The Waterbury Democrat., 1945-03-23
cdWSSeaNArw.k 'fT&&f
(ReEistered U. S. Patent OHaceD
By JACK CUDDY United Press Stan COrrcspOndent)


 United Press Stan Correspondent
 New York. March g - U.P) - A few weeks ago we typed a piece Kidding some of the writing fellers about their learned remarks on what a changed man was Colonel Larry MacPhail since his return to baseball. His hitch in the Army had made him a quiet, restrained chap' they said.
 In our piece we emphasized thas red-head Larry was too old a leop- ard to change his liver spots-lf ne had any. And that he soon would be throwing his weight around, like a berserk heifer in a br1c-a-orac shop.
 Imagine our gleeful satisfaction. then, when dynamic Larry broke loose this week. No, no-folks: We take no credit for having inspired President MacPhail of the Yankees to cut loose. Nature merely took it's course. And two months before even Larry expected 1t.
 We were reminded of this last night when we heard the changed" MacPhail = the quiet restrained Larry going to town over the air waves. He was a forceful and pur- suasive speaker in blue network forum which was considering the question: Should Organized Sports Be Abolished for the Duration?" Your first guest is correct. Larry was in there punching for the con" tinuation of sports. He had a lot ot good arguments too, and he wound up in true MacPhailian style:
 Just one thing more. Anyone who knows anything about it will tell you that the overwhelming ma jority of the men who are fighting this war for us want professional sport continued. Anyone who tells you anything else simply doesn't know what he Is talking about"
 These remarks climaxed week of MacPhailian reserve - restraint; week that opened with last Sun- days hullabaloo over Larry's kid naping" of Lieutenant Bert Shepard in Undersecretary of War Robert Patterson's private airplane. Shep- ard, an Army flyer who had lost a leg in action, was supposed to have worked out with the Washington Senators at College Park, Md. But MacPhail spirited him away to the Tanks camp at Atlantic City, N. J., for the day. Proxy Clark Griffith Of the Senators exploded and hit Mac Phail with a flock of word-frag- ments. The War Department finally strengthened out the rucus.
 This "liidnaping' was not a mere stunt on MacPhail's part. It was his official notification to the baseball world that he had become active head of the Yankees - 60 days ahead of schedule. That he-and not ancient Ed Barrow was run- ming things on the ball club which Captain Dan Topping, Del Webb and he recently bought for $2,800,- 900.
 Echoes of the Kidnapping" had scarcely faded when the changed" MacPhail startled reporters by dis closing that he now favors Senator Albert F. (Happy) Chandler of Kentucky for the job of baseball commissioner. This disclosure in- directly informed everyone concern ed that it would be MacPhail - and not Barrow who will cast the Yankee vote for commissioner. Bar- row had favored Ford Prick or Jim Farley. MacPhail is still the old dynamic, color guy. The only change" was his shift from the Dodgers to the Yankees from the National to } the American League. It is not be- lief that the junior circuit never . will be the same again,