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Show Ipeaking jpofogj Released by Weatern Newspaper Union. A LTHOUGH night baseball has been the most important factor in keeping the game alive during wartime, there are still a few unbelievers un-believers in the major league circuits. cir-cuits. Ed Barrow, president of the New York Yankees, has little enthusiasm j for the vesper version. According to I columnist Dan Parker, he cooled oft on the proposition almost a half cen- tury ago when his Paterson, N. J., club of the Atlantic league, starring one Honus Wagner, took part in the first professional ball game under arc lights at Wilmington, Del. It was back In 1896. about the first of July. And, according to Parker, "In the flickering blue light of car. bon-stk-k arc lamps, the first night game In organized baseball ran Into trouble soon after It got under way when the rival pitcher, titeanted up by Barrow to play a practical Joke on Wagner, substituted a Fourth of July torpedo for the ball the first time bow-legged Honus came up to bat. "Honus took a toehold for his cut and met the paper-covered bag of A -, xak. gunpowder flush on the detonator, causing caus-ing such an explosion ex-plosion that the game broke up in a riot. Ed thought night baseball was a snare and a delusion de-lusion then and he still sticks to his belief, although he Honus Wagner waverea a on mis spring when the Yanks slumped both in attendance and in the league standing. He said: Change of Heart " 'Under certain conditions, I wouldn't be too opposed to night baseball. But what good would it do me to change my mind this year when we couldn't install equipment equip-ment for night games even If we wanted to?' " ' It wasn't so long ago that Clark Griffith was a determined opponent , of the night game. But the situntion has changed. Mr. Griffith is one of the most radical advocates of the electrically-lighted sport. There's a good reason for Griffith's Grif-fith's change of heart. Washington is glutted with federal employes who couldn't take time off for an afternoon after-noon game. They did want baseball, but had to have it In the cool of the evening. Logic! and business acumen acu-men dictated the answer to Griffith. Grif-fith. Washington now is the night baseball center of the . major leagues. Griffith has permission to play as many night games as he de- j sires, except on Sundays or holidays. holi-days. Many changes have come to pass during the past 12 years. Of the 15 major league clubs, all but 5 have facilities for night baseball. Those 5 fields remaining in the dark are Fenway park and Braves field in Boston, Wrigley field In Chicago, Briggs stadium In Detroit De-troit and the Yankee stadium In New York. These parks couldn't Install In-stall the powerful batteries of lights on their steel towers now if they wanted to, because, even though the ban on such construction was lifted not long ago, the material required isn't likely to be available until after aft-er the war. The Evidence Not that General Electric will go Into rhapsodies, but we're in favor of night ball. Joe Doakes, the boy who helps turn out materials for war, deserves a break. He probably likes baseball. But he can't knock off the job Thursday afternoon to Night baseball provides the answer. Joe can see the game. He is happy. And Joe, multiplied a few hundred thousand times, makes the baseball club treasurer happy. The case of the Southern association associ-ation Is proof of the value of the night game. This One organization practically owes Its existence to Mr. Edison's Incandescent lamp. All games except those on Saturdays, Sundays, and holidays are played at night in Billy Evans circuit. Evans wasn't wild about tiight baseball when he resigned from the Boston Red Sox and took over the presidency of the association. It didn't take him long to find out that the lights made the difference between be-tween black and red in the ledger. Association cities which formerly attracted at-tracted 300 on week days now draw 3,000 in the hush of the evening. The preponderance of evidence favors night ball. The situation is likely to continue. SPORTS SHORTS C Gov. Dwight Griswold of Nebraska Nebras-ka played football at Nebraska Wes-leyan Wes-leyan more than 30 years ago. He starred on the eleven. CThe Saratoga, N. Y., Spa golf course has no grade steeper than 5 per cent because of cardiac patients at the resort. C Emil Verban, the Cardinals' new Infielder, has a twin sister, Frances, who is a Softball star. C The St.' Louis Cardinals won their " first National league pennant in 1926. Since then they have won six mor. |