The Waterbury Democrat., 1932-01-15
To-Day's Sport
 P ar a d e
By HENRY McLEMORE United Press Stan Correspondent


 New York, Jan 15-(UP)-A very smart baby indeed is Babe Ruth. So smart baby. in fact, he'll probably collect s80,O00 in these days when nickel looks like a man-hole cover.
 You know what the economists say about cycles. And I ain't talk ing about bicycles, tri-cycles, or even ice-cycles. So by this time you must know I'm talking about plain, garden variety, Roger Babson, Stuart Chase, Irving Fisher, chart t-on-the- wall cycles.
 Now what I started to say was that Babe Ruth's publicity runs in cycles. Now the main cycle comes in the baseball season when the mans ability to knock the ball over into Mrs Harrison's back Don't ever think that during the up there in that siXteen-room apartment of his knitting Christi mas ties. No ma am. He and his press agent (whose name we won't use lest we offend Mister Christy
 
 as follows:
 Well, what'll we do this week :? Do you want to go hunting or, would you rather sprain your ankle? Now Babe, you don't have to go through any of those nerve- wracking things if you don't want to. There's a guy around to-day who wants you to start a hat shop. And I've got it figured out where you can make a hole-in-one at winged foot. But maybe right at this moment, it would be a swell idea for you to return unsigned that contract the Yankees offered you. Whatta va think?"
 Now Christy," replies the Babe, T ain't paying you to ask me ques- tions. But here you come around tantalizing me. You know I'd rather send back contracts than eat, much less sprain my ankle."
 "Okay Babe, we'll send that con- tract calling for $70,000 back. You seal up the envelope, while phone the newspaper bOys-I said Murray Hill 0-240O operator-lawdy, Babe, what a face you make licking 6 stamp"
 Now if this doesn't let you in on Mister Ruth's technique in awak- ening the daily press, let us go back a week or two ago when Mis- ter Ruth was getting all primed up to receive Yankee contract.
 By some strange psychic means all the sports editors and all the picture editors east of the great divide learned that the Babe was going to make a personal appear ance in trunk and shorts in Artie McGoverns gymnasium. Need say the Babe made a personal ap- pearance in trunk and shorts in Artie McGovern's gymnasium? The only thing wrong with McGovern's gymnasium that day and subse- quent days was that you almost had to pay two bits admission to get in.
 As a result the sports pages of the metropolitan press looked, during the next week, like this:
 Babe Ruth on a treadmill.
 Babe Ruth on a punching bag.
 Babe Ruth on the Indian clubs.
 Babe Ruth with shoes on.
 Babe Ruth showing his teeth.
 Babe Ruth on the horizontal bars.
 Babe Ruth on the Poughkeep- sic regatta.
 Babe Ruth on my nerves.
 Now this contract business, which opened yesterday, will last until time for the Babe to report to training camp. And then we'll have:
 Babe Ruth in rubber shirt.
 Babe Ruth swatting oval pill.
 Babe Ruth presenting five bucks to Salvation Army.
 Babe Ruth autographs sick mans chest.
 Babe Ruth gives full-fledged saxophone to cripple boy.
 Babe Ruth-thirty, as we say in the newspaper business, and if that doesn't stop me, thirty-five.