Jasper County Democrat, Volume 18, Number 7, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 1 May 1915 — NEW BASEBALL WAR [ARTICLE]

NEW BASEBALL WAR

BRAVES REFUSE TO PLAY GIANTS WITH BROOKFED STAR. Gaffney of Boston Won’t Let Team Play Against an “Outlaw” Player. New York, April: 30. Benny Kauff, once a Yankee castoff and later the most sensational player in the Federal league; jumped from the Brookfeds to the Giants yesterday, and his little hurdle has stirred up a new scandal in the baseball war which threatens to shake the national pastime from top to bottom. Robert B. Ward, president of the Brooklyn club, maintains that Kauff has a valid and binding contract with hie club, and says he will ufee every 1-gal means to make him live up to it. Kauff, on the other hand, assured Manager McGraw that President Ward has repeatedly refused to tender him a contract urider the terms agreed upon between Kauff and Business M anage / Di e k Car roll, ahirtherefore he was a free agent. Yesterday, afternoon, after Manager McGraw had received legal advice on the case, Kauff signed a three-year contract with the Giants, and just before the game at the Polo grounds with the Braves Kauff apj .-arejl in a Giant uniform. Immediately President Gaffney of the Boston club refused to permit his team to play against Kauff. He said Kauff was a Federal leaguer and he would not run the risk of playing against the outlaw and become involved in a baseball war. The crowd, which numbered about 6.000, didn’t know who the new center fielder was. They couldn’t understand why the game was .being held up and howled for the teams to play ball. Umpire Quigley finally got impatient and forfeited the game to the Giants, 9 to 0. President Hempstead didn’t want to disappoint the crowd and asked Gaffney to play the game, to which Gaffney consented, when he learned that Kauff was withdrawn from the Giant line-up. The Boston club does not regard Umpire -Quigley’s forfeit as binding, and will make a demand to have the 13-to-S victory stand:' It's a fine mix-up all around.