The Waterbury Democrat. [volume] (Waterbury, Conn.) 1917-1946, 1942-02-27
reg. u. S. Patent Office
BY JACK GUENTHER

tUniteu fTcSS SIdH correspondent
New York, Feb. 81 UP.) -
The 1912 National League schedule
is being passed along to the GUS
toners today and the neighborhood
movie tycoons throughout eastern
America are succumbing to mass
epidemic Of apoplexy. Some of them
are brandishing the bill OF rights
and others are shouting for their
lawyers. The remainder have al
ready sWooned.
A glance at the schedule will pro-
vide the clue to this wave of an
guish, indignation and alarm which
has engulfed the nickelodeon pro-
prietors. This document, prepared
under emergency conditions. Is
stocked with double features, load
ed with bank nights and decorated
with everything but electric bingo
and free crockery for the house,
wives.
Not Normal
1t isn't a normal National League
schedule in any sense because 1912
isn't a normal year. 1t was produced
only after long hours of weary
manipulation of algebraic formulas,
railroad schedules, calendars and
stop watches. The source of all the
difficulty is a little something orig
mated few years back by Larry
MacPhail-the night game.
When President Roosevelt gave
baseball permission to continue he
specified that the number of night
games should be increased SO that
additional citizens would have an
opportunity to relieve their daily
grinds in the factories with a few
hours of evening relaxation. Judge
Lands parked a few orders to the
owners and the suggestion was
gru6gingly approved.
That part OF the routine was easy
enough. Once agreement was voted
it became the problem of the sched-
ule mappers to arrange the dates. To
this end President Ford Prick, the
owners and their yehudi-like assist
ants were forced to double up on
dates to an extent unapproached
anywhere since Robert Taylor grad
uated from Pomona College to Hol-
lywood.
The results are truly startling.
Unless I have completely lost the
ability to count on my fingers there
will be 76-better check 'em your
self and make sure-double-head
programs ON tap this summer. The
figure represents an increase of "a
over 194l. In 1941 only AZ light en-
gagements were played. This year "a
night games will be offered.
These facts are hardly world
shaking. Aside from a few career
men, few fans know or care any
thing about the schedule SO long
as there Is schedule. Yet, it al
ways has been an indisputably i'm
portant factor In the success or fall
ure of your favorite team and. II you
vii permit me to expert moment I
may add that this year it will be
doubly so.
A schedule doesn't help or hurt
Yankee team which finishes 10
games on top but it does abet or
hinder a Brooklyn in photograph
finish. A home game here, a night
game there and a double-header
somewhere else can easily decide q
pennant race when the pressure
gua9e starts moving up. This year
the complete unorthodoxy will af-
feet more than theater owners.
Pitchers Give Edge
! have placed the schedule under
my portable microscope and am
now able to state that in 1912 the
advantage will be held by the teams
with strong pitching STATS. The well
stocked clubs can survive extra dou-
BILE headers; the ones which rely on
India rubber arms and nothing balls
vii be hard put. That is because the
pitcher must carry this usual load.
The moundsmen will be most af-
fected but there vii be other slight
changes in the sport, too. A stag
gered schedule won't add fuel to
any .streaks-individual batting or
pitching streaks or club winning
strealss. 1t will be quite difficult for
a hot club to stay hot because the
continuity will be missing. The work
week has been broken up.
The teams with maximum num-
Der of players who are emotionally
phlegmatic should bear up best, but
even they viii find much oil the old
zip and sparkle gone. Baseball Is
only game, OF course, but 1t Is
work for the players. And how do
you feel when you work night trick