The Waterbury Democrat., 1945-04-11
MT. Baseball Disappointed By I945 HOpefuLs
CReg. U. 8. Pat. Off.)
 BY LEO N. PETERSEN TIntiaA Pra~a Cno~ta EAstor

New York, April II. (UP)-The Yankees are coming back to the
 House that Ruth Built" tomor-
 row as a prelude to another base
 ball season and few miles away
 on a golf course the man who made
 hitting home runs big business is
 going to take a few practice swings,
 too.
 But that man is getting ready for
 different kind of season. A life
 of ease, so to speak. with a con-
 fortable income, nice home, and
 a lot of friends with whom he can
 play golf or relax in some other
 manner. But the game his heart
 has been in, the game that made him the idol of American youth, has left him behind.
 It was with those same Yankees that Babe Ruth made baseball his- tory. One season he hit 60 home runs. The customers loved 1t and turned the turnstiles at such a merry pace that the next year the Babe received $80,O00 for playing right field for the Yankees-and, of course, hitting home runs.
 The Babe and his bat changed the course of American League baseball. It took lot of science out of the game. The managers started looking for players who could rattle the fences while al the plate. They forgot about the arts of base stealing, bunting and playing for one run. The home run became the big thing.
 It paid dividends. The dollars that Babe brought in built Yankee Stadium and helped the Yankees mould 8 dynasty that had the rest of the league calling quits. It was too good to last, of course, but while | he was in there the Babe didn't | let his club or his fandom down.
 But age caught up with the Babe and the day came for him to hang | up his spikes as an active player. It was a sad day for the Babe, who was still kid at heart. It was sad day for baseball, too, for lowing out of the picture was the man who brought more dollars into ball parks the country owe, than any player in history.
 And now, some 10 years later, the Babe comes out with a State- ment that baseball doesn't want him, that 1t has given him nothing. Well, he hasn't given anything to baseball since then either.
 The Babe sounded bitter that night in New England after he had made his debut as wrestling referee. He seemed to think that the game hadn't done right by him
 But the Babe knows better than that. It gave him enough money so he never will have to work again not even refereeing wrestling matches. The latter didn't help his standing any with the fans-and they have been legion-who feel that the Babe belongs in baseball.
 The fact he isn't in it, is his own fault. The Yankees offered him a chance to make good as 8 manager by starting out directing their farm club in Newark. But the Babe wanted the Yankees or It was nothing, for the late Col. Jake Ruppert was too much of a business man. and had too many dollars at stake, to trust his holdings to man who didn't even know the first names of his with whom he had been playing for years.
 There were other chances for he Babe--at Brooklyn and Boston He blew them both.
 Now baseball's outstanding show nan, Larry MacPhail, is running he Yankees. Maybe the Babe thinks le should give him a chance. But he chances are that the Babe will lave to earn 1t. He hasn't been ir- crested in operating on that sys- = em before.
 That's why he will be out on he golf links tomorrow when the I come back to the house s le built to play the Brooklyn I Dodgers in Red Cross benefit | anne.