Show aa 4 S P RT occupies a peculiar place in this country it appeals to more mill ons than politics finance the theater motion pictures litera art or any other single entry you might mention when yow in elude clude baseball football boxing bowling basket ball golf tennis track and field it eld swimming a and n d WO t the rest of the sports the corn bained interest of people between the ages of 6 and 90 blankets the country you can grantland rice also toss in both sexes governors senators congress men leading bankers and lawyers industrial leaders heads of labor unions can be indicted and jailed and a good part of this Is taken for granted it would be interesting to show you the long list of those named above who have been indicted and convicted this means those who have been proved to be crooks thieves chiselers even murderers who held high places in public life As a rule or a general average most of these convictions have been accepted with public yawns the public trust in politicians so called statesmen bankers indus trial leaders and labor leaders has never been too strong look at the record many of these were expected to go wrong but it has been dit dif ferent in sport sport amateur and professional has been the main public trust let the governors and the senators and the industrial leaders plus labor s head delegates turn crooked as so many have but sport must be clean all the way through crooks muscle in the trouble is that sport chasn t been as clean as it should be too many smart and crooked hangers on have been chiseling in through the last 20 years the crooked stupid and cowardly underworld has been looking for the open gaps this applies to racing football baseball basketball and any sport that commands the public interest the underworld has been looking oer 0 er sport sports s rich pastures too long they have seen the harvest that could be taken over and too many of them have taken over espe daily ia in racing and boxing the crooks expect to have even better luck with baseball and football and nobody seems to know just what they can do about it for the crooks as a rule are smarter than the honest people at least they know their goal and how to get there and not even the government of of the the united states has the faintest idea of how these thieves and crooks can be handled so they are permitting this country s major ma or in terest to take its major beating too deeply interested in politics which seldom has been on the level boxing has been packed with crooks so has racing these are the two sports that need most care and neither is getting the protection that it needs what can be done sport is the basis for handling all juvenile delinquency programs it is the one program we have left in which the public at large has corn com confidence complete faith and yet here are all these thieves crooks chiselers and murderers moving in the slime of creation and no one seems to know just what to do about it just what should be done about this present sport situation is quite a problem starting from the president of the united states on down through vari ous governors and their commis no one seems to bother much for sport is supposed to take care of itself yet those who are handling sport directly find themselves faced with situations they are unable to combat they know everything ex capt the answers they see the un der world moving in and they give out statements which mean noth ing the players so tar far have been the main bulwarks that sport knows but who is going to take care of the thieves and the crooks k the new arrivals when a star tails falls to give out its usual glow there is always another to take its place it always happens that way but rarely in such sion as the new season has offered us As feller reller I 1 allet and other star pitchers hover around the soapy chute a lean lank young fellow by the name of ewell black well of the cincinnati reds is step ping into the gap as the star pitcher of 1947 possibly one of the best of all time blackwell has completely outclassed feller and pellet pollet and others tb the luman human string bean has no on one ven even close back of the red terror we have frank shea of the yankees warren spahn of the braves cat brecheen ot of the cardinals johnny sam sain of th the e braves schoolboy rowe and dutch eonard leonard of the phillies |