The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1939-04-20

his right foot he draws a real or
imaginary line on the ground be-
tween himself and the player. Then
he backs away. There is not one
player in the major leagues who has
ever dared to cross that line. No
body is quite sure what would hap
pen, but Klein implies it would be
something pretty dire.
Baseball color" is clearly defin-
able in the case of Klein, whose man.
nerisms are mostly unconscious,
the accumulated personality of 30
odd years in the game. In the case
of Joe Engel the color is about as
subtle and unconscious as a five
alarm fire. Joe Engel is the whOOp-
'em-up manager of the Chattanooga
Lookouts of the Southern associa-
ton. EngePs idea is that BASEBALL
is just not baseball unless the grand
stands and bleachers are full of
laundering, shrieking fans.
Baseball Circus
Engel fills the stands by using
everything except warrant officers
and summonses. Among other
things he has staged elephant
parades across the diamond, hired
brass bands and handed out free
lunches to get spectators for the
Lookouts. He regards his system as
fundamentally sound because a
large percentage of those who an
swer his attendance campaigns keep
coming back.
The rags-to-riches angle adds col
or to almost any ball player. Joe
DiMaggio of the New York Yankees
is high in the gallery of young men
who walked in the footsteps of Ruth
and iris Speaker. The smuggling
Yank star is not yet rich man,
but he's well on his way. His pres
ent salary is $4,000 a year. Joe
DiMaggio is the son of San Fran
cisco fisherman. Because he was
fast on his feet and because he
learned to wallop the ball with one
of the easiest, smoothest batting
swings in baseball, he fairly sky
rocketed to baseball glory. His
holdout fasco of last year brought
him additional fame, though of a
different sort. At least he was an
individualist.
They Keep Fighting
More often than not the colOrful
player is the aggressive, pugna-
cious individual who puts his heart
i'm his work and makes everybody
on his side of the field keep up with
him. Gabby Hartnett is that kind
of a player. So is Lippy Leo Du-
rocher.
Gabby is a good bitter and great
catcher. In addition to that he is
a noisy, jovial fire-eater, always on
his toes and willing to put every
thing he has into each game.
Durocher has been in the big
leagues steadily since 1923. His
batting average approximates only
$50. Yet he's been on top for more
than 10 years because of his ability
to make himself important. He
talked, scrapped and played with I'M
/ limited pep. He made himself valu-
able because he made himself col
orful.
A colorful player isn't necessarily
crackpot. The players who really
tickle the fans risibilities are those
who refuse to be regimented. And
that doesn't imply even mild in
sanity.
1t would be next to impossible to
chronicle the deeds of the hundreds
of "screwballs, who, by their col
or, for lack of better name, have
helped to make baseball history.
Every baseball club has its clown
and the term is not meant in a
derogatory sense. They are the
players who add zest and spice t.
the game, who keep the fans in a
happily hysterical state and who
see to it that the turnstiles keep
clicking. 1t has been demonstrated
in the past that even losing team
can pack the grandstands providin.
they can lose and still maintain a
scrappy, free-for-al attitude.