Show SPEAKING OF SPORTS by ROBERT mcshane rai ased by hedern wedern baon B baseball and conscription W HAT omha will happen WJ tive to campeti com peti comes sports ports if inscription conscription audreth will football baseball boxing bd and all an the me rest be things of the past anit if the nation again calls upon its young men for compulsory military service these tf questions are bothering quite a faw people just now and well they might it is taken for f granted that every form of competitive peti tive sport whether professional or amateur wl is completely plemely ely secondary to the cau call for national defense it an is fn just as certain that an athlete athle trained to meet opposition and kept m in fine physical condition is the best equipped individual for military military purposes it is very unlikely that any form of conscription will have much effect on this years sports program baseballs regular season will be completed and the world series a thing of the past before the full force of any draft measure is felt the same is likely to be true of football the effect of conscription on baseball is a much discussed subject largely because baseball more than arly any other is the great national castline past pastime line authorities hold that the age ranj range ge of the proposed first draft class 21 to 31 will take in more than han 80 per cent of baseballs hired hands of course it is improbable though not impossible that an all would be called at once different story for 41 present plans call for training to begin october 1 it is unlikely however that the program will be so far ar advanced on that date but a far different story is likely to be written in 1941 there will be many many changes next year the average persons blood pressure wo would uld ascend several notches if 1 any attempt was made to exempt sail ball players from the draft no attempt will be made bob feller will be just another soldiers name to 0 o the powers behind the draft that is as it should be athletes professional or simon pure claim no special privileges baseball occupies an aim important place ilace in the everyday scheme of things aings more than people paid to see the minor leagues play last ast season and more than paid to see the big league teams in n action all of which proves that the game is important to a lot of people millions of people who cant afford to join a golf club sail a boat or engage in other recreational activities find their amusement in the he count rys ball parks regardless of ones personal pers onal feel ings it would be a difficult situation if i conscription put an end to the amusement of so large a share of the pop population ula tion and that by no means IS is meant to infer that ball players should be exempted from the prop proposed ased draft training period su suggested gr 0 ested rather it leads up to a suggestion made by a new york sports writer joe williams his sugg suggestion estion is that immediately after the season is ended every baseball eligible should be placed in an army camp and kept there until cpr spring ing training starts williams suggestion if adopted would give the players five months of intensive military tra training ining that of course would be less than the usual conscript receives but the trained athlete has quite a few advantages with which to begin both in physical and mental conditioning the public would likely look upon the plan with favor every bau ball player of military ag age e would be ready to take his proper place in time of conflict and in the meantime the nations ball parks would p provide r ovide an outlet for john Q publics inh inhibitions there is always the chance that the countr count Ys rys position will remain as it is then the ball player could be sent back to military camp at the end of the next season but if any conkli conflict ct occurred during that time the next step wo would uld be obvious the nations parks would be closed and no one would object sport shorts DABE ABE PRATT alex Shi bicky and bal collings of the new york rangers rs hockey team have enlisted with the ie royal winnipeg rifles paul christman hr istman missouri s football star md and bill decorrevont north luminary both westerns we sterns ns gridiron spent part of the summer in a hos pital the fo former for a tonsil lec amy and the latter for an appen dec tomY ay iy bill center fielder of white sox farm ark jonesboro Jone boro with honors in in club walked talked away the northeast beast arkansas league lie he circuit in batting avers d the he scored extra bases most runs hits age and stolen bases he tied for and led in fielding first in home ne runs don faurot of the university of missouri an allstar all ail star coach holds master of f arts d degree agree in agrical a the record field for a steeplechase ture e was the 06 66 which faced the barrier in the 1929 grand nat dional race at aintree cintree Ain tree england |