Show P fa P ORTS val released by western newspaper union IN TN THE opinion of dark clark griffith 73 year old president of the wash ington senators baseball is faced with a rather dreary 1943 season and the outlook for his own club is is considerably less than bright griffith r giffith knows that the situation is S serious erious but fully expects that the national game will escape wartime extinction the problems of this war are tougher than they were in 1918 the constant drain of manpower is unparalleled aled the transportation situation will have baseball magnates baikin talking g to themselves but the sil very haired president of the senators believes that baseball has a fighting chance to play out the coming season in 1942 president roosevelt wrote to commissioner kenesaw mountain landis giving baseball the green light for that particular 0 season griffith th has in indicated that a similar letter will not be forthcoming in 1943 and that baseball will have to rise or fall on its own me merits rits A short time ago griffith was campaigning pai gning for a shorter landis judge baseball season he finally called off his crusade with the explanation that im not saying im against it im just saying that im not pressing for it any more if the others want a shorter season ill vote for it popular demand griffith is a staunch defender of baseball on its own merits the people want baseball he declared the soldiers want it the war workers want it probably he remembered the widely used picture of U S boys in the south pacific clustered around a radio listening to the world series griffiths own team has fared badly in recent years and the 1943 season promises nothing in the way of improvement the senators have lost sid hudson walter ma masterson asterson st erson bruce campbell and al evans since the close of last season ossie bluege was appointed manager sue succeeding bucky harris no manager with the exception of the phils pilots of recent years has faced gloomier prospects with the few good players they had lost to the armed services the washington club is one of the weakest in major league history even griffith to whom the admission of defeat is unthinkable admits that this is the worst team ive ever had perhaps why griff wanted a minimum of 60 night games next year we had 21 night games last year he said and every one of them drew good crowds A tough job bluege has a tough job ahead theres absolutely no reason to believe the 1943 senators will be any better than they were last season in fact the opposite is true but if its at all possible bluege will have the boys playing heads up ball hear no moaning from vicinity hell give the best in him and hell expect the same from every man on the clubs payroll bluege was a hustler from the time he started in with the senators in 1922 until atil he retired at the end of the 1939 season he was a dependable hardworking hard working ball player there was nothing spectacular about him that he was a good ball player is evidenced by the fact that he led american league third basemen in fielding percentages in 1931 made the most assists in 1927 28 23 30 and 31 he participated in the most double plays in 23 and 32 he also tied the league record for most put outs by a third baseman totaling seven on june 18 1927 bluege ge is popularly thought to have been a weak hitter that perhaps stems from the fact that he struck out five times in a ball game back in 1923 however he was a pretty fair clouter his lifetime batting average for his is 18 year big league career was double solution general manager warren giles of the cincinnati reds thinks there is a double solution to major league baseballs wartime manpower problem livelier baseballs and a higher player limit increasing the player limit he pointed out would give a club more reserve strength when the club loses men to the service and the livelier ball would help the veterans who have difficulty beating out a hit |