Evening star., 1939-04-16

He can't see the third baSeman
and shortstop but what difference
does that make? The peanuts are
good, spring is here and it's fun to
stab yourself in the mouth with a
hot dog. He buys a scorecard to
identify all the new ball players he
has been reading about in spring
training. He watches batting prac-
tice and wonders what Babe Ruth,
In his prime, would have done hit
ting the new ball. He gets into an
argument with the fellow in the next
seat over the rabbit" in the 1899
ball, as against that in the ball
which Ruth drove out of the parks
so times in 1927
The argument is over but unset
tied with the entrance of the Army
Band, which heralds the arrival of
the President of the United States.
He hears shout and stands up as
q long, sleek black car with the
presidential seal on the side rolls
Unto the side gate. He watches the
cameramen beg for "just one more"
like monkeys asking for peanuts, and
then he sees the President wind-up
and throw out the first ball, for
which half a million dollars worth
OF ball players, on whom the club
owner has spent $4,000 condition.
ing, risk life and limb in mad
scramble and whirl of flashing new
spiked shoes.
Games the Thing.
= Suddenly the game will be on. The
President ceases to be the President
and becomes Franklin D. Roosevelt
Jones, sitting among $4,000 other
Joneses and Smiths in Griffith Sta
dium. The game is the thing and
after that will come 76 more at home
and before he knows it the fan will
be wondering what kind of a foot
ball team Georgetown will have this
fall and If the Redskins can come
back.
It isn't new story but it always
eis a thrilling one and in these times
OF foreign strife and stress it strikes
a reassuring domestic chord. Base
ball takes its place as momentous
national issue. In Washington the
question is: Is this the year Joe
Krakauskas, young, bow-legged
Lithuanian, will develop into big
league pitcher? In Detroit the topic
will be: Can Hank Greenberg, a
Jew who hit So home runs last year,
yAbreak Ruth's record of 60 this sea-
son? In New York the speculation
likely will entail the question of
whether Lou Gehrig, a stoical Ger
man, Tan preserve his streak of not
having missed Yankee game since
early Juue of 1925.
Baseball is an industry which
gives the more imaginative Il the
international comparison-d drawers
an opportunity to wax lyrical. They
liken 1t to S1elting pot, like the
land itself, snn they are not far
from being correct. The game en-
braces Italians, Jews, English, In
4dians, Poles, Cubans, Slavs, Ger
mans, Swedes, Irish and Hungarians.
The fans ask no questions except
whether they can pitch, hit, run
and throw.
Birthday Of Baseball.
But this is more than merely the
opening Of another baseball season.
This is the year that baseball be-
comes centenarian, and one of
which the Nation rightfully is proud.
It was 100 years ago that a young
West Point cadet named Abner Dou-
bleday was said to have devised the
first homely, bumpy diamond and
blazed the trail to the game that
ranks at the top of the continents
sports industries . the game which
aannually plays to one-third of the
population of the United States.
81 It is q singular sport. 1t is the
only one which is dignifled by the