| Show SPEAKING OF 4 5 P T S by ROBERT released by western newspaper union T ophe HE veterans of minor league baseball whose chances of breakie breaking into the big time circuits were almost nonexistent a year ago are taking renewed hope the reason is obvious younger players between 20 and 25 usually are unmarried in times like these clubs are hesitant about signing such men uncle sam has a prior claim to their services johnny nee veteran new york yankee scout admits that base baseballs baus oldsters will claim the attention ol 01 ivory hunters next summer nee expects to see a good share ol of 30 year old rookies in spring training camps in 1943 at least if the war continues As I 1 see it nee said we must look ok for older players those who have families and consequently are not likely to be drafted but who might have a year or two of major league ball in their systems the high premium which has been placed on youth causes the public and some club owners to forget that quite a few graybeards have made names for themselves in the majors wiley wilcy moore for instance was 30 years old when he came to the yankees in 1927 moore managed to win 19 games and lose only 7 that year lou fette and jim turner were 30 years old when they hit the majors with the boston braves and each won 20 games his first year heber newsome 32 years old never had been in the majors until last season he won 19 games for the red sox the big upset fred haney manager of the st louis browns foresees startling changes in both big leagues this summer he is quite firmly convinced that the browns can move up X e e X A 4 4 axa ael FRED HANEY to the first fir st division and he be at all surprised if the phillies relin relinquished their tail end position his attitude is based on the matter of players ages cleveland he maintains wont play the same brand of ball without feller the boston red sox cant compensate for the loss of ted williams and their young improved pitchers the tigers cant replace greenberg the browns are more fortunate in this respect they are an older club with more married men aboard they wont suffer so much from the draft every club in the league will be losing men from time to time but the browns maylise fewer the yankees can stand the loss much better than any other club they could lose any two or three or more players and still be the one team to beat the national league of course is faced with the same critical problem the outcome of the pennant battle may depend on the draft many a familiar name will be missing from the rosters when the season opens on april 14 11 the st louis cardinals have a large s share hare of married men but also a considerable number of younger stars just how many young pitchers will be on hand in mid april is is guess about the dodgers the dodgers could be in much worse shape they get a br break e ak in in the number of pitchers they have from 35 on up but like the remaining clubs they will lose a number of younger men who were slated fo eor r increasingly important roles its useless to name each club the problem problem is general although major league difficulties make the headlines the minor league situation is even more critical particularly at the lower end of baseballs ladder class C and D leagues likely will be hard pressed for players before the year is ended salaries in class C run about i 1 month in class D about 80 |
