Sunday Chicago bee. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1925-19??, 1938-05-01

OF the all-Star series, according
to reports, netted a profit Of some
thing like $4,000. The attend
ance at that game was said to
have been around 10000 specta-
tors. Now, if twenty-six players
took part in this contest at $50
each, their aggregate salaries a
mounted to only thirteen hundred
dollars. And even if the mag
mates had to pay this amount out
of The reported $4,000 profit, a
neat sum of $23,7O0 would have
been left for somebody-but not
the men who did the work and
made the show worthwhile.
NOT SUCH A GAMBLE
! 1t will be argued for the mag
mates side that, in the case of the
all-star games, they take great
gamble in renting park for
which they are required to pay
a reported $4,000 rental; pay
transportation charges and other
incidentals that must be paid re
CARELESS Of the financial returns
On the venture, in staging this
annual classic.
It is all true about the expens-
es. But as for the gamble, that's
just a bit Of hooey. If the head
men weren't certain that they
would be able to "clean up" on
the venture, they never would
have started it. They are quite
aware that there are enough fans
in the city in which the contest is
staged to guarantee a return on
their investment. They are by no
means as dumb as they would
have the public believe them to
be.
Then, too, when they permit
the fans to have a voice in the
choosing of the participants in
this classic, they are assured Of
something above expenses by the
interest noted among the base
ball loving public. The truth is,
they never take a gamble on this
game, and no one knows it bet
ter than they.
Yet, because Of avarice and par
simoniousness, they feel that the
best they can do by the player is
to give him $50 for his days
work as a principal actor in the
great drama of entertaining the
thousands who have paid thou
sands into the till to see this
player, along with others, "do his
stuff"
WE GET THE BLAME
But the baseball moguls of our
group find it an easy matter, so
they think, to explain the low
wage scale existing throughout
the league. We, the fans, SO they
say, do not support the game in
sufficient numbers to warrant a
higher salary for the players. But
that's what THEY say, and is
only a camouflage to hide the in
born avarice Of individuals who
want most everything for them
selves at someone else's expense.
1t may be true that Negroes do
not support Negro baseball as
they could and should do. 1t is
true that often Negro teams are
called upon to play before we'll
nigh empty grandstands. And it
is also true that the expenses in
volved in running ball clubs are
no widows mite. Nevertheless,
it is hardly believable that the
margin of profit is so slim that
professional baseball players can
only be guaranteed a measly SITS
per month for four months of
actual league play.
And while the league season
runs only from May to Septem-
Der, most Of the Negro league
players are required to put in at
least an extra month in training
for which they receive no salary
at all. Still, they must live and
are expected to get into the pink
of condition by May IA, the date
of the opening Of the league.
WE'D QUIT
You must not lose sight Of the
fact that Negroes take advantage