The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1930-05-07
/ ALKING
IT OVER
BY JOE WILLIAMS

NEW YORK, May THE
IN American League statistics
bear a hauntingly familiar look.
Those Athletics are right in the
swim again. 1t looks as If the big
push has started. This team was
powerful enough to spreadeagle the
field last season. No other club was
close at the payoff. This is an
other season, but it is the same
team, with perhaps a sitter morale.
It is hard to see how the team can
be stopped short Of a general up
heaval all down the line Mr.. Nc
Gillicuddy had the best pitching
staff in the league last season, and
his team carried a splendidly sus-
tanned attack most Of the way.
Il
This IS an excellent combination Par
Ieys are dangerous investments but this
one Is offered as a sure-fre, safety-frst.
money-back, proposition: The AS in base
ball. Bobby Jones in golf and Helen
Wills in tennis. And if you wish to make
IL Just a bit risky you might add Gallant
Fox in the Derby.
n
NVER the past weekend the
~ news dispatches carried the
scores of 140 college baseball teams.
Very likely there were at least that
many again of varying unimpor-
lance that did not break into print.
This would seem to indicate the fire.
cuently repeated claim that college
baseball is dead is slightly cock
eyed
There Is an awakened interest IN base
ball this season and this appears to have
extended to the campus. l suspect the
continued progress Of former collegians
in the majors may have something to do
with the renaissance. Any college player
Of promise Is able to get a sizable bonus
for his signature. as witness young Green
berg Of New York university who was
paid $4,000 in cash to join the Detroit
Tigers.
Ut seems to me that the gentle
4 men who sponsor the Blackwell
cup regatta owe the rowing public
an apology. An estimated crowd
of $4,000 people gathered on the
banks of the Housatonic to see Co
Iumbia, Yale and Pennsylvania IN
the annual crew struggle with the
normal expectation that the race
would be rowed somewhere around
s O'Clock in the evening. 1t was
precisely 800 when the varsity
crews left the starting line, and by
that time almost total darkness had
settled over the water AS a conse-
quence, practically nobody saw the
battle.
n NAV he argued by stern academic
gentlemen that what the spectators saw or
did not see Is trivial as compared to the
race itself and what it meant to the crews.
and that the meeting of college boats Is in
no way to be iikened unto sporting
spectacIes of a professional character. The
merit, If any of such an argument. de-
pends on the viewpoint. II this happens
TO be the main thought behind the event
think IL behOoves the men sponsoring it
to announce in advance that no spectators
are wanted.
1T must be hard for the American
i rowing enthusiast to reconcile
our after dark boating competitions
with the orderly water matches in
England, which are scheduled to
start at a precise time, and almost
invariably do. 1 don't think it can
be charged by the academicianS that
Cambridge and oxford in their re-
cent race were particularly interest
ed in the spectators, yet at the same
time it seems reasonable to assume
thai they were not ignorant or de-
liberately unmindful of their pres
ence.
I don't know what should be done about
the situation. Perhaps it would help if
the shells were illuminated. Or maybe
il would be better if the rowing officials
followed the lead of minor league base
ball magnates in the west and installed
flood lights all along the rowing plane
or still better. establish a definite start
ing time and send the crews away regard
less Of wind, water or official whim. Fifty
thousand people can be wrOnged-as they
were Saturday-but not often