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Show I Leagues Worth $50,000,000 The American and National leagues each have Increased In value j? g over $1,000,000 a year since 1915, says Jacob Ruppert, owner of the New g 5 York Yankees. Ruppert placed the present value of the sixteen teams in g S baseball's premier circuits at $50,000,000. When the Yankees' colonels, Rupert and T. L. Huston, bought the 5 g club In 1915. they paid $200,000. It Is doubtful whether $3,000,000 would S 5 purchase the Yankees to- 6 i I r 1 A ' - f$ a K--'l x day, for Ruppert declared x that Babe Ruth alone, g when he has completed his present three-year con- g tract with the team, will X represent an investment g of $000,000, including sal- 5 ary and purchase price. S Rupert set the valu- ation of each major S league at $25,000,000 at 5 present quotations, where- g as, he said both leagues 5 did not exceed that sura in g value twelve years ago. g This amazing growth, Ruppert said, was due to 5 the influence of other K sports and to the added g leisure of present-day S Americans. "The Amer- g ican Idea used to be to -5 work early and- late. A x Col. Jacob Ruppert. - business man then start- g ed at eight and quit at x 6lx. Now he starts at nine and quits early in the afternoon." S "Golf Is supposed to have taken patronage from the ball parks. S 5 but I believe golf has increased interest in baseball because of a com- g fi mon bond you might call it the sporting, the athletic complex." he said. |