The Washington times., 1932-11-10

The owner of the Sox has noti-
fled the minor league club owners
out there as we'll as major league
teams that the Sox are not going
to play under the moonbeams.
That announcement has created
new interest in the fight that will
start this week at the annual
meeting of the Coast circuit.
Figures submitted by William
Lane, owner of the Hollywood
franchise, tend to prove that
night ball has lost it's popularity,
and that if the league wishes to
get out of the red games will have
to be played under old Sol!
There is not a town where night
ball is played that has kept up
the attendance figures it showed
the first season the experiment
was being tried. 1t was a novelty
at the start and the opinion Of
the old fans is that now it is a
nuisance. Thousands of those
who liked to watch the game
under the sun refuse to watch
night games.
Interest is at low ebb in San
Francisco and Los Angeles, which
have experienced two bad seasons
playing moon ball. Lane rises to
remark that night ball is going
the way miniature golf went.
Those who took in night games
seem only slightly interested now,
and it is Lanes aim to set the
magnateS to abolish night playing
or at least curb it.
Records Unreliable
There is one big objection to
night ball. Major league clubs
won't pay big money for pitchers
who get records in night ball, nor
are they eager to buy players who
have been appearing in circuits
where the game is not played in
daylight.
Lane says that ball players
can't get into shape and keep at
their best playing form at night.
The damp air plays havoc with
the arms and legs of athletes
and gives a false idea of the ma
tional game.
Some facts and figures that
will be placed before the club
owners are:
In the season of 1882 the at
tendance in the Coast League
dropped to the low mark of 994,-
SOL, decline of almost a million
from the mark of 1,924,18 which
was recorded in 1929. These fig
ures show a drop of nearly 100
per cent and it may be larger,
for the figures of this years at
tendance in some cases are eSti-
mated.
Portland played to 100000 last
season which, although 10000
under the 1881 turnout, saved the
league from embarrassment. Hol-
lywood had a turnout of LAG, sol,
while in 1881, 100000 saw the
games at Hollywood plant, which
also houses the Los Angeles team.
Oakland played to about 10000
in 1882, San Francisco to about
100000 and Los Angeles about
$4,000, with the Mission team
equaling the figure set by San
Francisco.
DwindIing AttendanceS.
How poorly the night game is
going may be cleaned from fig
ures of crowds at Sacramento.
That town has the ideal climate
for night baseball and yet the
attendance mark of $4,000 paid
in 1929, the season the moon
games were first staged, has
shrunk considerably, fewer than
10000 fans having taken in the
battles this year.
In 1924 and 1928 the league
had 100000 attendance, but
has not approached those fig
ures in recent seasons, the 1929
mark being less than the 2,000;r
900 total.
More than 457,0OO fans saw
the ball games in San Francisco
in 1924. The first year of the
night-light game saw a drop of
more than 100000 in paid at
tendance. Notwithstanding the
decline in San Francisco, the
town is one of the best in the
circuit. showing better even than
Los Angeles.
COmiskey Objects
The Chicago White Sox'S rea-
son for refusing to play night
games is based on the demon
strations in the recent tour Of
the American League players who
played their post season games
on the Coast. Jimmy FoXX
could do little or nothing under
the night light, and other play
ers found themselves uncertain
how to hit and how to field the
ball.
In letting the Coast executives
now know how Chicago felt,
President Comiskey said that he
did not think that the players
could properly condition them
selves under the arcs. He said
the timing would be incorrect
and the night was no tine for
players to prime themselves for