The Waterbury Democrat., 1932-12-23

" o0Dos.sA1ee@S-~J @ONSAaO ~-~U o~ riously, both at the turnstiles the big league centers.
 The inferior and inconsistent brand of play shown in the Nation al League which failed to produce a great team appeared to be di- rect result of weaknesses in the minors. Even the far-fiung Card inai. chain store system could not produce enough good ball players to make the Red Birds pennant coltenders.
 Braves Battered
 There were spurts and streaks by the Braves, Pirates and Cubs after which each team iapsed into worse than mediocrity. There was lack of e sustained attack, such as that shown by the Yankees and Senators in the American League.
 National League inferiority be- came conclugively evident during the world series when the Yankees routed every Cub pitcher sent against them, while even .such such veteran Yankee fingers as Herb Pennock stood the bamled Bruins on their bearlike ears.
 The American League race, in which the Yankees dominated throuRhout the season, also showed q dwindling of player re- sources in the minors. Time after time managers were heard to be- moan the lack of good ivory re- placements.
 Once during the playing season. TAN Foneecfa secured four minor leanues in the interests of finding proynisinx recruits for his White Sox. He came back empty-hand- ed. Fonseca's experience was re- peated by other weaker teams Tn fhe league. Another signal or mirior decay was found in the fact that only two players were drafted at the end of the season, Pltcners Joe Heving and Bots Nekola, botn of whom had been to the majors before.
 Tanks, Cubs Made Money
 Only two major teams were re- ported to have made money dur ing inc year, and these were the uennant winners in their respec- tive iagues, the Yankees and Cups. (,leveland established a new single game record for attendance when the Indians played before SO,2S4 fans ,fpon the occasion or moving intn the new lakefront stadium but even Cleveland, which was m a contending position most or the wear. reported loss, part or wnlcn wac charged to, the expense or maintaining it's Toledo farm.
 The Athletics, which made mon av Aurinc the years when Connie Mack was able to produce pen nant winner, fell off to such an ex- tent that Mack was forced to dis. pose of his highest priced ball player, Al Simmons, to the White 90 one major league official. who asked that his name be withheld, offered the opinion that the Nation. aI League had not been so hard hit by the depression as the young or organization, and that the req son was that each team had enough glaring weaknesses to make for uncertainty and excite- ment. and a close race.
 wholesale trades were made by the American League in the effort to stave off another Yankee run away in 1888, the idea being to tighten the race and loosen up the fans pocketbooks.
 Minors Salaries Abused
 The minors, except for the Pa cific Coast League, established sal ary limits that represented cuts from the athletes wages of other years. These salary limits have been widely abused in other years, and drastic regulations were made in the effort to prevent recurrence of such violations. Minor league officials agreed that the turing or stars from one club to another by secret bonuses and agreements had hurst the smaller leagues immeas- urably. ly Into ths pitching picture In the American League--Allen Of the Yankees, with 17 won and four lost: Freltas of the As. with IF won and five lost, a record that l was cut short by injury, ana Weaver of Washington, who won 22 and lost 10 in his first full year in the majors.
 Aiien led the league in percent age. but his teammate. Gomez, with 24 victories against seven de- feats, was deemed to have ren- dered the more distinguished ser. vice. The old General, Alvin Crowder, of the Senators. led all in the number of victories. 26, as against IS defeats. registering one more victory than Lefty Grove.
 Tn batting familiar names re. mained at the top in both leagues. Alexander of the Red Sox leading the American with mark or .3e7, and o'Doul topping the Ma tional with .s66.
 Warnke ExceIled
 National League pitching was briei1tened by the flashing work Of Lon Warneke, who pitched 22 wins against six losses for the Cubs, Virtually winning q pennant for the Chicagoans. The only other hurier in the league who could hit 20 victories was Clark of Brooklyn. Two 20-game fingers n the National. against five Tn the American, namely Gomez, Grove, Weaver, Crowder and Terrell. Earnshaw, with 10. fell just short of the circle, as did Bush or the Cubs.
 The outlook for is33 must be viewed from two angles, physical and financial. TO sum up, tno Na tional league faces the necessity oL imnroyement in the caliber of its rIav. The American league must | buiid teams that can compete suc- cessfully with the Yankees, n move- mant that recent trades suggest has started with bang.
 
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