The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1930-05-24
ALKING
IT OVER
By JOE WILLIAMS

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II easy to tell whether the peo-
pie in Brooklyn are crazy about
baseball or Just crazy. At any rate
1t is a curious fact replete with ma
terial for psychological research
that the people in Brooklyn are
capable of higher and more spec
tacular flights of hysteria in their
moments of baseball delirium than
any other people in the country.
Nowhere else does the citizenry
abandon itself to such eye-popping
bursts Of insanity over the fortunes
or misfortunes of its ball nine.
lust what produces this phenomenon Of
emotion no one has yet been able to state.
Il may be that IL is a natural outlet of
nervous depression peculiar TO life along
the unromantlc banks Of the Gowannas
canal. II can't be a community response
to sustained greatness because the Brook
Iyn Club. taking 1t from the beginning. has
written very few noteworthy chapters in
the record books Of the game.
Friday at sun-up thousands Of people
had gathered at the gates in Flatbush to
buv tickets for Sundays game with the
Giants. and within a few hours the crowd
the mounted consta bulary had 70 be yum
moned 20 the scene. This is spectacle
les times. but across the river it is a
routine occurrence.
=
THIS conduct becomes all the
il more bewildering in view of
the fact that the Brooklyn situa-
ton is not one to encourage loyalty
by the public or even madness, If
this is what it happens to be. The
two factions which control the
ownership of the club on a fifty
fifty basis do not work in harmony.
The manager is in right with one
faction and In wrong with the
other. Encouraged by executive
strife the players do just about as
they please.
And vet in spite Of all this the team
has come with a rush in the National
League and many critics say that 1t Is
the one the ultimate champions will have
to beat. Here. then. Is two million dol
lar business enterprise split by discoTd
In the office and unhampered by discipline
on the field. and the prospects are that
IL viii have its greatest season in every
respect. The whole picture Is mad. dizzy.
incredible and Illogical but inexplicabIS
true.
have had the adventure OF beng IN
owners. the gentleman who is called Judge
Steve McKeevcs. He is the one who has
no pI1iessionsi IegaIo OK Rfrs9nqs bfSpoG'
II he had his way Mr.. Robinson would be
shoveling coal in Erie. Pa.
n
This explains the attitude McKeever took
a wear ago when Dairy Vance held out for
SOS, 900. Mr.. Robinson said he would sec
Vance in hell. Hoboken or Harrisburg be-
fore he gave him cent more than SEQ, 900.
Whereupon the Judge said pitcher like
Vance was worth all he was asking and
that he would be cheap at $4,000. In the
end Vance would up getting what he de-
mandcd. Only in and by the Brooklyn
Club could a business proposition have
been executed with much flnesse and
sagaclty.
THE judge, who is so-called be-
Il cause he was once a Tamma1y
alderman from the Second ward,
isn't concerned about how much
money the office pays out or loses.
Money doesn't mean a great deal
to him and he has sinister no-
ton that staggering deficit would
cause the gentlemen who own the
other half of the club to fold up
and sell out.
He tells you he started in life as a metal
yorker and helped build the Brooklyn
bridge. Later he had the dead animal
privilege Of Brooklyn. You ask him what
that was and he answers; II used to 70
around and collect all the dead horses and
goats and haul them away to the crematOr-
les. Made fortune out of it,
n
McKeever is seldom to be seen
without an iron hat of uncertain
vintage. A heavy gold watch chain
jangles from the front of prodig-
ious girth. From his mouth flash
golden nuggets attesting the skill
and extravagant modes of dental
plumbers of past era. In his hand
he carries a black curved cane
topped with large ornate silver
crown.
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And with this fortune Mckee
yer bought into baseball and now
he has team which threatens to
win the pennant and bring fame
to a manager he dislikes and wealth
to business associates he does not
associate with. and if that amt
sumpin' Amos and Andy have been
wrong from the start.
MAX TAKES HOLIDAY