The daily independent., 1937-04-19
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| Y!31Z2THIS 20
I12GORdER%1
BY JACK CUDDY

New York. April 18.-U.P)-
They'll ring up the curtain to-
uCIrOW and Tuesday on the big
/ -c5t show in American sports
! The Major League baseball season
which rolls on for five and a
nali months. But this curtain
raising if you examine it with
cut guShy Sentiment-will be as
I prcsaic as ever. and will serve
as a robust reflection upon the
most archaic Cf the nations en-
/ te.jainmentS.
As customary. the President of
lie United States will toss out the
'firt' tail at Washington. D. c..
wle.e Clark Griffin'S Senators
raaglc tomorrow with Connie
. AIack'S Athletics. But it won't
actually be the first" ball be-
cause the AS and Senators meet
II the afternoon. where as the
. SCScCu EeeS and Phiilies of the
National League collide tomor-
rGw forenoon in the first Of two
game; TO be played on Boston's
Patriots Day.
And even when President
. Roosevelt tOSSeS out the ball, it
Will be q sad commentary upon
The progress Of the sport. AS un-
official pitcher President RooSe-
velL IS getting twice as much
douCh each year as the highest
paid player in the majors. am
referring to the Presidents SIS
900 ana Iron Man" Lou Gehrig'S
S36.T0O. This just shows you how
the game has faded. In the old
days Babe Ruth, at his peak, re-
Celyed $4,000 a year-S5,O 900 more
than the President.
The Presidential ball tossing
will be the same as usual. The
PLAYERS will scramble for the ball.
md the writer's will record which
.cltuna.e athlete captured it. what
he did with it, etc.
But Say-if any other gang of
entv2preneurS. except those run
uing the majors. we're selling the
gaMC 70 the public. you'd see
.cal show at Washington's open
nc and at the openings in the
other seven cities when the sea-
son GETS under way. mean.
imagine what would happen if
the movie people. or the automo-
ole folks. or the oil companies,
etc. we're selling the game to the
public Do you know what would
happen?
Wi.y-at Washington, President
PcOscvClt wouldn't Just be tossing
that ball out Of the official box.
They'd have him pitching to ALI
LandCn or trying to fan that
Supreme Court nine. They'd have
Rep. Ray Cannon of Wisconsin,
who claims that baseball players
are in virtual servitude. trying
20 stage a sit-dOwn strike with
-hc Athletics to hold up the game.
And they'd have the marines.
.a.lCrs and soldiers coming "a
-unu.ng 10 save the day.
As a result. Spinsters and dusty
p.rsesscrs-who wouldn't know
an iufield out if they saw one
crossing Main street at high noon
-wCuld be reading about the
opening Of baseball season. and
.aying. How long has this been
gong on? I must make a per-
soma, Investigation
And in the other Curtain-rais-
.ng cities-instead of having the
C0p-hat;erS march down to the
Ccate--field flag-pole. as usual.
and the mayor heave out the pei
,e.-thc promoters could go to.
town in a big way.
They could have the visiting
players battling with local news
paper men in a hotel lobby the
night before the game-instead
Of wasting all that publicity dur
ing the training season. They
could have one of the visiting
athletes mistaken for a promi-
ncnc slayer or gangster and ar
rested before the game-or chas-
cd across the playing field by a
5Cvy Of burIy cops. Any time you
get one Of those keystone comedy
chaseS into the attraction, it's
always good.
Or they could have big Bank
Day" or "Eatto" like those semi
lotteries they run on slow nights
IN the movies, and let the fans
holding the lucky numbers march
off with a big of dough. After all
the fans deserve it. They've been
mighty patient during all those
years that the magnates have
done nothing but collect their
dInerO at the gates.
They could have a strip-tease
contest among the players wives,
or a spelling bee among the play
crs-Heh! -Heh!-or they could
let player and an umpire put
on a boxing contest. The fans
would go for any of these things.
They went for Al SchaCht, didn't
they?