No great surprise when Rube Foster voids the remaining part of his contract with us. Despite numerous overtures throughout the past two seasons, he was unwilling to even discuss his future and so I knew the writing was on the wall. While I understand his right to go out there and test the FA market, there’s no doubt we would have matched the amount he'll attract had he allowed us to do so. And as much as I’d love to have Rube continue on with us, I just see this move in a poor light and therefore we won’t be trying to get him back on principle alone. I’ll have no truck with disloyalty at this ballclub.
We exercise the final year on Louis Drucke’s contract and will more than likely be looking to extend it. He has been an absolute rock in the pen for us. We let Zaza Harvey walk. He has been a great man for our club but we can’t do anything with him from here. We also offer no arbitration to Hooks Dauss in order to free up some salary for a potential FA acquisition or two.
No managerial changes for once.
This year’s retirees are led by two HoF locks: current all-time wins leader (327)
Charles Bender and
“Wahoo” Sam Crawford, who heads the all-time list for a host of offensive categories, including his 2957 base hits.
Others leaving the game include Jack Coombs, Johnny Evers, Jimmy Archer, Harry Lord and Rebel Oakes. Former Pirates Al Bridwell and Armando Marsans are also calling it a day.
And to honour two of the league’s greats, the Commissioner’s Office has announced that the MVP Award will henceforth be called the
Wagner-
Lajoie Medal. The Gold Glove Award has a new nomenclature as well, the Tinker-Jones Medal - named after
Fielder Jones and
Joe Tinker, each of whom won the award in their respective division ten times.