Evening Republican, Volume 21, Number 3, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 12 January 1918 — BIG LEAGUE CLUBS AIM TO RETRENCH! [ARTICLE]

BIG LEAGUE CLUBS AIM TO RETRENCH!

Training Operations to Be Con- 1 ducted on Very Modest j Scale. From present indications spring 1 training operations of the 16 major league ball clubs will be conducted on: t very modest scale in 1918. The heavy expense of taking a big squad of ball players to the sunny Southland has caused talk of curtail- 1 meats along this line for several years,' but because of the hard knocks baseball has taken In a financial way and the uncertainties of what the future holds for the game owing to the world war, there is little chance that the club owners will be ready to spend money lavishly next spring. \ A forerunner of the retrenchment policies of major league-owners was* found In the draft last September,, when the major league clubs drafted* fewer players than for the past ten years. The Chicago White Sox, for instance, did not draft a single player., Neither did the Pittsburgh Pirates. Several other clubs drafted only one* or two men, and before spring training time arrives next March there Is a chance that some of the drafted players will be turned back. The annual report of the national commission, showing the players purchased from the minor leagues by major league clubs between the dates of the 1916 and 1917 drafts, showed, a total of 127 players who were taken by the big leagues under approved agreements, other than optional contracts. In this list the Boston Red Sox did not obtain a single player by the purchase route, while the Boston Braves got but one. The drafted players totaled 33, 12 of whom were drafted by American league clubs and 21 by in the National league. In all the major leagues secured a total of 160 players, including both, those purchased for trial and those drafted. Of this number it is said that not more than 50 per cent will be taken South next spring.