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Show 5f I COME earnest and able compiler i of facts and ftj;ures has estimated there are over 30 million citizens young and old, male and female, ! mmmim w Wn0 ar' d'rPCtly Or ; I V I Indirectly interested S If A in baseball, j , I believe these i P' flgures are on the i short gl()e We have i .V, A 22 million high i SI?V school kids for a ' sJfV starter, and most of j vl these ,olIow base W": t another. The range SBUU .e?4 is from 8 to 80 GrantlandRlce years, and this Includes In-cludes those who play at the game, see the games, follow the box scores and the standings stand-ings In the dnily newspapers or hear games over the radio. My estimate would be 40 million, Including the fanatics and the only mildly Inter-; Inter-; ested. j This Is only a guess. But that I many through newspaper and radio j must follow a world series. ! Many or most of the regulars , have their favorite ball players, j They may dig back Into the past, ; or they may pick a few from the modern library. The leading favorite favor-ite in the game's long history has ' been Babe Ruth. Proof here is simple. Babe has gone Into such cities as Philadelphia . and Boston when they were trailing and drawing less than a thousand at home games. But when the Babe came to town they hnd to call police po-lice reserves to the scene. Next to Ruth we'd have Ty Cobb j and after Ty Cobb there would be Hnnus Wagner. Among those of more recent date, there are four who belong among the rafters of the roof r-epper Martin, Dliiy Dean, Carl Huhbell and Rob Feller. And you can't leave out Hank Greenberg. Pepper Martin, one of the greatest great-est hustlers baseball ever knew, was everybody's favorite, wherever he played. You got the Idea that he was willing and ready to break a neck or a leg to get where he was headed for, and you were usually right. The 1916 Favorites Who will carry most of the public pub-lic favor from city to city through 1940? In Boston the leading candidates candi-dates at this spot are Ted Williams and Dave Ferriss. Among the Yankees Yan-kees you will find Bill Dickey, Joe DiMaggio and Joe Gordon with Phil Rizzuto close up. Stirnweiss will be another. Terry Moore Bnd Marty Marion will lead the Cardinals, Cardi-nals, who have several other candidates. candi-dates. Hank Greenberg and Al New-houser New-houser will head the cast for the Tiger zoo. For the Giants you'll find Mel Ott and Johnny Mizc In front when the season opens. What about the Dodgers? In this dizzy land of Bumdom they change with startling rapidity from day to day. Dixie Walker has been the civ-Ic civ-Ic nomination, or the peepul's choice for some years. Whether Dixie will retain the affections "f the nation's most turbulent and tempestuous baseball crowds remains to be seen. If anything happens to Dixie, or if it happens to be untrue what they say about Dixie, an early nomination Is Peewee Reese. The Cleveland situation Is simple. The Indian's contribution to the favorite fa-vorite cl.ns will be one Robert Feller Fel-ler who will lure out the multitude.. In fancy numbers at each ktart. What about the Cubs? Andy Pafko will he one of them and so will rhil Cavarretta and Hank Rorowy. The able veteran Stan Hark will also get tome votes. At times it Is hard to tell Just what qualities arc needed to make some ball player the crowd's favorite. fa-vorite. Hustle Is always one of the I main points. The populace likes to ; see the athlete giving all he has Home-run hitters alwnys have a strong call. So do strike-out pitch-1 pitch-1 ers. Good people who are there In the clutch or plnrh also hnrvest j , their share of fanville'i affection. I The All-Timo Host i Who have been my ten favorite ! I Dal players? It doesn't matter j 1 much, but hrre they go Babe , Ruth. Ty Cebb. Joe Jackson, Trls ! i Speaker, Hans Wagner, Dizzy Dean, j Pepper Martin. Rube Waddell, Christy M.ithewson, Pete Alexander. Alexan-der. Plus Walter Johnson. Old Barneys Bar-neys pitching motion and the ball ; you couldn't follow were still something some-thing to look at. Carl Huhbcll also ! oclongs In this group. So does Bill j Dickey. Ten Isn't enough. As an irtist, II .i I Chnsc has no equal. Jut wh-it favrite crop the new j ; leason will give us Is In the so- j j :alled laps of the Rods. There is ! :lme enough later on to take this up. ' 1 How and Arrow Hvronln Every record Improves In sport md archery hat made a big idvance since the days of the Sioux md the Apaches, the Iro'piols and Jie Mohicans. Thrlr range was arely beyond 2fl0 yards. But In 1941 Curtis Hill of Dayton, Ohio, set a jcw mark at 614 yards. 8 Inches -a new record for what Is known is "free flight shooting " llill'i rec-rd rec-rd for the regular flight shooting, iccotding to Frank Mcnke'i bopk. 617 yards, one foot |