The Waterbury Democrat., 1945-03-07
Reg. U. S. Pat. Off)
 By JACK CUDDY United Press Staff Correspondent

OhAeCA AACuD VhASoESAheS~ss~
 New York, March 2. (UP)-The major league training season opens today-only four days after Gunder Hagg's laundering defeat at Madi- son Square Garden gave the sports world a lesson in conditioning that will long be remembered.
 Although the Washington Sen- ators who start spring training to- day are ball players and Hagg Of Sweden is a runner, they have the same ultimate objective in training: to make themselves winning per formers. This is true of all persons who engage in competitive athletics, be 1t team sports or man-to-man competition.
 Training methods naturally diff fer in the various sports, but the objective is the same; and without training. rarely can the objective be achieved Despite this basic law of athletics, the value of spring con- diticning for ball players has been the subject of much controversy in the past.
 Tn previous years, about this time, many sports writers unlimbered their typewriters and sprayed the major league club owners with barbed paragraphs. The cynical scribes said the custom of sending ball players to training camps was a phony. That it was carried on TOT benefit of the owners. rather than the performers. They said spring training was merely publicity stunt that got the fans in condition to buy tickets when the season opened That the players didn't need it at all, because they could play them selves into condition" What about stars like Babe Ruth and Paul Waner? they asked. Ruth ana Waner tossed training rules over the transom. they said.
 Some of the cynical writing tel- lows also hung the "ballyhoo' sign on ze-fight training camps on pro football training camps and on early conditioning for college foot ball players,
 It Is true that major league own CTS, pro football owners. prize fight promoters, and the colleges Wrung all the publicity possible out of the training sessions of their athletes, To have done otherwise would have been stupid - almost as stupid as the journalistic blurbs - that the conditioning campaigns meant noe thing to the future effectiveness of the athletes.
 You can bet that therell be none of those blurbs this year - belitu- ing the value Of training. Not after Gunder Hagg's beating in the mile at the Garden Saturday night. Not after one of the greatest runners in history finished fifth in mile that was paced in the slow time oi 4:iG4. Not after the swift 6wede- still at his peak made this poor showing solely because he had been unable to train for the event, He had been ashore only 90 hours. after q 23-day voyage across the Atlantic. We can remember no occurrence in sports history that illustrates so vlvidly the importance Of training
 In baseball, spring training Is inn- portant for the individual players and for the team. It permits the players to harden" gradually. after more than five months lay.off, so that the danger of pulled muscles, painful charley horses" and broken bones Is minimized. It sharpcns their judgment and COG ordination aiield. and their timing at bat. Meanwhile. the exhibition games shake down the squad SO that the manager can figure who'll play where; whether certain rockies are ready for the big time. etc. nIIY MAE RnNna AND aTAAgRa