The Daily Alaska empire., 1939-03-29
FLORIDA GIVEN
 CIRCUS TINGE,
 EARLY SPRING
Spring Baseball Training Camps Have Their Tai
 Men, Also BeanpoIes
By DILLON GRAHAM AP Feature Sports Writer

BRADENTON, Fla, March 29. - The spring baseball camps to these little Florida towns is like the an- nual arrival of the carnival, only the camps last longer and the ferris wheel and loud-toned calliope are missing.
 But the ball parks have the fat men and the beanpoles and the fireball throwers instead of the fire eaters. And some of the camps have their bankers, just like the carnivals, telling of the prodigious feats of the players as they step up to bat in stead of telling about the tatooed women and the midgets
 Most of the stands are small wooden affairs seating, perhaps, 2,000 They're generally packed, with shirt-sleeved men and wo- men in summer dresses or slacks or shorts. Some persons prefer to sit in the bleachers unprotected from the burning Florida sun They don't seem to mind dodging foul balls. The ladies screech at, foul balls as loudly as at home runs, just as they do back in the majorleague parks.
 EveryOne's Brown Or Red
 There's quite bit of beauty at these camps, for many of the girls come straight to the ball parks from the beaches and sit on the outfield grass in their bathing suits. Everyone is sunburned Some per- sons have nice tans - others are red as beets.
 A good many of the spectators are oldsters from Wisconsin or Ohio or Maine, taking their ease in Floridas warm climate, n d watching the players they've read about, but have seldom seen.
 Programs are not available at all camps. The spectators have fun trying to guess who's who and rec ogni2e the players from pictures they've seen in the papers. They get as much fun out of the daily practice routine as from an eXhibi- ton game.
 Sports writers are all over the field, talking to players and duck ing foul balls. There are half a dozen writers at every camp, rep resenting the papers back home Then. there are always several touring scribblers from the press associations dropping in to look at the rockies. Typewriter keys tinkle in the makeshift press boxes as the reporters bat out their daily yarns.
 Photographers always furnish the crowd with laughs. While they're taking pictures their backs may be turned to the plate In that case they never see the balls that singe their ears as they drive past. Every now and then picture sleuth gets hit or his camera is smashed. Crowds marvel at the cameramen who stand almost in front of the plate to snap a hitter in action. It would be just too bad if Jimmy Foxx, for instance, failed to pull the ball away from the fotog as he hit it.
 Owners Watch Practices
 The late Colonel Jake Ruppert is missing this year. But many of the other owners watch daily drills. Sam Breadon of the Cardinals often puts on uniform and engages in pepper games. Commissioner Kene- saw M Landis sometimes leaves his golfing retreat at Belleair and takes in an exhibition contest.
 Autograph collectors and can- did-camera enthusiasts are just as thick here as anywhere else. And the players have to run the gaunt- let of them as they pass from field to clubhouse. It seems that there are more gray-haired autograph seekers than young ones.
 The bat boys are the envy of all the home town youngsters. The home town kids just sit and stare at them. The bolder local youths move down to the grandstand and screen and try to scratch up a con- versation. Dazzy Vance, the old twirler who just licked pneumonia, is an occasional visitor at the Brook lyn camp and Harry Heilmann, the old outfielder, gets material for his radio broadcasts at the Detroit park in Lakeland.