Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-10-06

= this will be the most spectacular
world series in a good many wears.
Maybe this Is "wishful thinking" as
the last two series have been pretty
tame-from the radio viewpoint, mean
but, looking over the players and
stacking up the two teams against each
other, figure they will keep the air
Both Chicago and Philadelphia have
fine pitching stats, evenly matched
and they each have "murderers'
row."
We radio folks require brand of
base ball somewhat different from the
ideal spectators type If we are to get
the big thrill out of it. The onlooker
in the stands doesn't necessarily need
a show. He usually has some favorite,
watching him perform with intense
satisfaction, and in the purely technical
aspects OF the game may get lot of
excitement. But, for the microphone,
we must have something we can dra-
Matte. We need close situations,
while wild mix-up helps a lot-that
is, a little bad base ball sometimes
warns things up a bit. Not that
anticipate sloppy base ball in this COM
ing Set-to. am looking for some tight
games, and as I figure the dope, it
ought to be Seven-game series.
Chicago Base Ball Crazy.
Chicago, of course, is base ball crazy,
and that will help a lot. New York,
winning too many pennants, got little
bit blaSe. A good old-faShioned Wild
eyed crowd, drawn all the way from
Hegeswich to Highland Park, will help
out lot. And must say that Chicago
crowds are colorful and exciting. In
broadcasting national boxing cham
pionships and foot ball games there
have never lacked for incidental uproar
and thrills.
This will be my seventh straight
world series, and feel just as steamed
up about 1t as when broadcast my
first one between the Giants and the
Yanks. This was a most dramatic
encounter, as was the next series be-
tween Washington and Pittsburgh
the Giants put on a flrSt-claSs show.
The Yanks and the Cards were good in
'26, and then for the next two years we
got two tame ones. The clash between
the Yanks and Pittsburgh and the
Yanks and Cards were poor affairs
Of course, am speaking only from the
radio viewpoint. They were good-crowd
stuff, but not good-air stuff. However,
l have one reservation to make. That
last catch of Babe Ruth at st. Louis
last year. when he scooped the ball
after a desperate run with one game
leg and paraded the ball tantalizingly
before the fans who had been riding
him just about topped anything ever
saw in base ball.
Babe Will Be Missing.
OF course. we will miss the Babe this
year. But, as I have said, there will
be plenty of big doings in this series,
and I'd be ready to walk the track to
Chicago If I couldn't get there any
other way. They have decided not to
use the new microphone, which I re-
Gently described. But the engineering
forces are doing a top-notch Job, and
If you have so much as a 1915 crystal
set you will be able to get the big
rukus with all the trimmings.
Ever since I have been watching base
ball have had a profound respect for
Miller Higgins, Yankee manager, Who
died last week. I have never seen a
man who could get so much done with
so little fuss. In fact, when the Yanks
figured in my broadcaSts always found
it hard to keep my mind on my job, so
diverting was the alright strategy of
the quiet and unasSuming little man.
ager who seemed to be both amniscient
and omn1potent. In all my close and
critical unlocking I never saw him
make what seemed to me a single error
of judgment. If he ordered a sacrifice
it was the one inevitable thing to do.
Other managers might have done the
same thing, but his mind worked like
steel trap and he always thought of
the right thing to do in the quick,
flashing, critical instant which decided,
perhaps, a game and a series. In the
pow-wows around the dugout and the
dressing rooms ! learned that his
players to man yielded him I'M
grudging respect and devotion. He
never stopped fighting. I want to add
this tribute from bystander to one
of the greatest and most admirable
figures of American base ball.
Gone Back to Primitive.
In my correspondence, I find re-
peated references to theme songs and
apparently a widespread curiosity re-
garding their origin. If had 10 or
20 years to dig into the subject,
might find out. An Indian war whoop
is, of course, sort of theme song
and suppose the earliest brand goes
clear back to the forest and the jungle
Jepthah's armies had a theme song.
I'VE Fear Not the Ammonites Now
Wagner, when Wotan was coming, pref
aced and advertised his every entrance