Show i ir r f. f i j J l b i FRANK PRANK K BAKERI BAKER BAKER- I Syndicated sports sportswriters writers are pulling their hair bea beca be- be ca a se SC the bigwigs of organized baseball are arc shortsighted enough ough to turn a cold shoulder to the publics public's enthusiasm over ver the annual star all-star game which was inaugurated in inas 1933 as a benefit for sick and indigent players and andI Umpires i I The game game between picked teams from the American and National leagues with aU all its fanfare has had a strong appeal on the baseball public The of putting so so many stars stars' together on the same field coupled with the noble cause which inspired the games game's inauguration made it a natural drawing ard card from the start I The 1933 game was sponsored by a Chicago newspaper as asan asan an n added attraction for the Century of Progress exposition and this newspaper created a lot of additional enthusiasm over the game tame by conducting a public poll to select the players for the two star teams I Team managers however paid little attention to the re- re of the poll They paid less attention to a poll that became nationwide in 1934 and none at all last summer According to nationally known sports writers the National National Na Na- I league representatives have become less and less friendly toward the star all-star game with each succeeding humiliation their team has taken in the three games already alread r played e L W j In ignoring the public polls the team managers argued r that that the public doesn't always make the wisest selection f for r good team pla play And there has bas undoubtedly been some ground for this contention but it has not been sufficient for baseball to turn a coM cold shoulder to the publics public's well meant interest k As the scribes point out baseball magnates ought tobe be mighty thankful for enthusiasm over the star all g game me even if it is a meaningless spectacle from a al l standpoint Nearsighted and managers maners mangers man man- agers gers ers argue that pit pitchers hers in particular are prevented from I t taking king their regular turn in league games because of their work in the star game that they hesitate to risk injury in lit an exhibition game to a man who is highly important t to a pennant pennant contending team and finally that the ballyhoo bally bally- hoo iio o attendant to the star game cuts down the attendance regular gular league attractions L P V What t the moguls forget org t in presenting presenting their side of the ory is that the nation nahon is IS made tremendously baseball baseball- 9 by all the glamorous fanfare surrounding the tar game te The major leagues will do well vell to realize that it is a 1 pretty etty good thing for their game to have newspapers and other agencies gather votes the nation over as was yes the case for the 1934 contest played at the Polo grounds in 1934 f 1 When baseball put the chill on its f following in 1934 by virtually lly ignoring the results of the poll the press grew less lessl l Interested in conducting the polls One eastern paper withdrew its promotion of the baseball game and devoted a great deal of space to boosting an early season charity chanty ty football game PL i With this trend of coolness throughout many eastern and andr r midwestern communities the baseball brass hats hats' decided they should give the game back to the fans But they did it with r reservations decreeing that the patrons can elect only 16 of the 21 members of each squad for the game at Boston July 7 ft With those reservations the big leagues may find it lt to prove they will really keep faith with the fans The fans have ave ave been disappointed so frequently that many of them are beginning to believe that all baseball wants of them is what they ay at the gate The leagues certainly cant can't expect the fans to toDe ae De e so eager to vote or the press so ambitious to conduct a poll when i the they all aU figure they'll be told to go mind their own F As one scribe put sit Solid ivory in bas baseball is not con- con tined ined f to the players r Similarly last years year's benefit game here in Salt Lake City was permitted to be something of oC a financial flop t simply because th the very players ers and officials who ought to tobe tor r be most interested decided to let somebody else worry more jabout about the games game's promotion than they did themselves I ne c team for example didn't sell a single ticket to the ther r game Came cJ yet the players ers on that team had several injury claims t I. I If LOne One Ope team manager took his personal allotment of tickets and stood a short way from the gate and sold them em to folks about ready to marc march up to the ticket i- i Continued on oi Following Pane Pase Backseat Driving I Continued from Pr Preceding Page Paso booth instead of trying to dispose of them several days in advance It is therefore little wonder that the attendance attend attend- ance was less than it was in 1934 when the game was inaugurated Every player ought to be eager to dispose of a few tickets himself If they all took that attitude and the officials organized their promotion campaign well cIl ahead of time and completed the financial checkup the week after the game instead of procrastinating two months as they did last year the game will draw the publics public's enthusiastic enthusiastic enthusiastic support Otherwise it doesn't merit public pat pat- |