| Show BASEBALL IS ALivE c AS A SPORT BUT DEAD AS DOOR DOORNAIL NAil AS BIG j. j pi Players of 1919 Will Work to and Use Only Holidays j for Recreation U. U S. S Showing E Em aNew a New Way WayBy By I. I E. E S H CAGO 4 Sept 20 Uncle Uncle Sam f and the makers r of munitions and Id of of lof ships Q 9 arc are showing t the c promoters o 0 f baseball how liow to keep the nations nation's na- na ton tion's pastime alive for the duration of the war war warnot warnot not not not as ta 3 a commercial cial pro proposition proposition tion but Wt butas as a sport Practically every professional ball bail ballplayer ballplayer player who vho Is not killed or disabled d during the war ar will continue playing the game somewhere pat part of the tho time at Rt least Even the diamond athletes enlisted en or drafted for Cor active service the iri army and navy still are playing the game gains steadily although the box scores of ohe the games In which they play d do not appear appear- In all the tho morning pap papers pars pa pa- p pers rs In the country PLAY PI-AY B BALL LL BACK O OF Right up to the trenches the Yankees and Canadians play baseball whenever they can It Is a safe sate wager that Grover Alexander and Hank Gowdy for Instance can pitch and catch as a well as before they went into the thick ot of it over there They do not get as constant practice as they did during a championship race but butth th thy they are In far better physical condition than the they ever were as diamond heroes The shipyards anI and factories have hava absorbed a large quantity of at professional professional pro pro- players and even the men who went back to the farms undoubtedly will take a day off occasionally to play with their neighborhood team and against the pine from the next township SERVICE LEAGUES NUMEROUS Every army cantonment and naval station station sta sta- tion has its baseball team leam of at which It Is and aud the Intense jv s r proud rivalry Is Ia Of course Ul the personnel ot of these teams is isi i bound to changa change 99 L a men are re sent Bent over over- seas or into active naval service but the teams will be maintained Just the same Shipyard and factory teams can be kept pretty well Intact as they are composed as a rule of players in deferred classes Already the army cantonment and naval naval na na- na- na val station o teams of t the Middle West are arc planning flanning 1 n to ote utilize m z the publics public's ga s interest r t in baseball s l by framing framing- up a schedule e which hl will wili decide e which I ha g-ha has the b best nine r and also provide funds for athletic equipment equipment equip equip- ment mont of the soldiers and sailors All summer the shipyards of the Atlantic and Pacific coasts have had regular leagues playing Saturday and Sunday and sometimes midweek games for Cor the amu amusement ement of or the workers They have hav officers schedules and rules rules' Just like the organized base baseball all which went nent Into temporary eclipse on Labor day SEMIPRO BALL BALi NEXT YEAR There will wll be semiprofessional leagues next season the aime as before the war with the exception that they will be composed composed com corn posed of at stronger teams because they will Include in thelt ranks players who formerly were full fuli fledged professionals Next year rear these men will be working most of ot the time and playing baseball only part of It it consequently they will wUl be but a players player's ability is not affected by his classification Promoting Promoting- a a. professional from a minor to a a. major league never made him a better better better bet bet- ter player except by the opportunity It gave e him to learn e the game a That a is to omo say no one ever made a major a league league- e player out of ot a minor leaguer simply by changing the classification of the circuit in which he played although the Federal league tried hard for two years to do It BUSINESS GONE SPORT CONTINUES Back in th the days when I was playing baseball ll on the village green all baseball teams were either amateur or semipro semipro- The famous Haymakers Forest Forest Forest For For- est and Metropolitans Metropolitans' were composed composed com corn posed of ot stars who earned most mot of at their wages by working n The e original lf Reds of J Jat Cincinnati n n lw who set et an unbeaten record go of at going through gh a season without a de defeat defeat defeat de- de feat were semiprofessionals but they were some ball players player for all that The war simply has wrecked the business business bustness busi bust ness of baseball but that is n no reason why the sport should not Improve during the war Divorced from the dollar sign there is every likelihood the game wll will develop along new lines much like the theold theold theold old lines which marked its beginning The Th difference nce between baseball in 1919 and baseball In 1869 Is that there are millions more snore players players and tens ef f millions more people Interested in the sport |
