The Waterbury Democrat., 1946-09-27
This Sporting World
Sports Editors
 Hate Telephones
By JOHN A. oLUNEY

Only yesterday afternoon when l was knee deep in our new peach edition, with racing results, scratches, the Brooklyn-Phillies game, other scores, changes of pitchers, home run hitterS and what have you, com ing over the United Press wire that nevre-shattering but all valuable little instrument-the telephone tangled in such 8 fashion that I iTn- agiried 1t sounded like the hammers of hell. Expecting some one to ask who won the third at Narragansett; what I heard was "one for the book. 7" Ut seems two Seftball teams in the City-Wide league differ more than somewhat on credit for a game in which an ineligible player was used.
 The fact that I had wrestled with
 calls on protests, diamonds, play
 CTS, umpires, etc; throughout the
 summer, in connection with our
 Waterbury De oerat Sandlot
 Baseball Federation had been al-
 most forgotten, while the caller
 asked my advice in regard to a
 softbau mixup All the while, the
 United Press sports wire ticked on;
 and you would be amazed how much copy can come over that
 wire in a few minutes; and every inch of 1t must be handled to de- termine which is to be used and which discarded.
 Sports arguments on Babe Ruth, the seating capacity of the Yankee
 Stadium, what year the Braves were last on July 4 and won the pennant; the seating capacity of Soldiers Field, Chicago; how much money Tunney got for BOTH fights with Dempsey; how many feet between bases on baseball diamond and also on softball dia- nlond; Fudge" Heffelfinger's FIRST name (William); how old is Coach Howie Odell of Yale (33); the birthplace of Yale's new Negro star, Levi Jackson, etc.
 Here's what happens to some of the other boys on the sports desks of the nation:
 One day not so long ago, an en- terprising chap called up and anxi- ouSly inquired how the St. Louis Cardinals were faring against the Boston Braves. The caller swore he was Dixie Walker of the Dodgers. He might have succeeded with the piece of deception had not dis tinct New England accent betrayed him. Then too, the Dodgers were in Chicago at the time and Walker couldn't have been so interested in the Cards that he would have long distancer from the Windy City.
 Another time, a gentleman who called himself Larry MacPhail' phoned and inquired the score be- tween the Cincinnati Reds and Phil adelphia Athletics. Reminded that the two clubs were in different leagues, the caller apologized and said it didn't matter anyhow, be- cause he really wanted the result of the fifth at Aqueduct.
 Callers don't always resort to sub terfuge to gain information. One eve- ming man called and offered to split half of his profits if the Giants won 8 ball game in St. Louis. He wanted the score-badly.
 The Giants lost but he was a good loser. He offered to buy drinks in place of splitting the profits which never materialized.
 Once, during 8 slow evening, pitcher Kirby Higbe (the real Me- Coy this time) called up and said he and his room mate Pee Wee Reese were having an argument over how many games the Chicago Cubs won the pennant by in 1885.
 He was disappointed when he learned the amount because it made Reese the winner of the controversy.
 The fellow who undoubtedly holds the all-tirne record for gall phoned one day and wanted to know how each club in both big leagues made out, plus two races at Pimlico, and-if we didn't mind how he could get an autographed baseball for his nephew.