Evening star., 1962-08-29
EGH AT LARGE
Shed q Tear
For q Buccuneer
By MORRIS SIEGEL

IF DOCTORS AND MISSILE workers, on whom our
very existence depends strike it must be assumed that
baseball players also have moral right to stay off the
Job to protest what they deem unfair treatment The Pitts
burgh Pirates have thought so the other day when
they threatened to stay in their ar-condoned hotel
rooms in ST. Louis when asked to play daynight double
header to make up for ranout the previous evening
The mutnouS players had legal right in the first
place The idea of young engaged in the enviabe and
profitable profession of playing major league ball
thinking of indulging in something pebian walk
out strikes this card-carryng member Of unions
something south of repugnant.
No professional athlete coddled more than the major
league baseball player But there should be limit to his
demands Spending IL IA hours at ball park to play
daynght doubleheader is not the most desirable way
to pass the time but at its worst it's infinitely better than
many other occupations.
THE MANNER IN WHICH the Pirates lodged their
stiff protest against the day-night arrangement made
think Gussie Busch millionaire of the host
Cardinals had Schemed for months on deviliSh plan to
infct mortal wounds the players He, Of course did
no such thing 1t PittSburghS last trip into ST. Louis
and therefore the last opportunity to get in the postponed
game.
1t could have been made up as part Of Saturday
afternoon doube-header but management with natural
desire to make money decided split games with
split admissions There is nothing illegal in this and 1t
is not foreign to the American system Of profit making.
Only in Moscow, where capitalism is scorned, would the
players have found sympathetic to their iladvsed
protest.
Since 1946 when they first began their reform
men the players have gained many concessions, good
number of them we-deserved They get $25 tip money
while in spring training ranging from $500 to $1,000
for moving their families when they traded the best
pension plan in the world Al hotel and travel accommo-
dations, $40 a day meal money and $1,000 minimum
salary This is not quite slave labor One would think,
in view of only these arrangements the owner had some
right in programming his own schedule.
THERE IS NO DENYING that playing separate games
Saturday afternoon and Saturday night plus double
header Sunday taxing However such arrangements
are rare-so rare the wellpad Hessians Of Pittsburgh
should accepted without whmperng threatening
strike number Of their players it meant giving
up several hours of poStgame carousng in violation OF
their curfew.
When Samuel Gompers was pioneering in the trade
union movement he didn't have balplayers in mind He
struck the Sweatshop laborer There is certain
amount of greed in cubowners too but in the main they
are not the contemplate Williams some Of the more un-
reasonable employees would like the public to think.
Several years ago the Senators had an nelder named
Mlt Boiling who easily hit 227 and was offered the same
money $4,000 to play the next year. He rejected the
contract once but three times. When CALVIN Gr1tn
finally contacted his rebeous player he asked on what
grounds he thought he deserved more money after zz
season "On the grounds" Boiling answered, that I've
been league for several years and deserve more
money for longevity alone
There is coorfu Yiddish word, "huzpah, which best
describes the unfortunate action the Pirates took IN ST.
Louis "Huzpah" is best defined by the following lncoenI
young man Stays parents Brought to trial on charge
This is "huzpah" at work.