Show rl I rr SPEAKING OF 1 I. I By SPORTS ROBERT ROBERT McSHANE t e by N w pop f Union OJ 5 54 W Baseball and Conscription WHAT will happen to competitive tive sports If U conscription comes Will football baseball boxing and andall andall andall all the rest be things of the past If 1 the nation again calls upon its young men for compulsory military servo sere service ice These questions are bothering quite a few people just lust now And well they might It is taken for granted that every form of competitive competitive com com- sport whether professional or amateur is completely secondary second ary to the call for national defense It is Just as 81 certain that an an athlete trained to meet opposition and kept in fine line physical condition Is the best beste e equipped individual for military purposes It Is very unlikely that any form of conscription will have much effect ef ef- effect on this years year's sports program Baseballs Baseball's regular season will be completed and the World series a athing athing athing thing of the past before the full force of any draft measure Is felt The same Is likely to be true of football I The effect of conscription on baseball base base- baseball ball Is a much-discussed much subject- subject largely because baseball more than any other ether Is the great national I pastime Authorities hold that the age range of the proposed first draft class class 21 31 31 will will take in 21 to more than 80 per cent of baseballs baseball's hired hands Of course It Is Improbable though not impossible that Impossible that all aU would be called at once Different Story for 41 11 Present plans call for training to begin October 1 1 I. It Is unlikely however how ever that the program will be so far advanced on that date But nut a afar afar afar far different story is likely to be written in 1941 There will be many many changes next year The average persons person's blood pressure pres sure would ascend several notches If any attempt was made to exempt ball baU players from the draft No attempt attempt at at- tempt will be made Bob nob Feller will be just another soldiers soldier's name to the powers behind the draft That Is as it should be Athletes professional or simon pure pure claim no special privileges Baseball occupies an Important place in the everyday scheme of ot things More than people paid to see lee the minor leagues play last season and more than I paid to see the big league teams I in action All of which proves that tha t the game is Important to a lot of people Millions of people who cant can't afford to join a golf golt club sail a boat or engage in other recreational activities find Ond their amusement Inthe Inthe in inthe the country's country ball parks Regardless of ones one's personal feelings feelings feel feel- ings it would be a difficult situation it if conscription put an end to the amusement of so large a share shore of the population And that by no means is meant to Infer that ball ballplayers ballplayers players should be exempted from the proposed draft Training Period Suggested I Rather it leads up to a suggestion made by a New York sports writer Joe Joe Williams Ills His suggestion Is II that immediately after the season Is ended every baseball eligible should be placed In an army camp and kept there until spring sprine training starts Williams' Williams suggestion suggestion-If if adopted would give the players five months of Intensive military training That of course would be less than the usual conscript receives but the trained athlete has quite a few advantages advantages ad ad- vantages with which to begin both begin both bothIn In physical and mental conditioning The public would likely look upon the plan with favor Every ball ballplayer ballplayer ballplayer player of military age would be ready to take his proper place in time of ot conflict And in the meantime meantime meantime mean mean- time the nations nation's ball parks would provide an outlet for John Q Q Publics Public's Pub Pub- tics lic's inhibitions There is always the chance that the country's position will remain as 81 It Is Then the ball ban player could be sent back to military camp at atthe atthe atthe the end of the next season But Dut if any conflict occurred during that time the next step would be ob ob- The nations nation's parks would be closed and no one would object Sport Shorts BABE PRATT Alex andAI and andAl andAl Al AI Collings Ceilings of the New York Rangers Rangen hockey team have enlisted with the Royal Winnipeg Rifles RUles Paul Christman Missouri's football star Itar and Ind Bill nill DeCorrevont Northwestern North North- westerns western's gridiron luminary both spent part of the summer lummer In hi a bos- bos the pital-the the former for a tons tomy and Ind the latter for an appendectomy appen Bill Dill center fielder of Jonesboro Ark White Sox farm club walked away with honors Inthe inthe in inthe the Northeast Arkansas Arkans league He lie topped the circuit in batting average average aver aver- age runs scored extra bases most bits hits and stolen bases baes He lIe tied for first fInt In home borne runs and led in fielding Don Faurot of ot the University of ot Missouri an Star All coach holds a master of arts degree in agriculture agriculture ture The record field for tor a steeplechase was the 68 66 which faced the barrier in the 1929 Grand National Na Na- race at Aintree England |