The Daily Alaska empire., 1937-05-15
BALL OPENING SET TOMORROW;
 MAY 1T SHINE /!
0 fficialdom and Band Primed for Roles in
 Prelude to Season

By the grace of the elements, the Juneau band will play, the Governor will loop the first ball across the plate. the umpre will yell Play Balln and don his mask, and the Gastineau Ch nnel Basketball League will open its 1887 season to- morrow afternoon at 4:S0 o'clock, sharp, while the dyed -thewool" fans will find themselves a new perch on the bleachers that have replaced the old grandstand, and settle down for the season to a g. inning game.
 old ball fans will find lots of changes when they gather at Fire mems Park tomorrow The field will seem just not quite familiar. the rickety old grandstand will be missed, but nothing that really makes baseball will be missing. The spat of the horsehide on leather or the crack as it comes in sharp contact with old hickory or ash will still be there, as will be the close plays at first base, the chants of the coachers on the baseline, the yips of the infielders, the small boys chasing balls and bats, and the cry "get a dog" from the right-field fence.
 Moose Islanders
 And, besides all the integral back ground that each spring makes the blood race inside the peanut-eating bleacherite, tomorrow's battle be- tween the defending champion Moose and the Douglas Islanders, will, as is only befitting the import of the season opener, be marked by the traditional ritual, participated in by the high of the land
 Honorary batteries. announced this morning, put Governor John w. Troy on the mound to rifle the first pitch across the plate into the waiting mitt of Mayor Tom Judson. while Secretary of Alaska E. w Griffin with an ash bludgeon cock ed, looks the pitch over with judic- ious eye, then swiftly spins and makes inaudible comment to the ar bitter behind the plate as that wor- try imperturably drawls str-i-i-ike"
 Then. the season launched in the appropriate manner, officialdom will retire to the sidelines, and the Moose and Island lineups will trot to their positions to pepper the ball about before settling down to the business of starting off the sea- son with win. In their role as defending pennabt-holders and the home team. the Moose will take the field first. while the Douglas sluggers dig in the new batter's box.
 Play Ball' from the umpire be- hind the plate, the sign from the catcher, the pitcher winls up, and the ball game is on.
 Batteries
 Batteries selected by Douglas manager. Big Andy" Andrews, and Moose manager Art McKinnon for the first battle are: Claude Frs kline, pitcher, Red Gray, catcher, and Bob Kimhall pitcher, Tex flaw kins, catcher, respectively. The re- mainder of the Douglas nine is ex- pected to line up with: Andrews, cn first base; Ken Junge, second base, Eddie Roller, shortstop; Jim my Manning, third base; Bob Bon ner, left field; Johnny Niemi, cen ter field; and Mark Jensen, right field.
 Batting order for the Moose will show: Fitz Schmidt, second base; Stan Grummett, left field; Hiding Haglund, center field; Joe Snow, first base, Jack Schmitz short stop; Joe Werner, third base; and Toddy Baldwin, right field Catcher Hawkins and Pitcher Kimball will bat in eighth and ninth spots
 Reserves
 Douglas reserves include Andy Balog, Tauno Niemi and Dan Livie; while the Moose were this morning assigned four new players by League President William A. Holzheimer. They are. Ralph Moreau and Tom Martin, outfielders; Walter Peggar, pitcher, and Cecil Gray, infielder Also on the Moose bench will be Matt Carton, old-time horsehide warrior who is to assist the cham pions this year in the capacity of coach. Moose captain Stan Grum- mett has asked that the four new ployers assigned to his squad re- port to him this evening or early tomorrow, to receive suits.
 Prizes
 Besides striving to start off in the win column tomorrow the Moose and Island stars will wage their own private struggles for the prizes post ed by Juneau merchants for the outstanding plays that start off the season. The player, from eith- CT team, trotting across the plate to score the first run will be the recipient of new Arrow shirt. from H. S. Graves, the Jakeway Distributing Company has posted one case of Alt Heidelberg beer to the. batSman clouting out the first