The Wilmington morning star., 1947-10-13
AS Pegler Sees 1t
by westbrOOk pegler
Copyright, 1947, BY King Features
syndicate, Inc.)

NEW YORK, Oct. 12-Larry MacPhail
and, from first to last, was known to the
laity as a picturesque, even turbulent, fell
low. There is a form of noblesse oblige
on the sport side of our honorable pro-
fession which forbids us to spell out the
reasons why such a one socked another.
But, after years and years, that shrewd,
salty fellow, the man in the street, be-
gins to wink and smirk and the secret
is all over town.
So now the mystery of MacPhail is re-
vealed and we find that our picturesque,
outspoken, uproarious fellow is just an
other copy of the same noisy nuisance who
is tolerated by the owner, the help and
the clients at the corner saloon until, IL
nally, he truns an ashtray Through the
back-bar mirror and the old man takes
him by the slack Of the pants and heaves
him out for good.
Now the World Series is both an ath
letic. or sporting, and a social feast on
our calendar. The athletic, or sporting,
phase is public; the social phase is con-
fidential. During the long rebellion against
the foul amendment, the Volstead act no
where was Knocked with more ardor and
determination than in the corridors and
cells of the retired and discarded PLAYERS,
managers ana SCOUTS dllu GC WYNN
Series journalists, except by the states
men at the national political conventions
holden one year in four.
The method of the World Series hos
pitality varies. In New York In the three
old autumns of golden memory when the
Giants and the Yankee were playing at
the Polo Grounds, the main festivities
were discoursed in large rooms at inc
Commodore. Auxiliary brawls were nelo
at the old Waldorf and The Martinique
on Broadway. The arena at The Commo-
dore was more or less exclusively Tor the
working press, who numbered about 4oo
inkstained Wretches from sport rooms
from here to San Diego. Tommy LARD
used to come unfailingly from San iran,
cisco, Fred Digby from New Orleans ano
welcome me and pleasant strangers from nd
vana, Caracas and Honolulu, which, rough
ly, was an oriental place IN the Fhllppnie
Islands, near Hong Kong.
These were the early years of prohibition
and vet some genie had spanked his palms
together and dozens, maybe hundreds, OF
cases of soothing bourbon, Scotch and gin
happened to occur. There was a pathetlc
feeling in those times that every bottle
of potable stimulant probably would be
the last that ever could be had IN the
United States. The result was an lsnoHh-
inious hoegishness. Decent men and Wom-
Gn OiJGI ONSI1O Ia
emulate the squirrel who tucks the acrons
in his jowls.
Admission to the falling-down, or re-
ioicing. rooms provided for the press ana
nrovisioned by some nameless oene1actor
was by card and badge the same Whlch
were required for the press-coops at the
Polo Grounds. But many OF us were caught
between our manners and our humanity,
so a guest. having passed inspection at
" ..--1l InrrOIIr n n n b, |
cards and badges from colleagues alreaoy
within and 90 into the highways and by
WAYS collecting friends forlorn IN munger
and thirst and lend them WhereWlth TO
crash the gate.
On the off chance that they were par
ties IN this enormous hospitality, l salute
the memory of Capt. Til Huston and Col.
Jake Rupert, then the owners OF the
Yankees, and of John McGraW ana Char-
ley Stoneham, OF the Chants all OIL uie'iA
erst.
Captain Huston had special and sepa-
rate social premises in The Martlnlque'
The Giants, as such, had a social room
in The Waldorf, and McGraw had a SUITE
which was especially special. The Giants
were a political ball club, involved WIN
Tammany, and McGraw, who was a holo-
over from the really roWdy days Wneh
ball clubs were excluded from Respectable
hotels, had a special set OF TRENDS ne
was a man of MacPhail's temperament
and chemistry. He had DARK Whlspellng
s,,spicions in his soul which were stirred
INV the creature that lives in the bottle
and he might abruptly assault old friends.
The knowledge that he might whip a rlght
TO the chin as the continuation OF an alIec-
tomato handshake added something to the
experience of his greeting. IN MS quiet
moments he was mannerly and | have heard
I = hiC rp1 QmnnOI
buns and never took a chit or kept a book.
There have been such men in sport and poll
tics, but we hear of few nowadays. Inc IN
come tax, no doubt, throttling the we'll
springs of the greatest of the graces.
Mr.. McGraw's privacy was better kept
than MacPhail's, for he gave many ro-
bust parties yet the public heard nothing
of contusions and abrasions until one night
when John, the fool, put himself IN a
company of actors at The Lambs. He
had been warned of a breed of prinklng
males who paint their lips, bead their
eyes and toss their lacy cuffs in %recita-
tons but he wouldn't heed. And so on a
night in September, 1920, he fell in with
a table from the world of make-believe
and the next thing anyone knew, an actor
named William Boyd was unconscious IN
the emergency room and internes were
mining the poor fellows scalp for bottle
glass. McGraw was expelled from The
Lambs, but a few days later two old
friends, John Slavin and Wilton Lackaye,
actors both, went to his apartment to
soothe away all hurt with generous for
g%iveness.
Mr.. Slavin left the peace conference
with his skull broken and Mr.. Lackaye
picked himself up to discover that Nc
Graw had fractured his walking stick and
his ankle, too.
There was litigation between McGraw,
Stoneham and Magistrate Francis x. Nc
n,.alo 4I;nl rnrtnor in thu GianfS |