Evening star., 1945-01-17
Presidents Qualified
Approval Cheering
To Sports World
By LEWIS F. ATCHIsON.

~ JPVIH VVIW
BY LEWIS F. ATCHISON.
Big league baseball clubs today
proceeded with plans for the 1945
season after yesterday receiving
President Roosevelt's qualified ap-
proval to continue as long as the
the game does not interfer with the
war effort.
While not wholly unexpected the
Chief Executives Endorsement
came as sedative to jittery dia-
mond leaders and pessimistic fans
who predicted a complete sports
blackout after War Mobilization
Director Jimmy Byrnes' breakdown
on racing two weeks ago.
The Presidents act was hailed in
all professional sports circles as an
indication of an increasingly
brighter future for athletics. It|
meant that pro football will be able
to continue, as well as hockey, box
ing and other minor sports. The
only warning note in the Presidents
statement was that he didn't think
any perfectly healthy young man
should be in baseball in these times
and club owners were quick to sec
ond the motion.
Vets, Striplings Get Chance.
Thus baseball, its waistline bulg-
ing with wartime prosperity, crossed
the borderline and entered fully and
completely into the "fat forties"
Veterans who in normal times
would be going into eclipse, Grass
rockies escaping the customary
bush-league abrasives and dis
charged servicemen will dominate
the game. Some berths undoubtedly
will be filled by AIS again rejected
by the services after re-examina-
ton. but the games overseers will
be doubly cautious not to jeopardize
their position and will depend more
on men in safe categories.
The Presidents statement was the
third favorable verdict for baseball
in the last few days. Earlier Gov
eminent officials had announced
that restrictions on lighting would
not affect night baseball, and that
the ban on conventions did not
apply to sports.
Makes Griffith Happy.
Clark Griffith, president of the
Washington club. received the news
with a broad smile and said the
caliber of the game would depend on
the number of returned war vet
erans and 4Fs available. He in
dicated the clubs would try to strike
a balance between veterans above
the draft age limit and 17-year-olds
who will have an opportunity of
playing one year in the big show
before being called to the colors.
Approximately 500 men, including
223 4-Fs, were on the rosters of the
two major league clubs last season,
but substantial number of these
were farmed to the minors. The
National Football Leagues 10 teams
employed 280 players, few of whom
were eligible for the draft.
The Presidents restrained ap-
proval of baseball, anticipated by
political observers after Democratic
Party Chairman Bob Hannegan
! last week in st. Louis said he
thought the game should continue,
was his second friendly gesture. He
gave it the first so-caled green light
in the winter of 1912 when the
Nation was harnessing itself for an
all-out war effort.
! Sound Patriotic Note.
President Will Harridge of the
American League, who had said
baseball would try to carry on If
each club had only nine men to put
on the field, said the game will
carry on with whatever men are
available and do the best it can to
give the fans good show"
Warren G. Giles. Cincinnati Reds
general manager said: I'VE do not
want any special favors and the
first day baseball interferes with
the war effort it ought to stop. But
believe we'll be able to put a
worthwhile team on the field"
Leslie M. O'Connor, member of
the three-man council, which in
tlbSNo dItu NdllOl1d1
League President Ford Frick,
pledged that baseball will try to
merit the Presidents confidence"
by meeting all its problems with
out shirking or asking favoritism.
A joint committee of the two
leagues will meet at New York in
April to consider problems imme-
diately confronting the sport and to
select successor to the late Judge
Kenesaw Mountain Lands, COM
missioner of the game.
Red Sox Hardest Hit.
Meanwhile, at least "a big league
players have been called to the COL
ors since the end of last season, ac-
cording to an Associated Press sur
vey. The Red Sox, whose flag hopes
evaporated when Tex Hughson,
Bobby Doerr and Hal Wagner were
called up in the thick of the four
way American League penant scram-
BILE, again was hardest hit. Catch
ers Bill Conroy and Roy Partee,
Third Baseman Jim Tabor and
Rookie Pitcher Mel Deutsch, up from
Louisville, joined such stars as Ted
Williams, Dom Di Magic and
Tommy Pesky in uniform.
Other notable losses were Clyde
Shoun, who pitched no-hitter for
Cincinnati; Detroit's long hitting
outfielder, Dick Wakefield; st. Louis
Cardinal Outfielder Stan Musial and
Outfielder Al zarilla of the st. Louis
Browns.
Among men returning from service
are Pitchers Van Single Mungo of
the New York Giants; Les Mueller
and AL Benton of Detroit, and Tom
Farley of the Boston Braves, and
Catcher Mickey Livingston of the
Chicago Cubs and Outfielder Harry