Evening star., 1936-05-14
INTENSIFIED RAzz
SEEN FOR HUR[ER
Harridge Cannot Interfere
Without Tearing Down
Diamond Tradition.
BY ALAN GOULD,
Associated Press Sports Editor.

NEW YORK, May 14.-Cleveland's
front Office may be thoroughly justi-
fed in trying to put judicial block
on the "heckling" Of Johnny Allen,
the temperamental right-hander OBJ
tanned in a trade with the New York
Yankees, but there are pretty good
reasons for suspecting it may prove
0 boomerang.
In the first place. the publicity at
tached to the grievance. filed with
President Will Harridge of the Amer
lean League, hardly will soften the
rival attitude or tactics so far as Allen
Is concerned. Nor can Harridge in
terfere without the risk of setting up
a dangerous precedent or running
counter to some of the most time
honored base ball traditions.
The none-too-gen art OF riding
the opposition in professional base ball
Is firmly established as part OF the
game. The question of fairness OF
unfairness rarely is raised in the ma
tional pastime The pay-oft is on the
results and not the methods by which
they are obtained.
Wouldn't Do Elsewhere.
TN ENGLAND-or in most otner
= sports, for that matter-it isn't
cricket" to heckle opposing players,
resort to trickery or employ sharp
practice of any kind in order to win
But custom and tradition have vail
dated tactics on the diamond that
would be outlawed almost anywhere
else in athletics.
It's not unethical, but smart, for IN
stance. if you can steal the other
teams signals and profit thereby In
the good old days certain players were
noted for their ability to solve rlVaI
signs. For that reason most teams
developed alternate sets OF slgnaIS,
often switching in the middle OF a
game to avoid detection.
Baseline coaches or Jockeys are
rated largely on their ability to upset
opposing players, particularly the
pitcher. The umpires, of course. have
authority to curb too much riding
from the baselines or the bench. But
the arbiters so often are the targets
for abuse themselves that they are not
unwilling at times to hear 1t heaped
upon the players.
No Place for Sensitive Souls.
TN A sporting business where the
competition is so keen little con-
eideration is given to the athlete with
a sensitive soul. There have been in
stances where top-notch players quit
because they could not stand the razZ-
ing. If, as in Aliens case, there's a
particular method of getting the play
er's goat, it is not likely to be over
looked by the more rugged individ-
ualists.
Occasionally the riding" Of the OPP
position has had reverse effect
from the one sought. The Athletics OF
1925 attributed their failure to win
the pennant to excessive "jockeying.
That year the AS led the league when
they strated their last Western swing
In August. They had one of the game s
foremost jockeys in Wally French,
former West Pointer. But they made
the mistake Of turning French loose
on George Sisler of the Browns and
then on Ty Cobb of the Tigers. The
reaction Of both stars was to play their
heads off and contribute largely to a
string of setbacks which knocked the
AS out of the running.
Base ball crowds share with the
players the manifestations peculiar to
the game. AS Rogers Hornsby once
put it: "They want you to doff your
cap one day and take of your uni
form the next" He might also have
added: There's no place in big league
base ball for a guy who can't take it. II