Indianapolis Times, Indianapolis, Marion County, 23 March 1938 — Page 9
Makes Free Agents of All But One Player on Team; Hints at Further Action
Meer of Tour Other Minor League Organizations May ;
‘Be A”ected by Drastic: Decision of Base~ ball’s High Commissioner.
'BELLEAIRE. Fla, March 23 . .PJ.~—Judge K. M. Landis, high
commissioner of baseball, today destroyed the tie-up between the St.
‘Louis Cardinals ~nd some of its minor league baseball clubs. Landis made free agents of all but one player on the Cedar Ra
Iowa, club in tie Three-Eye League.
He said that players on is
other minor league teams obtained by-them directly or indirectly through St. Louis and Cedar Rapids also would be declared free agents. In acting against the Cardinals and their far-flung farm system—
known in baseball circles as the “St. Louis Chain Gang’—Landis said in ‘a seven-page decision: # “The - fundamental indispensable basis in every team’s operation, Both major and minor, is the unquestionable integrity to competition within the league. Obviously doubt of that must arise if players of two or more clubs competing in the same league are. controlled by the one organization or the power exists thereby to regulate and conrol ‘competition of those clu Z-Baseball men believe the Cardifials have a working agreement with Cedar Rapids, .Ia., “whereby the €ards control ' players in: many minor © leagues. Landis, after a sweeping investigation, has-tried to Break up that purported combine. It-is no secret that Landis long has Been opposed to the Cardinal system. . : List to Bc Published r James F. Howard was the only €edar Rapids player not declared a free agent. In view of the fact that . the baseball season opens in a few + weeks; “the commissioner desires that Cedar Rapids continue to operate if it sp desires,” Landis said. He said that Cedar Rapids players could sign with that team for 3938 if they desired, in «Landis did not say how many players in fiver minor leagues—the Three-I. League, the MissouriArkansas .League, - the Northern League, the Nebraska State League, and the Northeastern -Arkansas League—were aficcted. He said a full list of those who will be; made fre: agents would be published soon. The teams involved, in addition to Cedar Rapids, are Newport in the Arkansas-Missouri League; Crookston, Northern League; Mitchell, Nebraska League, and Fayetteville, Northeastern Arkansas League.
Ban to Be Permanent
Cedar Rapids reputedly had work ing agreements with those clubs but was reported to have cancelled them because the Cardinals also had agreements: with other teams in those leagues. That apparently was she- tieup Mr. Landis struck at. Mr. Landis said that Cedar Rap{ds from now on would not be permitted to make working agreements | ¢ with ‘St. Louis or ite afliates 6% in any league ‘where St. Louis has a €lub:- £3 “The players covered up by this process,” Mr. Landis said, “are entitled to and must have free agency Pecause of a violation of their rights and because the St. Louis-Cedar Rapids combination cannot profit from their illegal conduct.” The decision was given out by Leslie O'Connor, secretary to Mr. Eandis. Mr. Landis was not available for comment.
“Fines Also Levied
2 * The decision said that fines were to be levied on several clu . against Cedar Rapids; $580. against Sacramento “in‘ the Pacific Coast League, and $1000 against the Springfield, Mo.. club. The exact reason these fines were levied was not given. i'Branch Rickey, head of the St. Louis organization, was reached by telephone in St. Petersburg, but he Hag nothing to say. £ “T have not been advised of the judge’s decision and when I have received full particulars, I probably will have a statement,” Rickey said. + The number of players expected to be affected by ‘he decision, it was Believed, might reach 100.
No Effect on
Club Franchise
* DES MOINES, Ia, March 23 (U. P).—Tom Fairweather, president of the Three-I League, said today that the decision of Judge K. M. Landis will have no effect on the Cedar Rapids franchise. “Cedar Rapids will have a team in the league as planned,” he said. “It now is up to the players declared free agents to negotiate for their services with Cedar Rapids or
Mr. Fairweather, who was President: of the Western League before ifs dissolution this- , said. he derstood St. Louis and Cedar pids once had a working agree Rent but that it was nullified “bemy time.” : “Since then, as-I understand it,” said, “Cedar Rapids has been on its own.
North-South Links “Meet Starts Today
PINEHURST, N . ©,, March 23 (U, . P,)—Horton Smith faced rugged opposition today as he teed off defense of his 1937 North hi South open. golf championship on Pinehurst’s complex No. 2 course. Leading professionals and some , including C. ‘Ontario, - “five champion, and George. Dunlap, former NaEE ae in the as Soday’s 18-hole d started.
BD Smith's attempt to repeat his last year’s win, were JohnRevolta, Harry an
Cooper Nelsam, £ll of whom have}.
cxeelinng cards in
ny Thomson, in the lowest score of EE Sb les S the horse” of te meet. 5p
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Fast Columbus
Five Works on Defense Plays
Bulldogs Confident of Making Good on Slogan; ‘Win The State,”
(Second of a Series)
Times Spegial COLUMBUS, Ind. March 23. Bud Prewitt has remnants of three basketball nets hanging on his bedposts and, after Saturday, he" ex=-
>
pects to have a net hanging on that
other empty post. Bud, star forward of the local team, one of the four left in the State high school basketball tourney, acquired his collecting urge just before the sectionals started three weeks ago. He told his mates, “I'm going to collect four basketball nets, one for each of my bedposts. One, of these will come from the sectional, one from the regional, one from the semifinal. and one from the final. Nones will be removed from the ‘basket until after Columbus has won each meet. That was no command, for no one is boss on the Columbus team except genial ‘George Boots, the.coach, Bud’s speech, probably the longest
he ever made, exemplified the fight-|
ing spirit of - the team. which will square away against the Archers from South Side of Ft. Wayne at 2 p. m. Saturday ‘ih the Butler Fieldhouse at Indianapolis. Columbus, a high-speed club, had no motto such as “On to the State.”
- From one:end of town to the other,
the slogan was “Win the State.” They Fooled Experts
“Experts” said the Bulldogs couldn’t do it. They said Columbus was a breakneck sort of a team with no defense, which might ‘be . hot nough to spill: one ‘or twa favered fous at ‘which eventually ‘would “hit a “cold” day and would be shoved aside, So far, the “coldest” the Bulldogs have been was jin the regional at Greensburg, when they piled up “only” 34 points to Greensburg’s 22. As to defense, Columbus may surprise everybody with their opposition to opposing scoring efforts, With their offensive zooming along at top speed, the Bulldogs this week have
th s ; been turning thels energies. toward to solve "National League slants, ‘al
336. ‘average in the Cotton : States]:
setting up a less vulnerable defense, It is no secret that the Bulldogs in the. past have left such huge ’openings that, as one rival coach said, “It’s a (sin not to take the shots they offer.” Shining stars of the Columbus club are Prewitt and Johnny Boyd, two players who are in their fourth year of high school action. For two straight years, Boyd has led the Columbus team and the South Central Conference in scoring. Prewitt, while devoting his time to the chief scoring threats of the opposition, has found time to pump enough shots into the netting for runnerup honors, = But this team is no two-man team. Maurice Jordan, who shares the forwards with Prewitt, is an excellent short shot and would be a handy man for any team to have under the backboards. . Jim McKinney and Bill Hayworth, who stand guard duty, can lay back and open up the defense with longrange shots, or drive in "under so that there are five Bulldogs massed about the hoop.
Boyd the Marksman
The smiling blond Boyd hasn't met his equal in his entire high school career. He shoots anywhere anytime under the most unfavorable conditions, He is a specialist at an underhand pivot shot which his guard must let go, or else commit a foul. Once or twice a game, Johnny lets go with a shot over his head while facing away from the basket. You can imagine how the enemy is demoralized when one of those shots drop in. Before the tournament “began, Columbus was indexed by most observers as a high-scoring team that might provide one or two upsets, but which could not maintain its racehorse tactics through a ‘long series. The Bulldogs have waded through | 5 eight ‘straight tournament foes; including such teams as Greensburg, Anderson and Greencastle and Anin |derson was the only team able to keep within shouting distance of the racing Doggies. Coach Boots, who starred as a player at Frankfort High School and Purdue University, is an ardent admirer of Purdue’s style of play, as taught by Ward (Piggy) Lampert, He has a well-built squad, averaging nearly 6 feet in height and 170 pounds in weight, which can fast break from the opening whistle to the closing gun and come back four or five hours later for more of the same. :
la TE Shens
sii 9 0:
{on the aching spots. Muscular
Scoring Runs, Bees’ Problem
+ (Third of 8 of Series)
By HARRY EY GRAYSON Sports Editor, NEA Service
BRADENTON, Fla, March 23
“That's more runs than'the club] ° cracked thal inimitable Casey Stengel, as his 35] Boston Bees crossed the plate in
scored all season,”
single file for newsreel men. That's Stengel’s problem—scoring runs. When he moved to Cincinnati, wily Will McKechnie left Casey of Kansas City a a splendid defensive club. Right now blond Gene Moore is the Bees’ chief stinger, and this long-range, left-hand: hitter ‘batted only. 283 in 1937. ‘Stengel frankly tells you that he hasn't the slightest idea where. ad‘ditional punch is to come from unless Max Edward West crashes the outfield or Robert Wayne Kahle
supplants one of the regular in- 3
fielders. West hit 330 in his second year with the Mission Coasters last term, aud Kahle compiled a .306 average for Indianapolis. ‘While he may be totally unable
League in 1936 is further evidence
that Kahle may be headed some- |
where, Dig Up Old Hands
But Stengel, who was paid a0 last year for not managing; ie Brooklyn Dodgers, prefers to talk about his pitching. The one-time
ANOTHER FRANCIS Vike Francis, younger brother of Sam: Francis, former Nebraska All-
taxicab driver who studied to. be a|
dentist and wound up hitting world series home runs for John McGraw hopes to do a comeback as a manager with a staff built around three amazing veterans—Jim Turner, Lou Fette and Daniel Knowles MacFayden. Turner had spent 12 years in the minors and Fette nine when Jack McCallister, who once guided the
Cleveland ‘Indians, plucked them |
out of the American Association. But they quickly made up for lost time by becoming National League standouts in their first campaign in the big show. Each bagged 20 engagements, Turner’s earned run average; 2.38, was lowest in the serior circuit, and Fette wasn't far behind with 2.88 If this pair keep going and the bespectacled MacFayden can get back in the 17-game class in which he placed himself in 1938, enemy swatsmiths seldom will get fat against the Bees.
Basketball.
Fashion Cleaners, winners. of the Central Y. M. C. A. “Top Team”
tournament, will be honor guests | at a banquet to be given at 6:15 p.
m. Friday at the ¥,"
The Westfield Merchants drubbed the R. C. A. netters, 53 to 28, in the feature of a three-game program at Westfield - last night. games, the Westfield Cu He Side ‘Cubs, 34 Hy A. girls d dh Broadway Baptist Hy 22 t0 18. ’
TONY YORK TO: SAINTS |
LOS ANGELES, ‘March 23.—The|
Chicago Cubs, in training here, today announced the Sa: | sale of
Tony York, shortsto ted from Tulsa, to St. Paul Sr Sm the American
Association. The player. left immediately for Marshall, Tex, to join He Apostles. :
Muscular Rheumatic Pains
Tt takes more than “just a salve” to|
draw them out. It takes a “counterirritant” Xe good old Musterole helptt il Waris. me and ul in out conpestion and pain when rubbed
Bt soreness and Stiffness: ‘generally yield Jromitly. than the _old-f
America, is a candidate for the dliar terback post in spring drills this year.
the Cornhuskers’
2 Hammond
Players Hurt
Sobek, Star Guard, and Reserve Forward Collide. HAMMOND, March 23 (OU. P)—
Gedrge Sobek, star guard of the Hammond basketball team which
d | enters. the Sate tournament at In-
pturday, received a bad | s right eye in practice
The accident happened when he
; hed ‘into Mike Vidakovich, re-
serve forward, who also sustained a Sut near. ‘his eye.
The squad was unshaken by the injury to their great defense mman,
| chosen as an all-State guard in the|® | United" Press ‘poll of coaches and ‘I sports writers. “Coach Chet Kessler
thought Sobek possibly would be ready by Saturday, when Hammond
meets Bedford in the opening game.
Until ‘then, Sobek will not engage
h in scrimmages or heavy work but
will shoot and practice dummy ge-19 ‘Tensive Serimmage.
Church Teams Bid For Title
Times Special
° COLLEGEVILLE, Ind, March 23. —Champion basketball teams repre-
J senting the seven deaneries of the | Pt. Wayne Diocese will clash at St.
Josepli’s College here Sunday for the diocesan championship. > ‘Champions of the seven sectors have not yet been decided. However, the original field of 100 teams has heen cut to 20 with all championships to be decided by tonight, defending champion. Winners alMary's of Huntington, winner at Ft. Wayne, and St. John's of Tipton,
winner at Muncie,
* Pour stitches. were |S! taken to ode the wound.
Both bled pro- | Ber
Holy Trinity of East Chicago is: ready decided in“two sectors are St.
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TOWIE. See vasnrars 1.37"'%1T 1 *Batted for Flowers in the seventh.’ In SR as enna ene, Columban cosines 004 008 098 Runs batted in-Grilk (2), King (§), Clark, Mettler. Two-base hit—OClark. Home run-Grilk. Stolen bases—Myllykangas, Crespi, Xing. Sacrifice—Clark. Double plays—~Crespl to Grilk; Menendez to Pofahl to: Lutshaw, Left on bases—Indianapolis, 9; Columbus, 8. Pase on balls—Off MyllyRangss, 3; Flowers, 2: Lyons, 2; Bus. 7. k out
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STATE NET FINALS ‘TO BE BROADCAST
fiomers 3 apiece me 2: 20.
Indana Buick ‘dealers will spon-|
Sor a: broadcast Saturday of state high school basketball championship games over stations WFBM, Indianapolis; WGL, Ft. Wayne; WSBT, South Bend; WIND, Gary, and WBOW, Terre Haute, Charles A. Dickens, Indianapolis zone manager of Buick, has announced. The broadcast will cover both the afternoon semifinais and - the eve finals, with the afternoon progra. o'clock and continuing approximately two hours, and the evening broadcast staring at 8 Ek m. Len Riley will be the announcer,
innings: 10 £1, Mion AT
going on the air at 2}
Way to Camp
Indidn Bosses: Hope ‘Holdout Situation Is Sri.
Times Special BARTOW, Fla, March 23—With holdout Jack Rothrock on his way. to the Indianapolis shang | training base here, Tribe hoped that the oe a situation had begun to clear. Rothrock is one of five players
‘who persistently have held out de-
spite all efforts of General Mane ager Leo T. Miller and Manager Ray Schalk to lure them into camp. -Rothrock wanted: to be traded into the Pacific Coast League so that he could play ball near his home on the West Coast. Meanwhile, Schalk today planned more concentrated workouts as a
The Indians got
just one hit, a scratch single by-Lou
Menendez, shortstop, as Columbus rhe Red Goition. 11 clouts, in: e clours, - cluding a home run by Grilk. Miller has announced the pure chase of Mike Martineck, a first sacker, from Hartford, Conn, Martineck played semipro ball last year after refusing to report to Scranton of the New York-Pennsylvania League. In 1936, Martineck hit 316 for the Miners. The first sacker received honorable mention on the New York-Pennsyl-vania League All-Star team two years ago. He batted in 102 runs and was one of the leaders in this department. His extra base hits consisted of 23 doubles, 12 triples and four home runs. Martineck bats and throws Tefthanded and finished third in flelding in 1936 with a percentage of 991, which was a single percentage point below the N. Y. P. leaders.
PLENTY OF ALTITUDE Goalie Seabury of the Yale hockey team stands a mere 6 feet 8 inches when he dons his skates.
LS. AYRES & Co.