Evening star., 1960-02-04
THE BASEB ALL
BEAT
BY BURTON HAWKINS
From Sneers to Cheers
BY BURTON HAWKINS

ABOUT EIGHT YEARS AGO Branch Hickey then
general manager of the PirateS being quered
Capitol HILL There reference to the in which
other baseball clubs quickly had copied the farm system
which Hickey had naugurated with the Cardinals alter
ing the structure of the game.
Hickey responded by paraphrasing Alexander Pope
First pity then endure then embrace The same poet once
observed, Fools rush in where angels fear to tread"
Last August when Hickey president of the now
organized but still payerless Continental league, he
seemingly was cingng less wisely to Popes words.
At that time the Continental League aiming for major
league status 1851 possessed five teams On paper that
is. When Rickey named president, Frank Lane of
the Indians remarked forgotten baseball than
most of us VIII know, but this will be too much for
him. 1t can't possibly work"
RICKEY GRADUALLY is reducing the horde of skep-
tics He now has eight teams still on paper and there's
less Inclination to sneer Formidable barriers continue to
confront him. He must provide sizabe indemntes to
minor leagues ne hopes to invade Stadums must be
structed Then there's the most trying task-obtaning
players who will entice customers who remain the prime
ingredient of the whole scheme.
These are overwhelming obstacles perhaps but there's
reluctance to state the Hickey can't clear them
Occasionally he must be assisted in walking but while the
legs have lost some of their vigor the brain remains
calculating, shreWd bold and enterprising.
Rickey's methods parallel those of youngster care
fully aligning domnoes, then icking the END one and
Watching all descend Hickey is bowling over each prob
lem neatly and has launched series of conferences
with Commissioner Ford Frick.
THE IMMEDIATE OBJECTIVE will be to achieve
major league status according to the rules This
imperative before the for players can start The
scoterS still may point to shortage of talent and con-
tlnue to derde Continental efforts but meanwhile Rckey
is proclaimng Excellence is comparative thing"
This Is intended to convince the doubters that 20
game winners $40 hterS and those who blast As hoers
IN the Continental League will be attractive to fans
despite an admitted immediate downgrading of abilities
That's in the future. It's what is in the past which
Uoc uyi6n fooliro that
Continental could progress its present point
hickey has steered through the rapids with deft strokes
There was the threat of one of his teams vanishing
when persistent Minneapolis citizens again attempted to
grab Washingtons franchise last fall Hickey insisted the
Senators would remain in Washington They did.
There was chatter about expansion in the American
League which would two Continental sites Hickey
kept his confused colleagues cam probably citing another
Pope phrase mot vain the weakest If their force unite
The problem of the Continenals meeting the require
menS of player pension fund cted but appears
the problem is less monstrous than the first estimate
Frick at least regards that hurdle comparatively
inconsequential.
TO PROMOTE EQUAL competition Hickey has per-
suaded his followers to draw players from league pool
to be created by scouts who will be functonng for the
league, not for individual teams The saving will be
enormous and the objective of balance among the clubs
is laudable.
Receipts from television also will be pooled, thus
helping to restrain rich club from puverzng the poor
It's variation of theme authored by Bill Veeck,
who insisted while struggling with the impoverished st.
Louis Browns that visiting teams should share in televson
money because they providing half of the show.
Veeck was steam-rolered by wealthy clubs.
Hickey hopeful of being able to acquire managers
coaches and scouts within SO days has brought his
group far, through the maze of snping politics in
trigue and the normally tough regulations imposed by
baseball that there's the feeling he will 20 all the way
If he does he'll be proclaimed basebaIl's man of the
reflected be ationf for
Attorney Bill Shea who conceived the Continental then
was bright enough to land the one man who could ma
neuver with the touch of a genius