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Show mm ii diGi lEStOffiiLL Radical Switches Would Confuse Public and Render Ren-der Comparison Difficult. By Tribune Special Sport Service. NEW YORK, March 24. The resounding resound-ing crack of the willow against the leather leath-er and the wild raving's of teeming stands as the winning run fliteife across the platter, plat-ter, coupled -with the thousand and one thrills provided for the bugs during the summer months, unite to make baseball i our greatest national pastime. But the good old stove league does its I share. The busy scribes delve into rec-j rec-j ords and dig up yarns which keep the fans from starving to death for baseball dope while frosty blasts axe blowing through the bleachers. Every writer of baseball contributes his log to the stove league fire, which burns bright and warm from turkey day until the baseballlng stars trek off to the southland. He compares the shortstops of today with the shortstoppers of Ave and ten years ago, and tho bugs eat up the dope. He difs up pitching records and baserunning records, and his dopey yarns take the place of the box scores. Without winter league chatter the baseball base-ball fan would be a rather lonesome individual, indi-vidual, and without the chance of comparing com-paring the stars of today with the idols of yesteryear the scribe would find It hard to do his share. When the major leagues held their schedule meetings here a short time ago it was confidently expected that the members mem-bers of the rules committee would get together to-gether and make a few alteration in baseball code as it stands today. Rules Unchanged. But the rules committee did nothing of the kind. The wise old heads who are in control of baseball are satisfied with the rules, and for obvious reasons, Suppose measures should be taken to increase hitting, make it tougher for the pitcher to retire batsmen and handicap the base runners. Suppose steps to make the work of the fielders more flashy were agreed upon by the baseball doctors and the whole baseball code be generally shaken up. Would the game profit by it in the end? We do not believe it would. And here is the reason as we see It: Baseball has stood for years as the most popular of all sports. It has become be-come firmly established in the hearts of the sport-loving public because It is being be-ing offered from year to year as a stable attraction. The game as It is served up to the public today has suffered few alterations in the past ten years, and this fact has done much to keep it foremost among sports. Almost overy other branch of spurt has been altered. Frequent changes in the rules and consequent shifting of conditions have kept such sports from growing. But baseball has stood out a perfected game in Itself, and the solons of the pastime can see no reason for changing the order of things. Endanger Comparisons. Should radical changes be made in the rules tho favorite winter pastime of comparing com-paring players and their records would fade out in a short time, and it would take yeai's before it could be restored. Imagine a scribe attempting to compare com-pare a player who had established records rec-ords five or ten yeaVs ago with one of our present day stars If the rules today were vastly d Ifferent. It simply could not be done, for the records of the two players would be made under different rules, and different conditions, and there would be no loophole for the comparison. And don't think for a moment that the winter league dope doesn't hold a high place In the estimation of tho fans. Baseball's Base-ball's solons know it, and they realize the advantage of it. The good old "dope" lias helped to make baseball a national institution. So the passing up of many suggestions that have been made from time to time for altering the pitching, batting and base-running rules has been a wise move on the part of the rules committeemen, and, as one prominent baseball man said recently: "The game Is satisfactory as it stands today because It Is no easy matter to get a runner around the bases, and the fans realize that the making of a run requires hard work. I wouldn't undermine under-mine the foundation of the game by tampering tam-pering with the rules, for the fans are satisfied and baseball owes Its popularity largely to tne fact that It is built on a solid and lasting foundation." |