Show 0 released by western newspaper union WHILE dyed in the wool american league followers probably agree that there never has been a good war they are more likely to catch a glimpse of the silver lining than are fans of the national league because of the war the junior circuit may witness a close championship race instead of the customary parade headed by the new york yankees in the unlikely event you have forgotten the yankees won the series in 1936 37 38 33 39 and 41 they won the american league crown in 42 but failed to meet the cardinals challenge even though the yankees good enough to win the series last year they were good enough t to lead the league with a nine game margin that is they were nine games ahead of the red sox who finished in second place the rest of the clubs were so far behind they had to send up smoke signals to congratulate the champs improved outlook last fall the 1943 situation looked just as bleak for the remaining seven clubs of the league the armed services had claimed a good percentage of players from other clubs the yankees were figured to continue as usual their roster listing a high average of family men but the war clouds continued to grow blacker and even the yankee squad proved vulnerable ne rable tommy henrich was called from the 1942 team phil rizzuto followed then charley ruffing no longer in the prime of his youth but a very valuable individual took his departure first baseman buddy hassett red ruffing followed him red rolfe left for a coaching job at yale where he reports himself completely satisfied probably the biggest blow to joe mccarthy came when he heard he was losing joe dimaggio to the armed services mccarthy was quoted as saying whatever he does is his affair I 1 have nothing to say A new york sports writer made the excellent point that mccarthys McCar thys war time commentary will scarcely outlive Lincol ns gettysburg address closer race these factors point to a tighter race in the american league which should do much to increase box office income it is expected that the loss of big names will cause some decline in revenue but that loss wont be as great as it would have been if the major leagues provided their full share of americas fighting men the loss of some of the games biggest stars probably wont be felt as much as some observers expect the only real money names in baseball since dizzy dean are bob feller and dimaggio and none of the three compares to babe ruth as an attraction for all his greatness dimaggio altogether popular around new york his repeated holdouts foldouts hol douts probably had something to do with that state of affairs he listened to too many persons who connected with baseball and the advice always the best DiMagg ios greatest salary was quite a bit less than the fabulous ruthian salary of course he 4 9 draw cash customers 11 to the turnstiles turn stiles the way ruth did but neither has anyone else his best year from the standpoint of gate receipts came in 1941 when he hit safely in 56 consecutive games there was joe DiMagg ic as much interest in that hitting streak as there was ir in one of ruths home run binges feller has been in the navy for foi some time but the fans still turn out to see his team play ball that sports fans pay more attention to a close contest than they do to big names seems to be proved by the success hockey is enjoying this season some ot of the most famous names ot of the ice game have been lost to the armies and navies of canada and the united states but the tans fans have been breaking attendance records merely because they like a good fight despite the loss of men like dimaggio D and feller baseball likely will be able to shuffle its way along during the coming season |