Evening star., 1945-02-12
Baseball Marks Time
Until Proper Officials
Can Hear lis Case


wartime problems to Washington
when the proper Government Off
cias to settle them are here, &C
cording to an authoritative spokes-
man for the game, and will not be
rushed into conferences by widely
spread reports that Federal agencies
already have planned to crack dow
on it heavily.
With final disposition of the
rk-or-jail legislation affecting
4-Fs accomplished and War Mo-
bilization Director James F. Byrnes
returned from abroad, Will Harridge
and Ford Frick, presidents, respec-
| lively, of the American League and
National League, will come here to
confer with the authorities with
reasonable hope of paving the way
to continued operation of their cir
cults in championship campaigns
this year.
What professional football will do
to protect its interests in the face
of manpower and travel directives
has not been revealed by Elmer
Layden. president of the National
Football League and as commits
sioner the czar of the pro gridiron
game 1t is reasonable to assume,
however, that pro football, like or
ganized baseball, will, in time, pre-
sent its case to Federal officials in
position to decide its fate in the
emergency.
Split" Report Discredited.
| In the meantime, Government
| leaders have discredited a report
that they had suggested baseball
reorganization that would divide the
big leagues into Eastern and West.
ern circuits in order to curtail travel
by ball clubs this year. These lead
ers intimate that any directive af-
fecting baseball must come from
the War Mobilization director and
the Office of Defense Transporta-
ton and that so far neither of these
agencies has been approached by
either baseball or football interests.
Suggestion that baseball play sea-
son series in Eastern and Western
sectors of the two leagues in order
to eliminate a great deal of the
travel neceSsitated by intersectional
play came late in December shortly
after the Byrnes directive for re-
view of the cases of all professional
athletes classified 4-F in selective
servide and ODT regulations re-
stricting shipment of racing stables.
The suggestion came. however, from
sports writers about the Nation and
not from any Government officials
or organized baseball itself
Baseball, in fact, has been COM
mended by the ODT for its full CO.
operation with Government agen-
cies in cutting down its railroad
mileage in the war emergency by
eliminating Southern training
camps and restricting it's training
bases to points above the Potomac
and Ohio Rigers and east OF the
Mississippi River as well as arrang-
ing season schedules to reduce
travel
Pro Football in Picture.
AS to the plan to revise its major
leagues and play Eastern and West
ern season series, organized base
ball would resort to this only in
direct emergency. The plan gen.
orally is ridiculed by baseball
leaders, although Clark Griffith,
president of Washingtons Mats says
that baseball men are willing to
look into the feasibility of the idea
If the situation is tight enough to
make additional travel curtail-
ment necessary.
Should there be any travel re-
duction, professional football would
necessarily share in it. 1t probably
would eliminate such trips as that
of the Washington Redskins to
California for training and exhibit
tiOn games