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Show HAPPY CHANDLER, the new-baseball new-baseball commissioner, was a Irst-class Kentucky governor and a &rst-class Kentucky U. S. senator. He has been a good all-around athlete ath-lete in many sports, including football, foot-ball, baseball and basketball. He has been a sportsman at heart a clean, honest shooter. But he may not be as happy as he Is today, or has been through the years, when the ( present and the postwar problems of baseball fall across his neck. For these problems prob-lems will be many and varied and tough. They , will require not Happy Chandler ony Judg ment on Commissioner Chandler's part but also the ability to face more than a few club owners who are going go-ing to look largely to their side of the argument. They have the money Invested, and that's always a big point in most human debates. It isn't any question of crookedness that Happy will have to face, but now and then a matter of craft and cunning. I can tell Happy that practically every club owner and ball player had so much respect for Judge Lan- dls that It amounted almost to fear. 1 They wanted no part of the fiery, aggressive Judge. After the war there will be over 4,000 of these ball players shedding shed-ding their fighting uniforms for baseball base-ball clothes. These men had contracts con-tracts before they left, varying in financial amounts up to Hank Greenberg's top of around $50,000. A majority of these may not be as good as they were after two or three-years three-years service in army and navy. But those who return and many won't will expect to get what they received re-ceived or were guaranteed before moving Into war. They won't expect to take any cut, until they have had at least a year to prove their places in the game. It may be that every club owner will fall into line and pay old salaries. sal-aries. It may be that many won't But the new commissioner must sup-Iport sup-Iport the ball player to the limit I not the club owner. Cardinal Stars The Cardinals are the leading example. ex-ample. Sam Breadon's Redbirds had more good ball players than any i two clubs you can mention, including includ-ing quality and quantity. If the Jap part of the war la over within a year the Cardinals wjll have more good ball players on hand than any two teams can handle. Take the case of the Cooper brothers. broth-ers. They were asking 30,000 a yesr from the Cardinals, together, togeth-er, before Walker Cooper was taken Into service. Both know that the Yankees, Giants or Tigers would be extremely pleased to give them $50,000 or $60,000 a year. But St. Louis Isn't a good baseball town, so far as attendance goes. St. Louis is no New York, Detroit, Brooklyn, Chicago or one of several other major league cities. The Cooper brothers at $30,000 a year, combined, would have been a tremendous tre-mendous baseball bargain almost anywhere else. Vlcnly of Headaches When the war is entirely over, Happy Chandler will have at least 4,000 headaches which he must face, regardless of what the baseball owners think or want. Here Is the way I rate baseball's Importance 1. The players who make the game Including, of course, the stars who help draw the crowds. 2. The fans or crowds who make baseball possible as a major spec- 1 tacle. They pay the salaries and .'keep up the ball parks. I 3. The owners who can get In t and out at almost any time and I who In the main get into baseball r through Ihe motives of profit and i publicity. I The latter comes last. If they quit, ithera ore more than ready to take their places. With few exceptions, they hardly count in the building of the game. They have contributed less thun any other factor. It is for this reason that Happy Chandler must look after the game first the players second the crowds third and refuse to let the owners shove him around. Happy Hap-py Chandler has been the best-nu-'lured nion I ever met In sport. But :o curry out this Job he now faces, ihe will need all the iron a single 'system can carry. Unless he does, Se hits traded happiness for $.V),0U0 i year. It Isn't worth it. The lUarh Sox Series It was 2ti years ago that the Black Sox scandal developed. Lately we talked that fimous crics over with Earl Greasy Ncale, Alio played with the Reds. "We had no Idea at all this series vas crooked," Greasy said. "How ould we? There had been rumors ibout Chick Gandil, Jne Jackson nd Ruck Weaver. But Candll'i hit-mg hit-mg beat us in one game. In fact, ie fellows rumored as the crooks tarred all through the series." |