The Waterbury Democrat., 1936-09-17
Today's Sports
 Parade
By HENRY McLEMoRE

By HENRY McLEMOKE
 United Press staff Correspondent)
 London, Sept l7-(UP)-Within
 i've years baseball will be made popular than cricket in England and within 10 years 1t will be c se- rious challenger to league football as the national sport of the country.
 This Is not my opinion. It belongs to c half.doSen English sports writers who know their country and its games. Ask them why this op- timism for tho American game in the tight little isle and they point out the healthy groups that have capital of men who arc determined two years and-what is much more mportant-thc almost unlimited cauital of men who are determined to sec 1t succeed.
 It Is common knowledge that English baseba lis chiefly backed by operatores of giant football pools and that their interest is purely nercenary. The betting operators consider baseball to Do Q perfect plug" for the four months of May, June, July and August. These are the only months in the year in which football, on which millions of dollars are wagered, is not played and they constitute dead loss for the pool owners. They lose not only the revenue from the bettors but also wages for their clerical staffs. Men and women who work in the ofiices of the betting pools are ex- perts and cannot be replaced easily. AS . result, they-and some of the bigger pools employ thousands- must be kept on the payroll in idle months. Baseball offers the perfect solution and the betting tycoons are ready to sink millions Of dollars in it.
 Already thousands of pounds sterl- ing have been spent and spent in the most effective chameleon the de- velopment of the game among the school children. Drive about Lon- don's suburbs and you vii lsee hum dreds of boys, ranging in age from nine to le, playing the game with first.class equipment. There are several baseball leagues in the city and their championship games this season often draw crowds of better than l3,oo0, which is larger than many of the throngs at the big cricket matches.
 Up to now, coaching has been rather haphaZard, with anyone who knew the sport welcome to come out and take Q hand in training the youngsters. Plans, however, call for the importation of professional ball players from America. Players who have passed their prime in the United States are going to be of- fered substantial salaries to come over and take charge of teams. As an added attraction, next year sev. eral star cricket players, notably Patsy Hendren and Walter Ham mond, have been offered contracts. Hendren and Hammond are just as celebrated over here as Lou Gehrig and Dizzy Dean in America and their presence on the diamond would lure thousands through the turnstiles.
 The biggest English booster of baseball is Trevor Wignall, sports columnist of the Daily Express and far and away the most widely read and influential sports commentator in London. Wignall, who grew to like the game in his frequent trips to America Che has covered two world series), is one who thinks it is certain to outdistance cricket in popularity in the near future.
 Cricket has been dying steadily for years and is becoming more and more a game for theupper classes and not the lower masses" Wignall told me. Once English finds out 1t can go to baseball game and in three short thrilling hours get more excitement than in three full days of tedious cricket. the American sport will be made here. And that day is not far off."
 Copyright. l936, by United Press)