The Waterbury Democrat., 1945-02-02
Crosby Wlby Hoop Finale Set Tonight
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(Rcgistered U. s. Patent ofice)
By JACK CUDDY Limited Press Staff COrrespondent)

By JACK CUDDX
 Limited Press Staff COrrespondent)
 New York, Feb. 2- CUP0 = As the major league moguls went mto their momentous meetings at the New Yorker today, less than A hours after passage of the work-or- jaiI bill by the house of representa-" lives, a reporter asked Bill Ben- swanger of the Pittsburgh Pirates for his reactions to the passage.
 Diminutive, bespectacled Ben" swanger - president of club oper- ating in one of the nations busiest war production areas - replied: 1T the bill now passes the senate, It might change the attitude of some of the players. It might cause them to give up baseball this season, fear full that the public would disap- prove of their playing while other men were being shifted Into war work. am referring, of course, to 4-F and discharge players who VIII have been rejected a second talho for armed service.
 T hope that the players left to us do not take this attitude, because there's no reason for 1t until base ball has been declared non-essen- tial industry-and eventually which I do rot forsee. In my opinion i there's no longer any question or baseball's place in the war ef1ort. ; The public has settled that by US enthusiastic support. Before the | 1942 season, was extremely dubious about continuing the game. Person. ally, I thought the clean, entertain ing pastime should continue; but knew was probably prejudiced be- cause I was an owner who had something to sell, and because was A red-hot fan. How would the pub- lie react: How would the service men and war workers take 1t? Well they took 1t big"
 Anyone seeking proof of base" balls wartime value can find 1t 1n the production center of Pittsburgh, Benswanger declared. Pirate attend ance increased robustly during the past two seasons, he said, as the public displayed its approval. Work CTS got a healthy kick out of the game, without causing absenteeism. Servicemen on furlough were enter tained, and reports of play were well received by fighting men over seas, judging by the hundreds of ap- preciative letters sent the club.
 We don't talk of morale In Pltts- burgh," Benswanger continued, we don't have to. You'll understand what I mean if you check over what our fighting men have done in the war and production record of our workers. Well-baseball has contri- buted to their entertainment since Pearl Harbor; and they've given tha sport a pat on the back by attend ing in increasing numbers. Before anyone insinuates that baseball is non- essential, I suggest they con- suit the foremen of Pittsburgh war plants, or the fighting men who have marched out of our city"
 BenSwanger said he believed that the public had expressed the same approval of the game in most other major league cities, and for that reason the sport should continue. He felt sure that the owners would vote to open the season, during the current meetings, and he predicted that the45 campaign would be play ed successfully, If too many play CTS don't take the wrong attitude and desert the game after passage of the work-or-jail bill"