, 1923-03-25

the war. sASA oOnA
Very nne propaganda But what
Dunn ovcrlooks. among other thinGz.
Is the fact the American hague made
season while the greatest drawing
card" was doing his best To destroy
his enviabie reputation. thereby undo
tnE all b had been done for him
When Dunn old Ruth to the Boo
ton Red Sox he disposed Of a good
pitcher at n figure which In those
days was considered a fair price for
a promising recr uit- Ruth developed
into a good major league hurier. but
not a great able to command q
place alongside Young. Mathewson,
Walsh. Brown. johnson. Or AexAn-
der. His name never would havo be-
como a household word In fandnm II
the Red Sox had not been go well
stocked with equally good pitchers
that they tried to convert Ruth tato
an out1elder SO az to utilize his bat
ting strength.
Polo Grounds Helped Ruth
That didn't make a good outnelder
u OF Ruth. but It gave him a chance
to shine as a slugger. In that depart
ment he never would have become 4
nations Idol If he had been kept BY
the Red SoK- for he never could hsve
piled up nfty-nine home runs IN a ear
on the Boston park with its deep right
and center fields. Tho tranEfer OF
Ruth to the Yankees snd the short
boundaries OF the Polo grounds com
pleted tho making of the greatest
drawing card on record"
For none OF these steps in the de-
veiopment of Ruth can Dunn take any
credit. He annot even claim credit
for not keeping Ruth in the minor
leagues. because that player probably
would have been drafted II Dunn bad
not sold him. as the International
league was not exempt from tho ma
jer league draft then
II Ruth bad been born ten years
later the world probably would havs
heard of him only incidentally. He
would have started in with h Orioles
at Il time when Dunn would have boon
privileged to keep all his players uD-
les he could get a ! u sky price
for them, and nobody would hAve paid
Sloc. 900. even In Mexican money. for
the kind of a pitcher Ruth wa1 when
no went to the Red SoL-
Dunn probably would have kept
Ruth at the pitching job all his career
but even IL he had transformed him
into an outnelder and sluEEer the Sol
tan of Swat lever would have become
a national ngure- Ruth might have
made 159 homo runs with the Baln-
more team In one season without
creating moro than a ripple In the
baseball oceaa. He would stn have
been a minor leaEuer. and his faJDo
would have been la-xeeS = loaal rnAttsr.
A hundred or go OF c9per1s n judging
haseban talent might have reooE;tSeJ
IN him the worlds greatest svatts-,
but the vsst pubic would stiIi have
been skeptical about his proves
against real pitching.
Dunn Csn SEQ Nothing but 81
Dunn sees only tho TACT that be
onee had Ruth, soid hirn for what nov
would be considered small change. and
saw his former pitcher carr & fortune
for the New York Yankees. When
the Baltimore promoter looks at the
thing all he can SEQ Is S&$" whole
flock Of which got away from hta-
He forsets that Ruth never could
have earned more than q 1.-THE OF what
he has u he had remained In Balt-
more. even II he had became n Great
slugGer. His field would have been
too small and so would the Internn-
tional league plants have boon too
small to help him earn the coin he
has brought the Yankee wners- He
forgets the players interests. for Ruth
never could hav been paid anything
like the salary he has been drawing
lately. Even Baltimore, the best pay
ing city In it's league, could not afford
to pay half OF II.
Ruth did not make the American
league. That league made Ruth. and
"a trying to keep him on his pedestal
another year or two-in spite OF him
self.