The Catholic times. [volume] (Columbus, Ohio) 1951-current, 1961-06-30
SPORTS of TIMES
Vas Good
To Know You
BY LOU FABR0
Times Sports Editor


Ask the average minor league baseball fan and
he'll tell YOU that ne becomes mighty unhappy, and
irritable enough to stay away from the ball park,
when he sees his f~avorite team raided of It's best
PLAYERS during the course of a season.
Or as one Columbus fan put it every time. we
get a good team here they start pulling the best play
ers and leave us holding the bag"
AT THE START or THIS SEASON, there was a
lot of glowing talk of how the Pittsburgh Pirates,
through their working agreement with the jets, were
going to try their best to bring a pennant to Column
bus. Well sir, it looked mighty good for a long time
as the Jets, under capable Manager Larry Shepard,
shaped up into a hot-contending team.
But the inevitable ~shuffling began and the early
season talk developed a hollow ring. First the major
league fathers" put a big dent in the Jets pitch
ing staff by calling up ace hurler Earl Francis. Since
he was TO fill a vacancy caused when Pirate nurler
George Witt was sidelined by an injury, local fans
recognized this as a justified move. But they missed
him, too.
COLUMBUS SUFFERED A SECOND BLOW,
however. when talented twirler Tom Parsons came up
with a nagging injury that just wouldn't heal His In
Jury. Of course, was just one of those things but 1t
put him on the shelf and complicated the Jets pitch
ing rotation.
Then the Pirates cast envious eyes on catcher
Don Leppert, who, with a lusty .389 batting average,
led the international League in hitting. The Pirates
beckoned and the Jets offense suffered.
In Lepperts place, Columbus received catcher
Bob Odds who spent Just about the entire 1860 season
on the Pirate bench. He got quite a buildup from two
wellknOWn sports announcerS and from tne dairy
sports writers who follow the Jets. Wen agree with
them that Odds is quite a Snowman" or "showoff'"
but he's far from being another Bill Dlckey as they
seem to describe with their comments.
oLDlS S. YEAR a 20 official trips to the
plate for the Pirates and collected four hits-three
singles and one double-for a 200 average. He had
one RBI. The year before he batted .294 for Denver.
Next loss was catcher Roberto Herrera, who
caught the fancy of local fans for the way he rifles
a baseball like a cannon. Not only was he land still Isl
an excellent receiver, but he was the only other Jet
besides Leppert who was batting over 300. His aver
age was 1926 when he left.
But it just didn't pay to get fond of him. He went
10 Charleston, the club that has been the Jets closest
rival How did he get there? The Pirates purchased
OutfieIder Walt Moryn from the st. Louis Cardinals
for cash and a minor league player-who turned out
TO be Herrera. Not needing a catcher, the Cards sent
-Four" Roberto to Charleston.
THE JETS DID GET A PLAYER IN RETURN.
Elmo Plaskett, who couldn't make the Columbus
club earlier this season, was sent to the Jets. Plaskett
is a likeable guy who has, as one sports scribe de-
scribes it, "a builtin-grin" Since leaving the Jets
earlier, however, Plaskett hasn't seen much action.
In fact, he never saw the ball park in Hawaii even
though he had been optioned to Honolulu. An injured
wrist kept him sidelined in Salt Lake City for treat
ment. When the wrist failed to mend, the Islanders
returned Plaskett to the Pirates.
The Jets still might win the pennant, and we
hope they do. They've been doing very well in spite
of the raids. Their task over the rest Of the season,
however, is a difficult one as a result of the raidlng.
THIS ARTICLE MIGHT SOUND LIKE we're
against players getting promoted to the majors and
this makes the whole issue quite ticklish. Actually,
we wish all players the best Of luck in their careers.
But it just happens much too often that players who
are called up do little more than warm a vacant spot
on the bench.
Before closing off, we stress that Columbus isn't
the only minor league club that gets picked over. II
happens all the time in the minor system across the
country. And this fast shuttle of players is cited as
one of the major causes for sagging minor league at
tendance and the resulting death of 38 minor leagues
since 1949. Today, there are Il minor leagues-many
of them shaky-remaining.
Baseball big-wigs ought to stop ~wringing their
hands and moaning about the decline of minor league
baseball attendance and instead, ought to eliminate
the cause of decline.
THIS MEANS QUIT ANTAGoNIZlNc minor
league fans by leaving their favorite teams alone un.
til the season ends. Perhaps this solution is too simple
for the baseball powers but it sounds plenty good
especially to minor league fans.