Show f While If Walter alter Winchell I h Is Away This Thi Month Hit Ili Il l Column Will Pill De Oe Conducted b by Guest ue Columnist Columnists Nightlife Murders Baseball Says Babe Ruth 0 fly liy the he Run Home King Fling i 1 Propped up on a cot in a hospital for several weeks recently folh l w- w wIng Ing an operation for the removal of ofa a cartilage from my right knee I spent a lot of time considering the of baseball Lets Let's start with that nocturnal nuisance night baseball Its It's murdering murdering murdering mur mur- dering the sport with the help of the robbing cradle-robbing magnates who are killing the source and substance of the game by neglect of the kids without whom it cannot exist Night baseball Is strictly a business business busi busi- ness Dess proposition proposition-an an offshoot of war condl conditions lons On One or two games a week to give the defense workers a break is OK But flut now both major leagues are planning four and five a week That will spell the end of the sport The magnates wont won't give up the regular week end gravy of Saturday and Sunday daylight games That will mean a a layoff Monday and four night contests To the players this will be a drastic drastic drastic dras dras- tic and unhealthy why of life lile Eye trouble will develop Right now night games are compelling some players who never had to use glasses to wear em Babe Dahlgren Is an example Irregular meals and sleep is another another an an- other disadvantage An athlete cant can't get along without regular sleep and that will be impossible under a day and ind night schedule of games Danger of 0 Catching Colds fn n Night Games Imagine what will happen to the veterans pitchers in particular A pitcher perspires profusely during a game In the daytime usually with the sun shining there is less danger of catching cold I know what I am talking about I caught one of the worst colds of my career in a night game merely acting as a coach when I was with Brooklyn What It Is doing to those two-inning two pitchers can well be Im im- As for the fans Its It's a mistake to think the men of the family are going goIng goIng go- go Ing to attend four night games regularly regularly regu regu regu- each week Mothers wives and girl friends will soon stop that Much publicity already has been given to the fact that thet night baseball will take the game away from young young- Kids are the backbone of the game Smart baseball officials have done everything possible in the i past to promote the interest of these I future audiences by admitting them free to week-day week daylight games Boys Doys as prospective big leaguers leaguers are not getting a square shake from organized baseball The major clubs show no interest interest inter inter- est In a boy until hes he's 16 and andun can un get working papers Then If hes he's got rot the stuff they send him out to a Class D league where they squeeze what they can out of him as a hired hand Softball and ami Baseball Just Dont Don't Mix There seems to be a growing apathy apathy apa apa- thy toward b baseball The village town and former hot neighborhood teams and rivalries are This cannot be attributed to the war because because because be be- cause the boys who made up those teams were usually under draft age I hate Softball though I approve any game that gets kids out ut in the sun but softball has ruined many a potential big leaguer You You- cannot play softball and excel at baseball Progress is also pushing baseball aside Bit Dit by bit we wesee see the growth of cities and towns wipe out sandlots sandlots sand sand- lots and semi-pro semi ballparks Even Evenin in small villages you will discover cornfields that once were baseball diamonds No efforts are made to save the diamonds Where are the kids going to turn to for aid The kids themselves tossed the answer an an- ewer to me at one of my recent Saturday Sat Sal morning radio broadcasts on the A. A G G. G Spalding program Devise a plan whereby the big leagues would sponsor baseball schools throughout the country using retired star players play ers as instructors Boys start playing the game a at eight years and until they Uley become 16 IB get little or bad schooling in the sport So they acquire unbreakable habits in batting throwing sliding and fielding unless they are natural natural- born players like the Otts Otta Cobbs Collins Speakers etc With professional pro pro- coaching the kids would be befit fit ft for tor league play anytime they were needed 1 Y played during the last war and can vouch for the fact that few ew of the players who saw active ac ac- ac active tive the service ever reached top arm again Some of the aces like Capt Hank Blank Greenberg and Dill BUI Dickey who are along In Iny y years ars may never return to the game Chaps like Joe Ilio io Bob nob Feller Ted Williams and Terry Moore Inore depend depending In on the type and length of their service servo sere ice may take as long as three years year or more to hit bit their former stride aile if U they ever ver hit it auto |