The Washington herald., 1919-03-04
OLD FOX SIGNS
SECOND sAckER
Don; Zimmerman, of U. S.
Naval Transport Service,
milne with Nationals.
By JOHN A. DUGUN.


by the Old Fox who obtained the lads
release from Secretary Daniels
league. Don" as Zimmerman Is
known to his shipmates. is at present
wiHtering in Baltimore.
Jimmy. who Is . years of age, first
attracted the Foxy Pilots attention
while guarding the keystone station
for the Locomobile Club of Bridge
port He later received an offer from
the Bridgeport Club OF the Eastern
League and he Immediately grabbed
II but when Uncle Sam entered the
big fuss across the pond, Don discard
ed the spikers for the navy blue.
The Nations new candidate for the
second sack job has made six round
trips across the Atlantic while acting
as a member Of the crew of the trans
port Madawska. Don claimed in a
letter to the Old Fox yesterday that
his batting lamps have been trimmed
as a result of looking for Hun u
boats and the sooner the call to get
= into action the better he will like it.
Wonder when Joie Ray is going to
stop winning races and breaking
records" This question is uppermost
IN the minds of several aspiring
youths. who are anxious to scalp the
sensational Illinois A. c. champion.
Ray Fas broke the heart of many
'febutantes" in the distance game.
He .tarted his indoor campaign by
winning the one and one-half mile
IUn b. nearly half a lap Of the Gar
eeIf= Tack. at the MiIlrose games,
which, gave HIM permanent possess
sion or The Rodman Wanamaker
trophy. Saturday night. at the Bos-
ton y. \. meet. the second edition
OF Tommy Connect, grabbed of the
Hunter mile cup, defeating Clyde
Stout and Nightingale in 422 1-5.
Which mark displaced Oscar Hod-
lund's best time for this race by
- seconds.
Ray forced the issue from the start.
Running in matchless form. he soon
oUtdiStanced his competitors, so that
al the finish ne had forty yards to
spare over Stout. the second man.
stout's performance was surprising.
In view Of the fact that Nightingale
trimmed him by comfortable mar
gtn IN the Millrose race.
An interesting letter from Bud
Mcguire, one Of our Capital friends
makes suggestions to cut down the
admission price of baseball We
must agree upon a few of Buds"
remarks. but in laying out salaries
that count by the thousands, no one
else but the big league magnates
themselves realize what the Fl. c.
o. L. means. Buds" views on the
subject follows:
Sporting Editor. Washington
Herald.
Ny dear Dugan: The Stove
League Is about to give way to the
spring training trip, but before sd-
tournment comes can't you use your
: Influence and the power OF the paper
you represent in giving the two bit
fans some consideration at the hands
OF baseball moguls.
Clark Griffith certainly thinks along
progressive lines, and the bat and ball
fund has given him a place in the
heart OF the doughboys that no othCT
nlagnate can ever enjoy.
Why can't Grifith advocate a mini
mum price of Is cents for admission to
big league games? This might sound
absurd to Charlie Ebbetts and others
who have grown near-siCnted watch
ing the box Office. but what other rem
edy have they got for the vacant seats
IN their ball parks. and how could
Griff fill his jury box every day il not
by this plan?
1t seems folly to me when the tend
.ency of today is to build stadiums for
baseball seating from 1000 to 5000
people to have three-quarters of the
seats empty nine-tenths Of the time.
Show US a theater manager or any
other man purveying to the pubic
amusements that would book attrac-
tions he figured would leave his gall
lery empty all of the time because OF
sxorbftant prices
1t had not ought to be a hard job
TO convince a Snowman like Harry
Frszee that it is sound policy to
keep the ball parks filled to as near
a capacity at all times as is possible
He has seen Braves Field. a mag
nificent ball park that will accomo-
date $4,000 people. empty nearly all
the time. Only in the worlds series
games has it's capacity been taxed.
From the box office standpoint
wouldn't il be better policy to fill
those stretches of vacant seats with
admissions at ten cents per head
than have them idle ! submit it
looks like sound finance to nc.
Who will deny that the success
of the movies has been due to the
ten. fifteen and twenty-five cent
prices? The moving picture the
aters are packing them in because
the price appeals. How many OF
these immense moving picture
houses could be filed day after day
with a So attraction?
Baseball has got to have a revi-
sion downward in the price OF ad-
missions or IL will not progress.
The big league ball player is the
idol OF the small boy but he can't in
dulge a sight Of his hero as often
as he likes until the price is put
down to meet his limited pocket
book And the small boy of today
Is the .rabid fan Of tomorrow. Don't
forget that.
What baseball wants and wants
badly Is a magnate keen enough to
see that the patron who would like
to see big league game for 25
cents Is entitled to a good seat. 1t
will be better policy for baseball to
have the IS cent fan twice than
the SO cent fan once.
GrifHth can pack his ball park IL
he will get the admission price down
nearer the cost OF living for the aver
age fan. When 1 speak of the aver
age fan, I don't mean, of course, the
man who can pay 81 admission with
/ out walking to work or waiting for
pay day.
1t seems to me that this is an issue
that Griff could ponder upon. Since
the tendency IS to large stands the
natural trend in prices should be to-
wards a scale that will fll them.
Start the ball rolling in this direc-
ton There never has been a move
rncnt 10 lower the prices and bring
baseball within the reach of many