OCR Text |
Show I SPORTLIGHT 1 Minors Have Legitimate Squawks Bv GRANTLAND RICE ' THE WEST COAST Is on the edge of revolt, unless big-league baseball does something about its status. There are more sides to this argument than an octopus has fingernails. The west coast thinks it should be the third big league. One argument is that Los Angeles An-geles is bigger than three cities now enjoying this so-called honor. hon-or. San Francisco is no minor-league minor-league town. But neither is Baltimore or Buffalo or Houston or other cities now rated in the minor-league row. After all, there is only one Los Angeles and one San Francisco f f i 'Ml on the coast. Another An-other barrier is the size of most west coast ball parks. Most of them seat from 20,000 to 25,-000. 25,-000. And no one can build any 35,000 or 45,000 or even 1,000-seat 1,000-seat ball parks day television ts a wrecking Institution In-stitution for the smaller people In sport. It is crushing out their lives. Minor leagues and minor football games are being wiped out. Army has played to capacity plus television this year. Down in Texas, S.M.U. and the Longhorns have filled the stadiums with television tele-vision thrown in. Notre Dame crowds have held up despite television tele-vision and a poor season. Michigan had its games televised last year and played to capacity 563,363 for six home games. This year without television (it is banned in the Big Nine) the Wolverines total was but 508,000 for the same number of games at home. All of which proves nothing from a television standpoint for the ticket sales declined because be-cause of Michigan's disappointing showing. Figuring an 80,000 crowd this week-end at Ohio State, the Wolverine total will reach 715,000 spectators for nine games. But these are only a few from the vast mass. Why pay out good money (pretty good, anyway) for a smaller show, when they bring you a much bigger show for nothing? noth-ing? It might be said here that baseball will have its troubles at the winter meeting and there can be no answer that will please everybody. Football also has Its television problems. This new instrument has suddenly stirred up more trouble than Noah's flood once brought to the world. Everyday an endless number of new sets are being sold, which only adds to the numbers of the stay - at - homes without any charge. These "free spectators" don't help the sport financially. Case of Joe DiMaggio Ty Cobb came from Royston, Georgia; Babe Ruth from Baltimore; Balti-more; Tris Speaker and Rogers Hornsby from the overwhelming state of Texas. Here are four of baseball's greats. But Joe and Dom DiMaggio report from San Francisco, and San Francisco Fran-cisco takes as much pride in these two stars especially Joe as any city could feel about a ballplayer. In San Francisco they move Joe up with Cobb and Ruth. They ask you around the Golden Gate how much longer Joe DiMaggio DiMag-gio can carry on. Who can say? More than a few of the sombre inspectors in-spectors were saying back in June last summer that Joe was reaching or had reached the end of the road. But DiMaggio answered by hitting .380 the rest of the way and playing in 139 ball games. Joe DiMaggio was born November Novem-ber 25, 1914. He is 36 years old. He broke in with San Francisco in 1932, 18 years ago. He reported to the Yankees in 1936, and since then has played in over 1.600 ball games. Grantland Rice ! The west coast has one deserved squawk. They build up some young, popular star and the big leagues either make them sell said star or else they draft him. This is not so pleasant for the west coast fan. It isn't so pleasant for the American Association or the International League or other strong leagues either. But no one has worked out a substitute. It isn't any too pleasant for Montreal to have three or four popular stars hauled back to Brooklyn In mid-season. The main wonder is that with the draft, plus television, there is any minor-league baseball left. One answer is that it is crumbling crum-bling rapidly and there will soon be little remaining. Certainly Los Angeles and San Francisco are far above many big league cities in population and sport interest. How many big-league cities could draw 105,000 to a football game or 85,000 to a race track on a single day? On New Year's Day, the Rose Bowl will play to 97,000 and Santa Anita will entertain 60,-000 60,-000 or more. But the problem of a third major league is a heavy one. The problem of the draft Is a heavy one. But if a young istar was never sold or drafted, he would never reach the big league. Same Old Problem Television offers the same tangle on the Pacific coast that it offers everywhere else. It cost west coast college teams from 10,000 to 20,000 a game in the matter of attendance. Only the top affairs had the old-time crowds. Television cut heavily in Pacific Pa-cific coast baseball. No one knows what the future has to offer. All they know is that to- |