Evening star., 1963-02-03
BY BILL YEECK

trades, age or taxes, it is the
winter banquet circuit that de.
cides pennant races. I'm refer
ring to the "failure-to-repeat"
jinx that has afflicted most oi
the pennant-winning clubs ir
recent years.
Excepting, Of course, the
Yankees Whom well gel
around to in due time) pen
nant winners have repeated
only twice in the last is sea-
sons. II you will examine the
records you will find that the
defending club gets off to 9
terrible start and blows the
pennant in the first two
months.
1t isn't the food and good
fellowship that is so devastat-
ing (although five banquets q
week do tend to leave an in
delible mark on ones person
ality-to say nothing Of ones
posterior), the banquet invita-
ton itself is merely a signpost
to disaster.
The opportunity to address
the leading citizens" of any
town, city or hamlet is pretty
heady stuff to a youngster
especially when you find that
they remain not only captive
but astonishingly receptive nc
matter what you say or how
you say it.
I was there, friends, and
should know.
One Becomes Agreeable
Despite the best intentions
to remain your old humble anc
lovable self, you suddenly fine
yourself agreeing with the
toastmaster that you are a
genuine, 24-carat wizard and
then you're hooked.
Disaster follows! Too much
food (you can't, after all, ap-
pear finicky), a few extra beers
dt is not good form for a
wizard to offend his hoSts)
and suddenly there's a slight
protuberance fore and aft.
Since / don't make a living
with my reflexes, it doesn't
matter to me. The player tells
himself that it doesn't matter
either. The excess fat will be
melted off during the first cou-
pie of days in Florida, he tells
himself. That's what spring
training is for, isn't it? OF
course it is.
Except that the lionization
of the players continues right
into the training period as the
city fathers-who feel the team
has reflected glory and honor
upon them also-are moved to
show their pride and affection
for their adopted team.
Anyhow, the papers say
you're better than ever, having
been tried by the fire of the
past years race, and so even
though the club is a little slow
getting started, nobody is
sweating. That's just the trou-
BILE. Nobody is sweating =
literally.
Weight Disappears
BY June the weight is be-
ginning to disappear. So is the
championship label. The other
clubs are not showing the
proper respect for us cham
pions. possibly because they
had not heard all those glow
ing introductions at all those
banquets.
BY July, the excess weight
is gone, but so is the pennant.
The club is 612 games back.
Unfortunately, this doesn't
happen to the Yankees partly
because a pennant doesn't
mean that much in the big
city. A pennant winner doesn't
galvanize New York the way 1t
galvanizes Cleveland, Pitts
burgh or Milwaukee, because
in New York nobody is that
big.
Don't get me wrong. I'm not
knocking the banquet circuit.
have spoken from pulpits and
standing on bars. l have spoken
in coal mines and have enter
tanned the inmates of local
pokies. I have spoken to the
Lions, Elks, Eagles, Moose and
Rotarians and have enjoyed it
all.
In st. Louis. where I was
trying to spread the rumor that
the Browns were a bonafide
major league team. the poultry
industry and ran into a streak
Of bad luck. Turkey production
in Missouri and Illinois had
scared: sales had not. The
market was glutted.