The Alaska citizen., 1917-01-29
BALL T0SSERS MAY PRACTICE
 0N |STHMUS

l Associated Press Correspondence, l NEW YORK,-A prominent base | ball authority who recently returned i rom tour of inspection of tho ] Panama canal zone is enthusiastic over the possibilities of that section as a spring training camp for big l league ball teams. At the request of the Panama chamber of com- luerce he studied the proposition from every angle and reached the | conclusion that the canal zone of- | fered every facility for modern base | ball training that is found anywhere within the States and some that are usually missing.
 to 93 degrees, with an average of 8 during the months of February. | March and April, and there is little. if any. rain during the period when | the ball tossers would be unlimber- ing for the pennant races of the | succeeding season. The trip from | this city can be made in six days and the return to New Orleans in | after a two weeks workout at Pan- anna the team could return by way of Havana and New Orleans play ing exhibition games in both cities before starting to work their way north by the usual returning routes.
 On the Isthmus there is every fa- | aility for baseball training and the | accompanying gate receipts that go l to tighten the financial outlay for | phese necessary preparatory trips. At | Balboa, on the Pacific coast side. l structed diamond with a grandstand seating 5000 spectators, recently erected at a cost of S25,000. At Empire, the government military | camp, and Colon there are other diamonds sufficiently fast and true IOr practice work More than 10000 troops are quartered at Empire. and there are an equal number of Ameri- can civilians in the canal zone to draw from a1 spectators.
 There are two leagues playing ball there at the present time, and teams from these leagues could be drafted for exhibition games The Panama canal zone league plays a series of Sunday contests during the seasons, and the Twilight league has a schedule of about 40 games.
 All this information will be laid before the major league magnates in the near future and an effort made to secure one or more clubs to try out the possibilities of the zone during the spring of 1918. Act ing Governor Chester Harding. Gen. eral Edwards, President Valdes, of the Republic of Panama, and Cover nor Arcia of Colon are all ardent sponsors of the plan, and have as- sured the ball players a warm wei come and every comfort and atten- ton should any of the big league clubs decide to train at Panama.
 Carefully compiled statistics of the trap shooting clubs of this country show that 3,S69 active and 463 inac- tive clubs are in existence at the present time. Including Canada, Aus tralia, Hawaii and China, the list of clubs of all types reaches the as- tonishing total of 4.666. In the United States, Pennsylvania leads with 552; New York Is second with l 3S4, and Illinois third with 306. Other states with over one hundred clubs | include California, Indiana, Iowa. | Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Ne braska, Ohio and Wisconsin.
 Among the subjects which will be the topics of addresses or reports at the eleventh annual convention of | he National Collegiate Athletic as-
 3ociation are the following addresses: | Major Palmer E. Pierce, U. s. A.. College Athletics as Related to Ma tional Preparedness" Prof Raymond | G. Gettell, Amherst college, "The Value of Football"; R. Tait McKen- zie, Major R. A. M. C.. Prof. of Phy- sical Education, University of Penn sylvania, "The Making and Remaking of Fighting Man" Experiences in the British army); Reports of Spe- | cial Committees; On the Effects of Intercollegiate Athletics, Dr. J. H. | McCurdy Chairman: Dr. Roger l.