The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1932-04-07
TALKING
ITOvER
By JOE WILLIAMS

NEW YORK, April 6.-Baseball
is baseball wherever you find
it-and, If you can stand two star
ting observations in the same para
graph-so Is the American young
ster.
A few weeks ago the train l was
on came to grooming halt few
miles outside Of Savannah. There
Is a law in editorial rooms, you
know, that all trains must come to
a grooming halt.
II was one of those grand early
spring days. A fat cleared space on
a cotton field near the tracks had
been made into a primitive dia-
mond. Tops of wooden boxes and
battered tin squares marked the
four bases. The side Of barn did
duty as a backstop.
game was in progress between farmer
boys. some in faded blue .oyeralls,. some
bare footed all vibrant with youth and
the zest Of fun. grown-up. grave and
solemn. stood back Of the pitchers calling
the plays in the grand KLEIN manner.
On the elGe HneS sat OineF grown Ups
and other youngsters. relatives and neigh
bors. There was a scattering OF women
folk, too and the frst sun bonnets I had
seen since Carrie Nation came iouneing
INTO Memphis, leading the interference for
II was a picture common to the rural
lands where PLAYING space is yours for the
taking where the tempo OF life is a slow,
leisurely beat where time is something
that merely Indicates the passing OF the
All along the trip saw. cleared fields.
ana ball games and tiny huddled groups
Of spectators. Ne wonder most OF the star
ball PLAYERS come from the wide open
spaces--the Cobbs, the Jscksons. the
cites no such ae opportuntes exist. In New
York. for instance
DUT wait, let me tell you what l
~ saw in New York Wednesday,
/ saw much the same sort OF picture
that greeted my eyes on that cotton
field down in Georgia. saw
bunch of youngsters playing ball
on a vacant lot. In appearances
they might have been the same
youngsters, bit differently dressed.
In spirit and ardor they were
Identical.
You don't see many vacant lots
in New York, even in these times.
This one is in West Twenty
street, a noisy, busy artery Of down
town traffic and commerce, a siz-
able stretch of grayish clay that
separates two old buildings.
Any day the excavationists may move
in to destroy this bond of kinship which
exists between the Georgia farmer hOVS
and the sidewalks of New York, but for
he moment Babe" Cunello, Hack
are making the most Of rare moment in
a sitting existence.
lot tee b pretty ord sure that no other vacant
amid such dramatic surroundings, nor
against background so. wildly repre-
sentative of the many-hued pattern of life
that is the hourly delight and despair of
Squirting out from behind the rusted
1ron-wires of his small mask, the kid
catcher looks upon a panorama of fan
tastic spires and turrets that split the
and stone and moTtar t6at IS t6e s x
TO the kid, 1t is not half as exciting as
a theater poster announcing the current
pambols Of Mickey Mouse. He was born. in
cordances of clattery elevated trains and
roaring subway coaches. But 1 wonder
cotton?
TINE original Babe Ruth could
4 stand in left field on this down
town vacant lot and throw a ball
toward the river and it probably
would hit one of numerous ocean
liners that lay browsing in the har-
Dor, waiting for the familiar AL
ashore" call that will send them to
strange lands and places-which to
these kids are just page II in the
geography.
Right around the corner is drug store,
commonplace enough in appearance but
these kids can tell YOU story about it, a
lur1d story typical of the big town and of
the times in which they live.
II was in this drug store that a notori-
Gus gangster was bumped of. He went in
to use the telephone. motor car drove
up outside. man walked in. took aim
with sub machine gun fired a voley of
shots, walked OUT, ana that was all
=, You could even see some of the blood