The Waterbury Democrat., 1937-06-02
DYKES SEES EATERS HELMET AS TARGET;
 TAKING ALL=STAR GAME OUT OF FANS
 HANDS IS UNWISE ACT OF BALL BOSSES

various reasons and there is no ex- planation fo rthe pellet sailing now and then.
 The Duke of Upper Darby points to the very small percentage of hit batSmen, and is afraid that one will be hit on the head occasionally as long as baseball is played.
 Fans Told to Mind Own Business
 As well might have ben expected, the present heads of professional baseball have taken the All-Star game away fro mthe customers. Judge Landis and the big league presidents met in Washington the other day and, in effect, told the fans to mind their own business; that they'd run baseball.
 How right the late Barney Drey- fuss was when he said, Baseball succeeds in spite of those at its head"
 Charley Ebbetts' famous remark of quarter of a century ago, Baseball is but in its infancy" still holds good insofar as the now $50,- 100000 industrys relations with the people are concerned.
 I understand that depriving the trade of any influence in the selec- tions was the idea of Ford Prick, president of the National League. Prick not long ago was an enter prising young sports reporter, so it must be that something goes to the head of an individual as quickly as he assumes an executive capacity in baseball.
 I doubt that the new arrangement will produce stronger teams, for the managers didn't pay much attention to the fans anyway. They played just about whom they pleased
 Strength of the teams made little difference. The All-Star game was cut out to be spectacle.
 The brain child of a Chicago sports editor, it was meant to be the dream game of those who pay the freight. Every addict visions himself manager at one time or another. The dream game was designed to give him chance to satisfy to some extent that ambition once year
 What showmen of other lines can't understand is why the heads of baseball toss out of the window reams of free publicity in the way of polls conducted by newspapers throughout the country. It is true that the polls usually were con- ducted in haphazard fashion and lacked proper supervision.
 Game Was Meant For the Customers
 But the original thought behind the All-Star game made it what it was, the Landis and the club pres idents would have been far wiser had they improved and regulated the system and given the fans sway. Indeed, the suggestion that fans be elected as managers wasn't bad one.
 The All-Star game was meant to be the one game played strictly for the customers, and it's strikes me that pleasing the customers should be the main objective of MesSrs Landis, Prick and Will Harridge.
 Hence forth the dream game will lack the impetus previously provided by ballots running in newspapers for weeks in advance. There is cer- tain to be decline in national in- terest though probably enough will remain to pack the Washington Park, July '.
 The point is that the thousands who make professional baseball pos sible have been denied the oppor- tunity of expressing their prefer enceS.
 LandiS, Prick, and Harridge Seem- ingly resented a proprietary attitude on the part of the patrons sought in every other line.
 If any additional evidence that baseball is 8 great game were re- quired, you only would have to point to the fact that it marches steadily on with what little leadership it gets from the Three Diamond Dukes.