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Show . ONCE OVER 1 Ignatz Irks Senate Probers By H. I. Phillips Now then, where are we? A. I think we're all tied up and the heat is on me as usuaL Also somebody is stealing the signals. sig-nals. Q. Very well. Do you or do you not believe baseball players need protection by the United States Congress? A. The way things are going there is no telling who will be called in next to help a player. I've seen everybody else called in from the bullpen to help me this week except a Congressman, and now they're waving for him. Q. Do you consider baseball a business? A. It has everything business has except the businessmen's $1.50 lunch. Q. Would you call it a violation of the anti-trust laws? A. No. It has to sell frankfurters at the same price as others. Q. You misunderstand. I am not considering hot dogs in connection with baseball. A. Baseball ain't baseball without with-out 'em, mister. Q. Doesn't the reserve clause prevent a player from leaving the minors and bettering himself? A. All I know is a pitcher don't always better himself by getting out of the minors and joining the majors. Suppose he has to meet the Yanks the first week! I Q. But is it not an unfair practice to let one big-league club keep a good player on a farm team for years when he might well get a job with another an-other club? A. Yes and no. Q. What do yon mean yes and no? A. This Is a tight situation and I am mixing up fast stuff with my slow stuff. Q. Do yon not believe there should be a free labor market in baseball as anywhere else? A. I get in and out of the box so often that if there was a free labor market I wouldn't even make the distance from the bullpen to the mound sometimes. some-times. Q. But doesn't the very spirit of fair play call for a competitive market in which all talent can engage? en-gage? A. The last time I was called in to save a game, I pitched only two balls before the manager, two coaches, the whole infield and four guys I didn't recognize were surrounding sur-rounding me and trying to save it, too. If that ain't free labor competition, com-petition, what is? Q. Do you believe something should be done about cartels? A. No. If you get a cartel the thing to do is lay off and let nature heal it. Q. Do you think it is right to trade players like dumb oxen? A. I object to that word "dumb." Some oxen in baseball are as smart as oxen anywhere. Q. What is your opinion of Leo Durocher? A. Why drag Leo into this? Q. It's custom to drag Leo Into anything. Answer the question. A. I think if he had got Laraine Day onto video 11 games sooner the Giants would be out ahead now. Q. Talent and ability are everything every-thing in the great American game. No game can be won without these qualities, can it? A. Are you kiddin'? Didn't you hear about how Casey Stengel won that one from the White Sox last week with nothing but two thumbs, a monkey wrench and a lot of confidence con-fidence in rain? |