The Washington times., 1932-04-20
EARLIER DATE
TOOCOLDFOR
PLAYING
BY BABE RUTH

NEW YORK. April 20.-~he
baseball season is only week
old and already it has produced
controversies. They are mild, Of
course, but interesting just the
same. One is whether a mistake
is made in opening the season
during the early part of April.
The other concerns the freak bat
which Goose Goslin carried to the
plate in a game between the
Browns and the White SoX.
I am perfectly willing to let
the men who run baseball decide
what is the proper date for open
ing the season. But am sure
they will not object to a mere
expression of opinion. An open
ing close to April 20, and no later
than April 25. would seem the
better arrangement, with few
doulbe-headerS S CHI e dule for
those cities where there Is no
Sunday ball. This year the YanK-
ees returned home on the morn
ing of April s, four days before
the opening date. We had three
games scheduled with Brooklyn
and one off day.
What was the result? We were
able to play the day we returned
home. although it was rather cold
weather for baseball after long
stay in the South. That was Fri
day. It was impossible to play on
Saturday or Sunday, we had moth.
ing scheduled for Monday, and
then came the opening on Tues
day in almost freezing weather in
Philadelphia.
Too Cold to Play
After that came two more days
when it was too cold to play any
baseball. So for our first week in
the North we were able to play
exactly two games and neither
was played in good baseball wea-
ther.
Everywhere in the major leagues
the weather was too cold for real
baseball during the first few days
of the season, and this brought up
the old argument as to whether or
not the club owners were starting
the season too early. Well, I have
seen times when we had fine wea-
ther in April and cold or rainy
weather which caused numerous
postponements in May. So I agree
with those who say that the wea-
ther is a gamble. At the same
time I think it is reasonable, since
the weather warns up gradually
in spring, to look for better days
from April 20 to Is than may be
expected between April 10 to IS.
Chief Argument
The chief argument against
later start is that it is impossible
to play out the usual schedule of
154 games and finish UP by Oc-
toher ], unless the season is
started before the middle of
April. The answer is that some
double headers might as well be
scheduled, since several are now
made necessary by the chilly and
rainy days so common to April.
think that the ideal season
would run from April 20 to the
last Sunday in Setember, or pos
sibly to october l.
About that Goslin bat I have
tried to figure what difference it
could make and it is still puzZling
me. I saw q picture of the bat
and it seemed only to have light
and dark stripes running alter
nately from end to end. One of
our pitchers made the remark
that it couldn't improve Goose's
hitting any against him, because
Goslin seemed able to hit any
thing and everything he threw.
Some of our players were talk
ing about that bat on the bench
the day after it was ruled out
and we couldn't figure how the
bat could help Goslin, or how it
could bother the players on the
other team. But there must be
some objection, because l notice
that President Harridge has ruled
it out. So that will be the end
of the camouflage bat. However.
/ am quite sure that Goose will
do fairly well with the old style
club.
Hard On Fans
Opening days we're rather
rough on home fans. In all the
cities they almost froze, and to
make matters worse their favor
lite teams were beaten in most of
these openings. The Mackmen,
Red Sox and Tigers were de-
feated in their home starts in
the American League, with the
Senators winning by 10 in an
extra inning game. In the Ma
tional League both the Giants
and the Dodgers failed to live
up to the expectations of the
frozen thousands who turned out
to cheer them on to victory. The
real opening day excitement was
reserved for the Cincinnati Reds,
who pulled thrilling ninth.inning
rally to win from the Cubs be-
fore a crowd of home fans.
Just another reference to the
start of the season. Did you
notice how Sam Jones stepped
out and won an easy victory for
himself in his first start with the
White Sox? I predicted recently
that Sam would make quite a
little difference with this club
and he surely has started out as
if to prove it. am inclined to