Evening star., 1947-01-17
Rival Grid Loop Loses
Prestige When Cards
Land Georgia Star
BY Lewis F.. Atchison

I
You can shut Dan Topping's
mouth and call it closed-we mean
the Charley Trippi affair. Thus far
the tin plate heir hasn't thought
of suitable repartee to Trippi's mo
thank you," which apparently ended
efforts to get the Georgia aces name
on New York Yankee football
baseball contract.
In a huddle with Charley Bidwill,
owner of the, Chicago Cardinals in
the National Football League, in
Chicago today, Trippi signed con-
tract. The trip seemed unnecessary
after Trippis announcement yester-
day that he had rejected Topping's
offer of $105,000 for five years of
football and two of baseball with the
Yankees. Apparently Bidwill wanted
to break the news officially in his
home town with plenty of photogra-
piers hashlight bulbs popping.
Bidwill won the grid star with the
genuine Southern Pennsylvania
drawl by offering a salary reported
to be $4,000 for four years of foot
ball, according to the Associated
Press. That's lot of mazuma for
club which only last season gave any
indication of getting into the black
after spending years wallowing' in
red ink. The behind-the-Scenes
story of the deal will be interesting
if-and when-it comes out.
Cards Will Be Popular Foes.
One thing certain, the Cardinals
will be the most sought-after oppo-
nent when the National League
club owners gather in Chicago next
week to arrange their 1947 sched-
ules. 1t is probable that the entire
National League banded together
and guaranteed Bidwill financial
support in his quest of Trippi and
"a couple Of games in stadiums with
the right seating capacities would
help pay large part of Charleys
salary.
The Yankees wanted the player
to choose between football and base
ball after a couple of years, but
Charley baked at that.
Bidwill, the Associated Press said.
announced he already had worked
out an agreement with the Chicago
Cubs regarding Trippi's diamond
career. The Cubs, Bidwill said, will
give Charley a $4,000 bonus for
signing with their Los Angeles club
of the Pacific Coast League. If he
made the big leagues in 1948 he
would get a $4,000 salary. This
would about match the Red Sox's
reported offer of $4,000 and several
other bids.
Trippi yesterday said he was
weighing seriously an offer from the
Birmingham Barons to play for
them at $400 month, plus a $4,000
bonus. He also would receive so per-
cent of his sales ticket if sold to
the majors.
Blow to Al-America Loop
The All-America Conference
wanted Trippi badly for New York.
He would have been a powerful
weapon in the fight against the rival
Giants and in his dual role of base
ball and football player, the PENN
sylvania- Georgian figured to pull
more than his salary through the
turnstiles in his first full year at
Yankee Stadium.
It was rumored that the ALL
America Conference was backing
Topping on the Trippi deal and that
he was told to get him at any price.
This was no surprise and not new
tactics. The All-America owners
merely copied the American Base
ball Leagues strategy of almost 40
years ago when club owners con-
tributed heavily and frequently to
communal war chest to land stars.
But the National Football League
apparently wasn't caught mapping
on the deal. Tim Mara, for one,
would be ready to dip into the till
to help Bidwill because Mara and
Topping are mortal enemies and
having Trippi on the other side OF
the Harlem River in a rival uniform
might hurt the Giants.
You can hook the family jewels,
too, that the Cardinals will appear
in New York next season. The Polo
Grounds, with 60-odd thousand seats
would provide a nice backdrop for
Charley's big town debut while
giving Topping double-barrelled
headache.
Older League Scores Heavily.
The National Leagues victory In
this case should be notice to the
Junior circuit that there IS enough
dough in the older league to partic-
ipate in and win any battle Of dol
lars. Nor is there any dearth OF
cunning or brains when the National
Leaguers pool their resources.
George Halas, well established IN
Chicago with the Bears and with a
ICac mo TDDT Daoo h-o1l