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Show I co fling, of Sports' Night Baseball j May Threaten Game's Future By ROBERT McSHANE (Released by Western Newspaper Union.) yHETHE;R or not night baseball will continue its present remarkable re-markable growth depends not so jnuch upon club owners and managers man-agers as upon the millions of fans who foot the bills. And that, in this instance, is just i too bad. Today's baseball addict is very likely to declare himself in favor of nocturnal encounters. He can't be blamed for that. A majority of fans And it impossible to see more than one or two afternoon games each week. Work interferes constantly with lighter pursuits. But night games take care of that matter. After his evening dinner, the Bleacher Bleach-er Baron can strike out for the ball park, settle down with a bottle of pop and, with time out for a few , hoarse yells, take things easy. That's fine for the present day fan i but indirectly he's brightening the future of some other sport. Every additional dollar the baseball magnate mag-nate takes in through night games means a double loss in days to come. He is slamming the door in the face of the one group that helps keep baseball the sport it is today. That group is composed of the millions mil-lions of small boys of the nation. They can't buy tickets today they see a whole nine innings only when the Knot Hole Gang is admitted free of charge. Kids May Lose Interest But every year a new generation of ticket buyers comes of age. In the past they have grown ud with the sport. The kids often know more about league standings, batting bat-ting averages and various standings than do the adults. However, if more and more games are played at night, the kids won't be at the ball park to see them. The game will lose its familiarity and something some-thing will be found to replace i- something that has a closer appeal. Not so many big league managers and club owners are whole-hearted disciples of night baseball. They feel that artificial lights are just that kind of a stimulus. Right now it's doubtful that they can do much about it. The trend is toward the mazdas. The bright lights seem to be as profitable at a baseball park fl in a ninhlnl.,1. i r ., . u'subiuu, auu very lew Oi the purse holders are wilting to kick a dollar in the teeth. Edward G. Barrow of the Yankees is a staunch advocate of things as they are. He echoed the opinions of quite a few contemporaries when he stated not so long ago that night baseball is a thing of evil. He disposed dis-posed of it in one sweeping statement: state-ment: Gate Receipts Up "Gate receipts for baseball have increased 100 per cent in 20 years. Now, why go in for any new-fangled : ideas with those figures starini? at , you in the record books? We used to think a crowd of 28,000 was a turnaway gang. Now, on our good days, if we don't have 00,000 we think something's wrong. The game has prospered by its regularity and dignity. Why these new ideas?" Barrow, when he made those remarks, re-marks, wasn't thinking of the Yanks alone. He had every big league club in mind. Larry MacPhail, the man ,who started the craze for night games, now wants to turn on the dimmers. He's fearful where night baseball may lead. The Dodgers' manager declared that the Browns made a mistake in doubling the usual allotment al-lotment of night games. He stated emphatically that he'd prove of more than seven night games more would hurt daylight attendance, the backbone of the game. For the sake of baseball's future, it is to be hoped that all executives will bear in mind the fact that daylight day-light attendance is the lifeblood of the game. Sport Shorts Paul Derringer and Ernie Lombard! Lom-bard! form one of baseball's heaviest heavi-est batteries. Their combined weight is 460 pounds . . . Tarzan Taylor, line coach at Marquette, always wears a flower. He keeps it freah in a small vase that fits into the buttonhole of his lapel Craig Wood wanted to be a civil engineer en-gineer as a youngster. He went to college for one year, then quit to take a pro golf job at Lexington, Ky. . . . Mule Dowel, former Chicago Chi-cago Cardinals' fullback, is athletic director at Texas Tech . . . Eleanor Elea-nor Holm still holds 10 of the 14 A. A. U. backstroke records. . . . Lou Novikoff, Los Angeles outfielder out-fielder who belongs to the Cubs, has a 4-year minor league batting average aver-age of .372 . . . When arguments begin in the Evangeline league games in Alexandria. La the club switches off the arc lights until play is resumed . . . Most compact of all baseball leagues is the Tar Heel league of North Carolina. President Presi-dent M. C. Campbell, who headquarters headquar-ters at Newton, N. C, does not travel trav-el more than 33 miles to visit any town . . . Patty Berg, 22-year-old Minneapolis golfer, will receive $7,-500 $7,-500 annually for turning professional. |