The Wilmington morning star., 1946-10-30
As Pegler Sees 1t
By WEsTBROOK PEGYER

dDdIll11Slll VI Lieu
the Brooklyn ball club, includes a terrace anu
a bar, decorated in baseball decor, Il that
word means what hope it means. Inc rent
is s175 a month. Durocher got more IMAM
$40, 900 but less than $50, 900, for the 1910 sea
son. say $50, 900. But taxes are high, and ne
lives extensively, runs with gamblers ana
plays gin rummy FOR a nickel a point
The apartment is close by the sherry-Neth-
erlands hotel where, on the night OF March
"a. 1914, George Raft gave a dinner parry
which presently drifted over to Durochers
place.
Durocher was not in the party, but ne had
given the key to his friend, Raft, VINO 1rahkly
associates with notorious underworld personan-
ties. and the company soon organized a crap
game. Several of those present had adopted
aliases.
Martin Shurin, the chump Of the evening, a
Young man with illusions about celebrities,
particularly movie actors, is dlsenchanted now.
He lost S19, 500 to Raft in a few minutes ana,
in the ensuing notoriety,sh OFT ms nlou'h'
perhaps untruthfully, about his earnings as a
sub-contractor in the war business OF supply
ing airplane parts. He may have exaggerated.
At any rate, he drew the attention OF the
F.B.I. and was indicted in Greensboro, NC,
where he had sold bed-spreads before the war.
on a charge that he deceived his draft board
in obtaining determent as manager OF a Hrhn
producing war material. 1t is alleged that ac-
tually, he was just a sub-contractor ana 1arnl-
ed out his contracts to third parties for pro-
duction. That may have been Ordinary prac-
tee, tolerated and even encouraged by the
expediters, and the issue in the charge may
be more technical than moral, He now insists
that he fulfilled some of the war contracts
himself with his own plant facilities but hasn't
the money to transport to Greensboro all the
witnesses essential to his defense.
Thinking back, Shurin recalls that IN the
scramble for position at the crap table, ne
found himself alongside Raft. He would have
preferred a place where he could retrieve the
dice and count the spots as Raft ran up his
10 passes, all tours and tens and most o. them
the hard way. However, a spot next to the
great man was a place of honor, so he did not
scuffle and began to lay the conventional price
against tours and tens. He says he gave Raft
81, 500 in currency and a check For 81 ZOO that
night and sent him ten one-thousand dollar
bills a few days later. Altogether, the debt
was a major operation which took some time
and further financing.
Durocher's choice of companions has been a
matter of deep concern to Branch Hickey, the
business manager Of the Dodgers. The old
practice of Whispering OUT players and even
managers ''for the good Of the game" could
be revived. BY this means. until Judge Lands
became the GEAR after the fake World Series
of 1919, which was framed by underworld
gamblers, men we're eliminated on the mere
ground that they were "agitators' Or trouble
Makers Nobody offered the marked man a
contract and he just vanished.
Hickey, an old baseball man, o. conspicuous
piety, prayed, actually. for Durocher. Another.
of the same generation said they had
watched" Durocher for about three years.
This is not ordinary practice in baseball. EX-
perience had shown that gamblers take ad-
vantage of close friendship with players and
managers. True, in the past, many were orlo-
ed, but so simple a thing as prior knowledge
of the pitching selections over a period could
be exploited for a huge amount by a betting
gang. Hickey has pleaded with Durocher to
change his associations lest a scandal occur
which could end his career.
There is precedent FOR regulations OF both
the social habits and the associations OF play
/ ers and managers. They have been induced to
shun certain restaurants treQuented by gamb-
lers and racketeers and to snub d1sreputable
individuals in all circumstances. Umpires who,
since the beginning of the century have given
absolutely no scandal, are suspicious of all
strangers, live and travel apart from the ball
clubs and pick their friends carefully.
After the crap game at his place, Durocher
was told that Raft made calls on his phone to
'unsavory'' characters. Rats calls from the
apartment and from his own suite at the Sher-
ry-Netherlands went to numbers serving a New
JERSEY gambler who is a brother OF one o.
the most notorious figures in the Jersey Under
world; to Joe Adonis, the Brooklyn gangster
who is named in the international list" the
blue book Of the F.B.I., and to Longie Twill
man another Jersey hoodlum with a %spectac-
ular police record. Durocher himself said
he had met Buggy Siegel in Rats company.
If the moving picture business knows that
one of its stars prefers the underworld and
doesn't care that is one matter. For a time
and for a profit Hollywood joined the news
papers and the Department of Justice in dis
crediting the Adonises and little Augies friends
OF George Raft. All that time however,, Holly
wood was developing an underworld of her
own as evil and bold as the prohibition and
union rackets and without reputation by the
industry. But baseball is in a different posi-
ton. Ever day it appeals to the public for
confidence and support. It has asked and re
ceived official recognition as a precious public
trust. Nobody would bet on the outcome of a
picture but a few killings on fixed ball-games
would degrade something that the public per-
haps without realizing as much, has come to
regard as an American ideal or treasure.
The moral climate of Durocher's circle
and Rats is ominously similar to that in
which the corruption OF 1919 occurred.
Quotations