Evening star., 1941-06-25
By LEWIS F. ATCHISON.

Anytime they organize a sandlot
league around Washington and Vic
Gauzza isn't the president-that's
news, mister!
The little man who was teethed on
baseball bat took his first step in
the general direction of first base
and whose first. full sentence was
interpreted as Let me pitch" has
been involved in sandlot affairs so
many years the two are inSeperable.
And anybody can tell you he's done
a good job, promoting sports to the
best interests of all.
Vics salary in the 35 years he has
been on the lots as either player
manager or executive, wouldn't buy
interest in hot dog at Griffith
Stadium. but that hasn't dampened
his enthusiasm for sports or the
roles he portrays.
"A good. honest name is more
than money can buy" he philos-
ophizes, And that's enough for me-
And besides being in sports keeps
you young and active"
Keeps Them in Line.
This is not meant to imply that
every sandlot manager looks up to
the good signor as a character
sprouting wings and sporting 20
karat halo. Rather, to some he Is
a fearful ogre with big stick and
a .e37 batting average on their un-
ruly skulls. This is because Gauzza
insists on abiding by rules, let the
ak fall where it may. But the
culprits who wander about calling
for his blood are outnumbered by
his supporters 1901. It's COM
Portable margin, although deep,
down inside Vic would prefer 1t to
be 101 VS.. 0.
Vic is in the sporting goods busl-
ness. a career he has pursued re-
lentlessly since the tender age OF 9
when he traded two slightly rusty
jack-knives for a perfectly goot bat,
cracked only in one place. At the
ripe old age of IA he was an
honest-to- goodness salesman with
legitimate sporting goods firm. 1t
is a hard, fast rule with Gauzza
that the business never interferes
with his decisions in sandlot mat
tiers, although the policy has cost
him some profitable orders.
Player and Salesman.
Vic's first venture into the realm
Of sports was back in the lustrous
era of 1906 when he managed,
pitched for and played second base
on the Shapiro Sport Shop nine.
Records of his prowess afield are
rather skinny but any oldtimer will
tell you he was an Al pilot from
the beginning. And after getting
his first taste of managerial au-
thority Vic was henceforth no ordi-
nary ball player. He usually man
aged the team for two good rea-
sons: (A) he was keen student of
inside" strategy and OBJ he always
could dig up couple of new balls
or promote q catcher's mitt or a
bat or two.
The teams that benefited by
Gauzza's managerial brilliance are
too numerous to be printed on the
ordinary S-column sports page, but
lives there an athlete with memory
so dull he can't recall the old Ma
tionals of 1912, and the Vigilants
of 1916 after they had merged with
the Nationals? Vic's career prin-
cipally follows a strict baseball pat
tern, but there were couple of
episodes where he branched out
into football and for several years
his Nationals were the scourge Of
140-pounders.
The late Hip" Dugan, former
sports editor of the Washington
Post, coached the team and 1t
mopped up all opposition from IL
through 1915 inclusive. Rooney
virnstein, Tommy Degnsn, Chick
Davis, Bobby Grace. Skull" Hunt,
Johnny Healy. "Bih" johnson.