The Waterbury Democrat., 1946-09-10
| This Sporting | World
 By JOHN A. CLUNEY
Fr0ncos "Got the
 Works But Quick!
By JOHN A. CLUNEY


 Having been very muc- on tn, scene of the third annual All-Amer. ican Amateur baseball association tournament at Harrisburg, Pennsyl vania, would consider myself al very much derelict in duty not tt come to the defense of the Franco. American club and its 1946 baseball squad; relative to the small time and highly-technical manner ir which the winning team and Cit, Amateur League champions were disqualified after the fourth round of play in the A.A.AB.A. tourna ment last Friday night.
 From 8 standpoint of sports
 manship, competition and person.
 al conduct from the moment they
 arrived until suddenly forced out
 of the tournament on a hair
 splitting technicality. involving
 eligibility of players, the Franco
 American team and its club repre-
 sentatives are as innocent as a new
 born babe. No player was entered
 under an assumed name; there
 was no question about the winning
 of either of the games by the Wa
 teroury team (20-3 over Spring
 Grove, Md; 6-4 over Valley
 Stream, L. I0 before, during or k after the games had been played.
 that is, until five hours after the
 American Legion team of Long Is-
 land had been eliminated from the
 tournament by the Franco Amer
 leans. Then it was, that a Legion nalre attached to the losing team,
 filed protest against the Water
 bury winners on the grounds of
 1neligibility of six Franco Amer
 lcan players on the technicality
 that all six had not played at least llve City Amateur League games With the Franco American club this season; as required by the A.A.A.B.A. rules on eligibility of players.
 The only evidence submitted to the tournament protest committee by the American Legion gentleman from. Long Island was 5 or 6 comics of 8 Waterbury newspaper, whose box-scoreS showed some of the six players in question played with the 6rooklyn A. o.; Second-round win nerS of the City Amateur league schedule; and, as such certainly entitled to play in the All-Amer- 1can tournament if the winning team was willing to use them to replace players who could not would not take time of from their daily work to make the trip and play with the Frances in the tourna- ment. The names of the BAG. players were exactly the same in the box scores of the local news paper as those signed for to play in the tournament by Managr Roland Leblanc of the Franco Americans. There was not the slightest attempt to deceive anyone.
 Yet, two-game loser, whose team was eliminated from the tournament fairly and squarely on the baseball field; given but two hits by Breezy" BeTudczyk, walks into the protest committee five hours after his team was eliminated and presents as evidence of player ineligibility, five or six copies of 3 Waterbury newspaper between the dates of June 26 and August 27. The City Amateur League season opened May 3, 1946, this year; but the possibility that the players in question could have played the necessary five games with the F'ranco-Americans during the eight weeks before the earliest newspaper box-score submitted to them as evil dence was not even considered; nor was the fact that the boys were legitimate City Amateur League players certified by our league as eligible to play in the All-Amer- ican tournament.
 The $64 question is: Where and when did the gentleman from Long Island come into possession of Waterbury newspapers, which meant absolutely A4othing to him until his team was eliminated by the Franco o-Americans? He cer- tainly could not have secured them in the five hours from the time his team was beaten until the protest committee met to consider his charges. If he had them before that, it was his duty to present them to the tourna- ment committee, as soon as the Waterbury player-list was signed for; that much, the protest com- mittee admitted; but why he saved his evidence until his team was eliminated is known only to him; for the general result was that his team lasted but one more day; and was beaten again 8-l by Elkton, Maryland Lee Motors; the same team that defeated the Franco Americans in its second tournament game, by a score of Az.
 Glenn L. Martin, sponsor of the AAABA tournament did express the opinion that there was poor sportsmansh:p" on the part of the Long Island losers in the manner in which the protest was handled by their American Legion representative; for the major re- suit is that Waterbury is just about all through with the All