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Show SEASONS MAY BEl Oi MAY 1 HEREAFTER Fans Turn Out in Small Numbers on Cold April Days. By Tribune .Special port Rervlce. NEW YOEK, May 9. It's quite likely that tho regular baseball season will open around May 1 next year, and in all future years. And it's "also quite likely that hereafter the organized Major leagae magnates will' stop the little practice or.' trying to. garner extra shekels by staging exhibition exhibi-tion games in their homo towns before the regular season opens. The poor attendance at most of the1 opening games this year, and the lukewarm luke-warm interest that has been in baser-all up to the first of Mav, finallv has convinced con-vinced the magnates that although tho fans love the national game, they lovt their health just a little bit more, and refuse to be present in large numbers at games that are played during the i raw. chilly days of ApriL In Favor of Fans. For many yars the fans have advocated advo-cated a later opening. They have argued that if the league opened around May 1 a lo-4 game schedule sched-ule still wo'ild bo powible by reason of shifting the elo-ainff date from around 'October o to October 21 or so. But the moguls, with a proud and haughtv air, inquired, "Who's running run-ning this "here pastime, anywayf" and went right ahead and or.onod the season at a time that suited fhem which was around April 14. The fans stood for it until this vear. Then they balked. They decided 'that thev coulcl see just as good a ball game in May or June as they would see on tho opening day, or any day - luring April, and not run eu-'h a chance oi contracting pneumonia and a few other ailments one gets when one sits out in the open for a couple of hours and tries to keep warm on hot dogs and peanuts. The magnates now see in to t-ey the error of their ways, and it iB -aid they have tentatively decided to ouen the season hereafter around May 1. when it ia almost a certainty that the weather will be balmy. Magnates Learn Lesson. The magr.ates have learned another lesson, too. That ia with regard to exhibition ex-hibition games. In the laft two or three years these money-mad persons figured that it would bo a nico little hi cro gathering stunt to tagfl a few exhibition ex-hibition com huts in their home towns before The regular svaaon opened. lint they were poor mathi-math-nins. In the first place tho fans didn't turn out. m any quantities at these games, and in tho eecond place, when the regular season did open it was fonud that the exhibition gamei had taken away mu-'h of the fans ' baseball appetite. As a result the opeuinff1 day crowds have been disappointingly small. Postponing the-oper.ing of the season until May 1 and having it cun-'hnle about October 2. no doubt would bring bigger returns for the moguls. The weathor up to the latter part of October iieuallv is mild and pleasant. Ttut during dur-ing April practically every club in the league suffers from thre to pt-ven pon-ponemects pon-ponemects on aeeount of rain, wet grounds or oold wt-ather. Later in the season theo g-ame nrc played nut in doublo headers. A double programme usually draws an nxt rn crowd, but it, rnrely bring enough extra ex-tra people to make ur J or thoo who would have, attended the regular game had It not been postponed. |