafted Was Without Authority. Denial from Washington of the report that the members of the National and American leagues w’ere to be exempt from the draft until next fall has caused a lot of anxiety in the ranks of the players. The men of the American league had been assured by Ban Johnson, their president, that they would not have to fear draft until fall, but that assurance was given without authority. The war department has given no one authority to announce any such policy and the players will be subject to the same regulations ae other men of fighting age. It would mean many changes in the big league races if some of the star men are grabbed. The drafting of Heine Zimmerman would mean that the chances of the New York “Giants” making a runaway race of the National league pennant would go a-glimmer-ing. The drafting of Eddie Collins from the Chicago Americans, the taking of Tris Speaker from Cleveland, or Ty Cobb from Detroit, would change the whole race in the American lea'uge.