Evening star., 1951-08-19
Chances About Even
OF Naming Baseball S
New Boss tuesday
sy IN. A,,oeiaied Pres.

major league club owners will meet
here again Tuesday to try to elect
a baseball commissioner, and the
chances are only about $3.50 they
will succeed.
The original meeting August z
resulted in cutting down the list
of men to be considered to IL
including, the Associated Press
learned on good authority, the
following:
Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower.
Gen. Douglas Macarthur, Gen.
Maxwell D. Taylor, Gen. Hoyt s.
Vandenberg, Ford Frick, president
of the National League, and Harren
Giles, president of the Cincinnati
Reds.
! Baseball recognizes that some or
all of the generalssmight not be
!. available. Prominent business ex-
ecutives are also under considera-
) ton. Some good authorities be-
lieve George Trautman, boss OF
/, the minor leagues, is still very
!, much in the running.
Completely Up in Air"
| One club owner confessed him.
self completely up in the air" over
!, the successor to A. B. Chandler in
baseball's top job. Another saio
there was hardly chance" the
election could take place Tuesday
but a third declared "the sooner
we get good man the better"
i "We rushed into it before, when
Chandler was elected in 1945,' anc
we are going to take our time
now" several of the owners said
J Oddly enough the meeting here
is not formal, joint session such
as is needed for the election of 9
commissioner. This is because the
: required 30-day call was not sent
out. 1t can only be turned into 9
legal joint meeting by unanimous
consent of all present. Presum-
ably if the owners agree whole
heartedly on one man it woulo
be easy to get such consent, but
practically it means that one
stubborn owner could block 6
Landslide.
Tough Task Ahead.
! Baseball has bigger problem.
;; now than ever before and the mar
chosen will have a tough job. Fol
this reason club owners may 90 a.
high as $4,000 yearly to get tn,
man they want.
Among the tasks of the new
commissioner will be to represen
: baseball in the congressional
: monopoly inquiry now under way
= to settle the argument with tn
minor leagues over widesprea,
broadcasting of major leagu
: games, and to decide what if any
= thing can be done about baseball
controversial reserve clause, nov
under heavy legal attack.
. Said one of the owners who re
J fused use of his name:
I'VE cut the list down to II an,
= now we're looking for a man t
mt the qualifications. Actually tn
qualifications are the man him
y self. We want someone in whom
n the owners, the players, and tn
= public will have implicit faith
We need man of intelligence
+ Possibly he should have publ
i stature as well, but possibly h
. might gain this in the job.
/ May Consider Outsider.
n Maybe we still don't have tina
man in the list of IL. 1t is possibl
We will consider some one outsid
the list. I can't see any possibilit,
! of an election next Tuesday.
e Baseball is going on very wei
Y without a commissioner, the Worl,
Series will be played on schedule
and we aren't having much trou
o BILE. We could get along all of thi
: year without one, and maybe mex
year as we'll"
= On the other hand another cluI
e owner declared: II think we shoulC
t stay in session in New York unit
e we decide on a man. am pre-
J. pared to remain through Wednes
t day an deven longer if needed. Tn
S sooner we get good man tn,
better"