Evening star., 1941-03-21
KeenF|ag Races
AreApt TO Tax
Major Parks
Florida Exhibitions
Show Fans Keyed
To High Pitch
BY GAYLE TALBOT,
Associated PreSS Gnnrts Wri}av


TAMPA, Fla. March 21.-Baseball
men are keeping their fingers
crossed-but the signs appear un-
mistakable that the coming season
will be one of the greatest in history
from an attendance standpoint.
Crowd records are being broken
right and left around the Florida
exhibition circuit, and in the last
half dozen games this observer has
attended grandstand and bleachers
have been packed to where the
aisles were obstructed. At some of
these games the price of grandstand
admission was 81, too.
The champion Cincinnati Reds
played to more fans in their first
two games here than in the entire
six they played a year ago, with
over 5000 watching them engage
the Yankees. Cleveland and the
Giants played before a record
throng of 1900 in Miami. with many
turned away, and on another day
rival games In Miami and Miami
Beach drew $500 and 1890, re-
spectively.
War Spurs Interest.
Old-timers who were attending
the training camps at the time
recall that there was a similar
quickening of interest in baseball
at the time of the first World War
That probably is partial ex-
planation of the current rush for
the turnstiles, but the baseball men
prefer to believe that the fans also
are intrigued by other factors
the prospect of a couple of close
league races and the introduction
of such colorful newcomers as Phil
Rizzuto and Gerald Priddy of the
Yankees.
For four springs previous to this
one the Yanks were the only con-
siStent draw on the exhibition cir
cult, with Cleveland scoring at the
box Office only on days when Bobby
Feller was scheduled to pitch. This
year several other clubs will more
than pay their training expenses
Brooklyn, if it lives up to ex-
pectations and gives Cincinnati q
real race. appears cinch to break
the National League attendance
record.
Giants Skid Causes Worry.
The Dodgers have a brace of fine
individual attractions In Kirby
Higbe, their new pitching ace, and
in their great little shortstop. Pee
Wee Reese.
The only thing worrying National
League executives is the prospect
that the New York Giants will fail
to get out of the second division
The Giants are going unexpectedly
good at the moment, but that isn't
fooling anybody. and when those
acres of seats at the Polo Grounds
yawn emptily day after day it is
tough on everybody
Detroit, which started training
long after the others. is drawing
enthusiastic crowds at Lakeland,
with Pitcher Buck Newsom, defeated
hero of the last World Series, the
standout attraction. Buck, however,
is forced to share attention with
his new custom-built car, which is
worth seeing. 1t is approximately
a block long, bears Bucks initials in
profusion and the horn blasts Hold
That Tiger every time Buck punches
the button, which is often.
Yankee Pair Popular.
The crowd invariably gives Hank
Greenberg big round of applause
the first time he comes to bat.
While there is no individual at
traction in sight such as Babe Ruth
used to be, Cleveland has a near
approach in Bobby Feller and the
Yankees have in Rizzuto and Priddy
a pair who will draw many a dollar
to the parks once the fans catch
their act few times. They naturally
can toss that ball around second
base. 1t is doubtful they ever would
quite retain their present slick
cohesion if Rizzuto went in the Army
for a year, as it looks he is about to.