The globe-independent. (Hagerstown, Md.) 1943-19??, 1953-06-25
Around Town With
The Editor

Inc main Topic Oh conversation
around town the past week has been
baseball. In fact, there hasn't been
so much baseball excitement here
since those days back in 1850, when
Gene" Raney paid Oren Sterling
$4,000 for the "Owls" franchise in
order to keep organized baseball in
Hagerstown.
| knew, even before the 1858 sea-
son got started, that there wasn't the
interest in the Hagerstown Braves
that there had been in previous
years. Like a good many others, l
felt sure that Mr.. Raney's decision
to buy franchise in the Piedmont
League when the Interstate League
folded would create a new interest,
but the disappointing preseason sale
of tickets soon convinced me that
was wrong.
After the opening game of the sea-
son for which 2,512 fans turned out
the attendance started to drop. In
fact, with the exception of Fair
child Night" there were only three
games during the next % games
played at which the attendance
reached the one thousand mark -
1912 and 1048 at two games with
Norfolk, and 1908 at the first game
of the year with Newport News.
There were all kinds of reasons
offered for the lack of interest, but
no one could quite put their finger
on the 'sore spot" Then, out of a
clear sky, the sudden resignation of
Dutch" Dorman; a seven-game win
ming streak on the road; plus three
game series coming up at home
against the league-leading Newport
News Dodgers, set the whole town
in fact the whole county-talking
baseball from morning till night.
The upshot of all this resulted in
a crowd of 1850 excited fans turning
out for the first game with the
Dodgers on Monday night. What
brought the crowd out was, l be-
lieve, wo-fold-they wanted to see
how the team would react to the
resignation of Dorman and they also
wanted to see how Jimmy" linn,
always popular with the fans, would
handle the club in just about the
toughest assignment any rookie
manager could be faced with -
plotting his club against team that
had been leading the league almost
since the season started.
And they didn't have to wait long
to find out. They soon found out
that everyone on the team was play
ing his heart out to win that big
game and they also found out that
Jimmy linn was taking his added
responsibility in stride. From then
on the fans took the team into their
hearts and cheered and yelled them
selves hoarse until the last man was
out and the boys trotted off the field
with the Dodgers scalp in their col
lective belts.
And the fans came right back on
Tuesday night - more than 100 of
them - and they got proof that
Jimmy and his rampaging Braves
had moXey enough to rise above
errors and come from behind to win
again.
Washington County has got Base
ball Fever" again and doctor" Ra-
ney, his inferno" Jimmy linn, and
the 16 boys who work the wards"
are going to do everything in their
power to keep that fever at the
boiling point from now until the
end of the season, by putting out the
type of baseball that the fans will
flock to see.
The Board of County Commission
erS, at their regular meeting held on
Tuesday, appointed John Pullman as
acting Coordinator of the Washington
County Civilian Defense Ground OBJ
servation Corps.
The Board also announced that
they have requested the County At
torney, Martin v. B. Bostetter, to
look into and examine the law on
payment of automobile allowances
to the deputy sheriffs of the county
and to report same to the Commits
sioners at next Tuesdays meeting.
The members of the Board are
considering the advisability of either
having the deputy sheriffs use coun-
ty owned cars, or put them on mile
age basis, instead of the present sys-
tenn of paying them an annual 5000
depreciation allowance, plus the
payment of their repair bills.
Chairman E. Lester Mobley, Sr.,
announced that they wanted a full
study made of the present law be-
fore coming to anv final decision