Evening Star Newspaper, January 4, 1931, Page 58

JOINING GIANTS WHEN 16 HE NOW IS A STAR AT 21 Nothing in Annals of Game Compares With Case of Louisiana Youth Who in Five Years Became an OQutfield Wizard OTHING in all the annals of base blll in 60 years can com- the case of Melvin Ott. E’é was & boy who had played one Summer on & semi- pro team ln a small town in Louisiana Pho came straight to the New York Giants at the age of 16—and stuck! Ott never played professional ball anywhere except at Paterson, La., and with the Giants. His story is more wonderful than anything in the Frank Merriwell books or anywhere else in the most sensational fiction. He was not yet 21 years old when he slugged with Chuck Klein for the home run honors of his league in 1929 on even terms up to the very last series of the season. Ott wll born in the little town of Gretna, in 1909. Gretna is a vil- lage of -bout 5,000 just across the river from New Orleans. Ott's father has worked for an oil company down in that section for many years. Melvin mmar school and ‘The fact is he has played ball ever since he was about 11 years old. He was a catcher in his kid days, and when he and a certain young pitcher in his home town worked up some reputation as a semi-pro bat- tery, the pitcher finally got a trial with the New Orleans club of the Southern Association. He told the New Orleans owner about Ott and the magnate sent for the boy. But when he saw him he declared he was too young to play Just 16 at the Time. That was in the Spring of 1925 and Ott was just 16 years old at that time. New Orleans sent the young pitcher to Hattiesburg in the Cotton States and Ott wanted ver;‘n m‘l\;ch to Mississippi above New Orleans, lnrpl.ly or four games a week. Of course wu.ld. and up there he went. He was too young even for the Pater- manager and it was only after a f persuasion that he was allowed 2 ] sn e %. the Paterson club. hard and so often EoF =4 - Williams Tips Off McGraw. um in flu lumme Williams left stopped in Hew"vork i c::y to see s trion Sottn McGraw, and told him about the won- and a Real Slugger. the outfield. He played in 35 games in 1926 and batted .383. He played in 82 games in lFTl and batted .232. He won his place as a regular right flelder of the Giants in 1928, when he was just 19 and batted .322. He batted .328 in 1929 and came within one homer of tle- ing Klein for the Nlti-onll League’s home-run championship. During the season just passed he batted .349 in 148 games and made 34 doubles and 25 home runs, and his fielding has been the best that the Polo Grounds has seen in right field since Ross Young was in his prime. Ross Young His Model. During his first season on the Giant | bench Ott watched Ross Young like a hawk all Summer and undertook to copy his style. And they will tell you, those dyed-in-the-wool Polo Grounds fans who have sat in the right-field stand for years, that Ott now fields rlghc up to Ross Young's high standard. caroms off the wall with pre- clslom and by the time the season was half done few base runners dned to take liberties with his deadly Ott does not pretend to u:count for his having developed into a great ball plnyer 80 young. “I was large for my " he says. “When I was only 11 )earl old 1 llllysd ball nearly every da in the yur llao played basket bal and foot ball, I became very fast and strong. Then, when I was only 12 years old I used to go around a good deal with my father and uncle. They took me with them to ball games in New Orleans and almost everywhere they went. Being with older men so much must have made me old for my years. I remember that I spent most of my time with them rather than with boys of my own age. “I guess base ball must run in our family. My father was a semi-pro | player in his younger days and once | had an offer from a league ball club. 7 My uncle also was a noted pitcher and once pitched a 1-0 game against Cleve- land for a semi-pro ball club. Melvin’s Hardest Job. “The hardest job I ever had in base ball, harder even than making good for McGraw, was in getting my mother’s permission to leave home and go sway afl to New York. It was all right wi dad. He was an old ball player and was proud of my chance to go with the Giants. But with mother it was differ- ent. Dad and I had'a tough time get- ting her consent to that New York trip. And then, besides, she did not want me this wonderful fielder and batsman for any amount of money any ball club right offer. mark and act and style of a natu- hitter. McGraw promptly took him from behifd the bat and placed him in A’s Top League Late Inning E had them beat until the “ seventh inning, when Simmons hit a home run with two on,” said one American League man- Thlt'l nothing. We had them beat until the last half of the ninth, when Foxx came along w one of his fancy ‘wallk * said ‘th;-r.i re"nv are lAlHng about nine- inning games.” remerked a third pilot. “We had them “until the ninth when they ticd us up and then beat us in extrn innings.” Of course, they were referring to the Athletics, who seemed to have a habit, during the 1930 season, of allowing the & team to think for six innings, st least, they were going to win. Thirteen times the Athletics won their battles in the seventh, the lucky seventh, thus demonstratinz once more that 13 is only unlucky for the otber fellow. They lost only fdur games in the seventh, by the way. They broke even in 14 games won or lost in the eighth. They won 13 out of 18 that ‘were decided in the ninth and took 6 out of 7 overtime contests, their per- cen after the sixth round being .696. in Successful Rallies in 1930 Cleveland Indians, by winning 31 md losing 21 in the fading ends of | gmu, were second in that respect. ‘ashington was third with 30 and 25 and Detroit was fourth with 27 and 26. ‘The White Sox were on the lower side of the half-way mark with 29 and 32.| Donnie Bush’s boys discovered that | the seventh inning was their most | eventful round, battiing in 25 games | that were decided in the “stand-up- for-luck” inning. They lost 13 of them. b The Browns, who won 32 and lost 38 games in the late innings, took part in 23 contests won or lost in the seventh. 'mDoym:'l:o'}lu-J 13 ulhfheg eir punch, the New York Yankees the misfortune to fade away in the concluding innings. Lost 'x.'xnou;o‘t“x':nmun ninth inning, al- ugl g & one-game edge on those decided in the c feventh, eighth and extra . The hapless Red 6 out of 10 in the eighth, 8 out of 14 in the ninth and 13 out of 17 in extra rounds, thus drop- ping 44 out of 63 after the sixth inning. ‘The following table shows the late in- tage in games that were decided | nings in which games were won and Seventh. w. L Boston ... 4 Chicago . 4 Cieveland Detroit .. 10 10 1 Eighth. W L lost: Extra Innings. ) i % 13 Ninth. w. EUTTEPNFS Recording STAR, WASHINGTON MONG the tasks that Joseph McCarthy faces as manager of the Yankees is the sooner-or- later job of trying to get along without two men in right field and three or four men at bat all at once. Reference, of course, is to Babe Ruth. Pitcher, outfielder and batter—a star of double first magnitude in all three of his string yet by a long shot. But after 15 years of setting the pace, George Herman fis no longer the kid he used to be, and er- mla In the world, to say nothing of glandular opera- tions, can’t replace the muscular en- ergy that those years have exacted from ball's superman. And when the ac- | tually does slow up, then Brother McCarthy will have such a job of replacement on hand as no bese ball manager before him was ever called upon to solve. So much_has been written and said about the Babe's towering ability and | his value to the Yankees that added | words are likely to sound very much like repetition. Yet in the last few games that Babe played in 1930 new | evidence accumulated to show that when Babe isn't hitting home runs the Yankees are just another team. Let's consider a few facts. On the morning of August 18 Babe had to his credit 44 home runs. He had averaged one homer per 2.6 games up to that time and had hit .366. The Yankees were then gamboling along | Babe Ruth. jobs, the Babe hasn't reached the end | e MELVIN OTT. YANKS CANT WIN GAMES WITHOUT RUTH’S HOMERS With the Bambino Gradually Slipping, Manager Mc- Carthy Will Face a Big Problem in Keeping New York Club a Contender in Pennant Scramble. with a winning percentage of .588. Im- medhtely thereafter home runs began to grow very scarce and hard for the Babe to pick. In the 32 games he played from then on to the season's end he socked out five homers, or one in each 53 games—half his previous rating. In these games also his batting average dropped. You wouldn't have noticed it in any other player, but Babe was only a .347 hitter in late August d September. And 32 of his 43 hits were singles only. During this August- September period the Yankees won only 16 games while losing 19 for a per- centage of .457, which drop from .588 was all out of proportion to Babe's slight fall-off in batting average or even his more serious inability o cop a home run in at least every third game. Yet there are the figures, and you can take them for what they are worth. ‘The simple fact is, aside from all the figures one could compile, that when Babe slumps ever so little from being the biggest home run threat in the world, the whole Yankee team carries itself below par. It's that old possi- bility of a homer from the big boy any time he comes to bat that keeps the Yankees keyed up—and you can bet real money that it would keep any other team keyed up, too. The fault isn't the Yankees’, and it isn't Babe Ruth's. It's just a set of circum- stances. So long have the Yankees been game winners on the impetus given them by the bat of the mastodon mauler that they just can’t imagine themselves possessing conquering ability when the Babe isn’t swinging spheroids over the outer barriers. Therefore, it will not be simply the passing of Ruth that Joe McCarthy will have to offset. He will have a bigger job than that, and his bigger job will be the perplexing one of making a team of Yankees that can win ball games with no superman in right fleld and no superman at the plate in batting position No. 3. OLMSTED FIVE ACTIVE Has Three Games This Week and Is After More Foes. Olmsted Grill basket ball team has booked games for Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday nights. Dumbarton A. C. will be met Tuesday at Central High School, Aztecs Wednesday at Macfar. land Junior High and Quaker A. C. Friday at the Silver Spring (Md.) Ar- mory in a preliminary to a game be- tween Stewart's Photographers and a quint to be lnnounced the prelimi- Olmsteds nary n Silver Sprfnl each !‘Hdly night and opponents. Challenges :houldbeulq)hmedwraomulu “Foot Ball Hours” May Disprove Overempha.sis By the Associated Press. TLANTA, Ga., A. Alexander, foot ball January 3.—W. Georgia Tech | coach, believes the proposal to record the number | of hours given over to foot ball at American colleges is one of the most constructive measures passed at the recent coaches’ meeting in New York. Alexander, retiring president of the American Coaches® Association, sald the pian called for coaches to keep an ac- curate count of the hours devoted to foot ball during the Spring training, Fall practice and the games. “When this is done,” said Coach Alexander, “the foot ball committees of next year will have something defl- nite upon which to base the estimate pre '“oclor.k,suem :lfl Photncn |to the actual playing season and 40 | hours to the Spring practice, or a total of 148 Muu durlng the year. EAGLES MEET SWEDES After Second Win in Contest With Missouri Basketers. Skinker Eagles will go after their second basket ball win in as many starts when they face Olson’s Terrible Swedes of Humansville, Mo., this after- noon in the Silver Spring, Md., Armory at 3:30 o'clock. The Birds downed the Detroit Clowns last Sunday. In the Swedes the Eagles will be facing a highly touted quint, said to be Malhrlyu“ptum mmh-‘t 780 I PRO HOCKEY | Montreal, 5: B:ston, ARMY BEATS PRINCETON WEST POINT, N. Y., January 3 (). —Army’s basket ball five defeated Princeton in an exciting game here today, 36 to 30. Army,had its full strength on the court, as Stecker, Mes- singer and Malloy, all members of the foot ball team, got into the game. Goodpasture, Princeton forward, was the individual star of the game, tossing in seven field goals and two fouls. TOBNEY YARNELL SCOB.E M. A .Torney and Mrs. Yarnell with a combined total of 664 won the weekly mixed doubles blind pig bowling match last night at the Arcadia. Haverty and Mrs. Malcolm with 634 were sec- ond and Phil Goodall and Mrs. Marjorie Bradt Smith, with 593, were third. 17 noum PLAY SOLDIEBS Fot Md., y to meet Boatmen will leave Wash- ington Barracks wharf by boat at 10:45 am. BASKET BOARD TO MEET of the District of Colum- Board of Approved Basket Ball Ofldlll will be held tomorrow night in the office of C. Edward Backett at the Central Y. M. C. A. at o’clock. FARRELL BREAKS ARM. CHICMIO,NJTIn 3 (#).—O'Neill mlc Bolt Club basketers go to | Eas y u quint there at 2:30 | 6o E D. G. Ociock. The Fai last American Olym; broke Vols Keep Trio Of Grid Coaches NOXVILLE, Tenn., January 3 (#)—Maj. Robert Neyland, head foot ball coach at the University of Tennessee, and his as- sistants, Col. Paul B. Parker and Maj. W. H. Britton, have renewed contracts with the university. Parker will become athletic director and continue to coach the line. Maj. Britton will continue as as- the continuation of the old Army game at Tennessee, which in five seasons has brought 43 victories, 2 losses and 3 ties to Uni- versity of Tennessee foot ball teams. TRIPLE BASKET TIE Griffith-Consumers Beat Monroes and Share League Lead. Grifith-Consumers quint last night moved into a first-place tie with Clovers and Potomac Boat Club in the Com- munity Center Basket Ball League as the result of a 41-22 win over Monroes. Each of the leaders now has won three games and lost none ‘The league standing and this week's schedule follow: ) 00 ommmmsund = woons e wmses o000l R EBBsiiisazasss ‘Tomorrow—] it Vernon Molay, 8 pm.; mnku vs. 'rmlwnu, 9 p.m., Central ‘Tuesday—Pon! vs. Monroes, 7 p.m.; Mercury vs. cloverl 8 p.m., East- 3 -Consumers, 8 p.m., Macfar- land Junior High. Thursday—De Molay vs. pm., Eastern High; Po!mnm: M Cll-lb 's. Monroes, 9 p.m., Central High. tworth Mets vs. Drakes, 9 Ineurl-nd Junior m; !lt\n'du— tiacs Clnvnn, L D, ©, INFIELDERS SCARCE IN MINOR LEAGUES Only 29 Purchased or Re- called for Trials by Junior Loop Clubs. PPARENTLY there is a scarcity of infielders in the minor leagues who can hit as well as fleld acceptably. It is a well known fact that major league ecouts have been seeking just such prizes but, nevertheless, American League clubs have purchased or recalled but 22 sec- ond and third basemen and shortstops for trials in 1931. Some of the 22 are free agents or players who were re- called merely to send down again. Ten are shortstoppers, eight are third base- men while only four are second sackers. ! Seven new first basemen are to be given the once over. Nineteen catchers are among the new men of 1931 in the American League, and that list includes such veterans as Wally Schang and Cy Perkins, de- clared free agents by Connie Mack John Grabowski and Walter Henlin each of whom has been in the game long enough to know what it is all about. Forty pitchers have been either bought or recalled. Eight by New York, seven by Ph!lldelphll, six by Boston, five apiece by Cleveland and Detroit; three by CI go and only one by St. Louis, Outfield recruits also are rather nu- merous, being 29. Detroit has landed six, Chicago and Boston five apiece, Philadelphia and St. Louis four aplece, New York and Washington two apiece and Cleveland but one. Neither Cleveland, Boston nor Phil- adelphia has a new first base- man. For it matter, Philadelphia | has not gone after a new infielder since it signed Higgins of Texas University as a free agent, last June. Owning Joe Cronin, Washington has arrived at the conclusion_it needs no new shortstop, while the Yankees have made no eflum to land additional second or third base material. It was no :;nlety first job that Milton . For a few months he was stationed at Newport, Norfolk and Cuba, and then was hustled overseas and parked in a sub- chaser with the title of gunner’s mate. ‘Was stationed at Scapa Flow, Scotland, when the war ended. Many ball player throws right handed hlt bats left handed, but there are nflmy few southpaws who hit right hande The Boston Red Sox, how- ever, have just such a peculiar indi- vidual in John Lucas, outfielder pur- chased from the Nebraska State League, who throws left but bnu l'l(ht Hit 347 in the Nebraska State in 1930, scoring 104 runs and mak! 149 hll.l lncludln' 61 for extra buux 116 games. Donie Bush cdhd on 25 different players to act as pinch batters in 1930. ‘They were at bat 133 times, made the most hits, 33, and drove in the most runs, 28. The Browns gathered the mix passes, 19; Philadelphia the fewest, six, Earl Averill, star center fielder of the Cleveland Indians. is following in the | footsteps of Ira Flagstead, that other famous base ball product from the Northwest. Ira raises call ducks and so does Averill Ed Morgan, who proved such a sensa- Gfans. during the. 1930 season, spends ans season, spen his Winters in his father's box factory at Kenner, La., a few miles from New Orleans. Nothing about making boxes that Ed does not know. , HOWARD QUINT BEATEN BY TWELFTH STREET “Y” Clever Short Passing Is Feature of 25-21 Victory—Hall Scores 14 Points for Losers. In one of the best exhibitions of short passing witnessed on the Twelfth Street Y. M. C. A. court for many a day, the “Y” Big Pive defeated the 'Ho;vilrd Varsity quint yesterday, 25 0 21, Hall of Howard opened the scoring two minutes after the toss up, and Jef- fries tied the count a minute later. The “Y” soon jumped into the lead, with the elongated “Slim® Thomas and the elu- sive Eddie Davis setting the pace. At the half the “Y” was leading by 14 to 8. Hall was high scorer of the game with 14 points, while Jeffries led his team with 9. Capt. Beasley played a sensational game at center. E. Davis and Ed Davis, keymen of the Y attack, vulled the crowd to its feet again and :’fmn with their brilliant passing and cult shots. The playing of Sutter, Adams and Hawkins at guard was effec- tive. Syphax, sharpshooting Howard forward, was held scoreless. 138 Y, GPPe Howard. E. Da Hal CR2 av) Jeftries, ‘Thom: oromanont wl ccoonoow; Bl ovoncmont «l sserscs: ¥l ocommoo Referee—Mr. Brown nro-n a0, COLUMBIANS 'BOLSTERED Marie Frere Whalen Will With Rena Levy’s Team. Marie Prere Whalen, one of the lead- ing girl bowlers of the country, has been signed to roll with Rena Levy's Columbians in the Washington Ladies’ The Columbians are standing sec- ond in the Washington Ladies’ League, one and one-half games behind the Beeques. Mrs. Whalen returned last week from Atlanta, Ga., with her hus- band, Jack Whalen, who joined the Rendezvous team in the District League and Parkway Pillling Station quint in the National Clpllll Lel‘u! Bowl MEL SOPER and AL PRICE JANUARY 4, 1931—PART FIVE. ROD AND STREAM BY PERRY MILLER. FEW statistics concerning the number of fishermen and hunters in the United States proves three things; that not enough space is being given these sports by some papers throughout the country; that the followers of rod and reel and gun are constantly increasing, and that only through publicity along educational lines can the building up of fish and game pro- grams be carried to a successful end. First of all it is estimated that fishermen at least $500,000,000 directly in connection with their sport, and is where the tourist with additional expenditures. ‘was prepared by fl Pe m? cm e and good hun Imnf The following table ‘Association: Hunters satiermen, “anse States. 1.328,299 169,733 Foot ball fans. and hunters spend each year this money Good fishing the Southern Newspaper Publishers’ “Total foot ball, nnls players. 25,490 sport is maintained. 343,709 4,420,876 2,426,372 1,218,184 908,640 363,456 4,916,652 Summary, 100 per cent more hunters and fishermen than base ball fans, 350 per cent more hunters and fishermen than foot ball fans. 450 per cent more hunters and fishermen than golf players. 1,000 per cent more hunters and fishermen than 'HE Federal Government's new trout and bass culture station, for which an appropriation of $75,000 was author- ized by Congress last Spring in a fish- erfes program under the White bill, will % l%caud at Leetown, Jefferson County, a. The tract to be acquired comprises 100 acres at a cost of $35,000, it was stated. A mill on the property will be converted with other buildings to the use of the station. ‘Work on the froject will begin early in the Sprh it is stated, and when finished will be the second major fish- eries development within the State. There is a hatchery at White Sulphur Springs. ‘The constant supply ol'?flnz water on the tract, together general topography and other advantages, made it especially attractive to the experts from the Bureau of Fisharies. ANUARY will be an important month for anglers of Maryland and the Dil':icL Two vital measures will be presented to the Maryland ture, one the purse net bill and the other the bill to prohibit the sale of bhck bass. These bills, it is understood, will be in- troduced at the same time, but the purse net bill will be taken up first. Those in charge of es in measur Maryland hope to have the purse net tennis players. bill passed at an early date. They say only 14 purse netters applied for licenses during 1930‘ and that of this number only a few made money. Some men who formerly ted purse nets are now favoring the law, evidently realizing | b: they will make more money in the long run catering to the wants of anglers. It is understood that the Western Maryland delegates are strongly in fa~ vor of both measures and that others from the salt water sections of the State also will support both bills. The oppo- sition which has always come from the Easterg Shore and which has been strong enough to block any measure aimed to protect fish, either in the bay or other waters, is rapidly dlmlnlshmx. and the added up-State strength this year Ll uld by those fostering the meas- ures to be sufficient to overcome all op- Pposition. Just why there should be any oppo- sition to such conservation measuzes by men who for hte last 10 or 12 {urs leted by their methods of catching hard to understand. Every true lnllel‘ in the District, Maryland and Vll'flnl.l sincerely hopes that there will be ‘without delay. ALEXANDRIA TEAMS PLAY OFF GRID TIE Alcova Motor and Iroquois A. C. Meet for Northern Virginia 150-Pound Honors. ALEXANDRIA, Va., January 3.—Foot ball again will hold the limelight to- morrow with the Alcova Motor Co. and Iroquois A. C. meeting at 2:30 o'clock in Baggett's Park in what is advertised again as the season’s finale. The two teams, battling for the 150- mfl:\d crown of Northern Virginia, met Sunday in what was to have brought the foot ball campaign to & close, but fought to a scoreless dead- lockmll.ndbdeclld;;i to !et:‘l! the issue, if e, by playing another game. po;‘icovn holds the Arlington County champicnship, while the Iroquois A. C. occupies a similar place in local ranks. Scholastic basket ball will come back into its own next week after the Christ- mas holiday lay-off with six games schgduled in the Northern Virginia Aleundfl.l High will figure in three battles on the road, playing Salem High at Salem on Thursday and Roane College Freshmen and Jefferson GALLAUDET TOSSERS ROUT STRAYERS FIVE With Cosgrove, Ringle Heading Attack, Take Kendall Green Game, 45 to 28. Btrayers Business College was toppled by Gallaudet in & 45-t0-28 basken ball game on the Kendall Green court last night. Although the Biues’ shooting was not so good the team always was ahead and disposed of Strayers handily. Loverton of Strayers was the only play- er able to harass Gallaude Cosgrove and Johnny nln(le wete best of the Kendall Green Fouls were hquznt but the fast floor m both tuml kept the breaks of t-ha game about even. Gal- hmhd“thehlllume 22'011 llm 32 to 16. E!!nholt e | Cosgre High | Ka 2, School in Roanoke on Priday and Sat- | Znte urday, respectively. In_the other ‘Washington -nd n o games -t £ Lee High will play at Eastern Washington on Wednesday and War- renton in its own gym at Ballston on Friday, while Episcopal Wll] open its season in a game with in the Episcopal gymnsslum on S‘H.Il’dl] Saks Clothiers of Washington will be guests of Ray Heberlig’s Del Ray A. C. here Thursday night in a game at Armory Hall at 8:30 o'clock. Richmond, Fredericksburg & Potomac Rallroad Co. cagers will tackle the West- ern Electric Co.’s quint of Washington Tuesday night at 8:30 pm. on the Armory Hall woodway. Alpha Delta Omega Fraternity will oppose some Cap“.ll City club in the preliminary. Stanley Drelful. ‘Eddie Walker, Gillie Lee, Charley Grimes and Blair Ballen- ger, comprising the Health Center Alleys team, shortly will inaugurate an active campaign against a crack duck- pin combination of this area. Bobby Vogt has booked the Jewish Community Center five of Washington for a game with his St. Mary’s Lyceum c here Wednesday night at 8:30 o'clock in Armory Hall. pheizn e dop BASKET BALL ROMP Virginia Routs Charlottesville All- Stars, 60 to 4. Cavaliers, who returned during Christ- mas recess for early practice, showed fast form on offense and were scored against only in the first half. The Line-up. Virginia (60 Charlottesville Bonavita, f.. Lacy, f @. P.Pts Q: Del"-‘fi"m i ohossssosy sasmsnlSuf | oasriviond Totals THE PINEHURST Indoor Golf Course Connecticut Ave. at R N.W. Now Under, the Management and Personal Direction of Golf Professional Saranac (N. Y.) Golf Club Golf Professional Rock Creek Golf Club Ready to Welcome All Their Golfing Friends Course Open From 11 A.M. to 1 A.M. Play Washing¥ow's Finest Indoor Golf Course—A Pro Always in Ang-dml 3 oy igS o Sows? al mooruco | rsonSons! 8 3 5 F GRID JOB MUCH SOUGHT Many Are Ready to Relieve Cody, Resigned Clemson cou.-h CLEMSON COLLEGE, . January 3 (A .—The Clemson Oolle‘e Athletic Council, after a meeun. today, an- nounced a successor to ooay Te- signed head foot ball coach, would be chosen by end of the scholastic year when Cody’s resignation takes effect. Numerous Arpuuflonn for the post have been recelv X it was sald. athletic officials of Clemson have sought to persuade him to change his mind, blt‘:rdh: g.x:nul::ed in Bp:;m burg yest ten- tion had not yheen altered. Ny ALWAYS AT EVEN KEEL, HE ASSERTS Great Race for Flag Gave National League Biggest Attendance in 1930. (Note: his i wohe s is another of series of ritten, ewecially for the As- by sports leaders, review- ino' nu nu-m and sizing up 1931 prospects BY JOHN A. HEYDLER, President the National Base Ball League. EW YORK, January 3 (®.— In good times or poor, our game of base ball con- tinues to move along on an even keel. Since its inception, nearly a century ago, it has suf- fered little from radical changes, : or from what other great sports call overemphasis. An outstanding feature of the old year was that, with a great race and favored with steady Summer weather, the National League, in point of at- tendance, had its banner season. Other features were that our so-called vet- enn players jumped into ascendancy winning all the batting, fiel and pncmnz honors, and ilson won the home-run crown, held for four consecutive seasons by Ruth. The Cardinals made a game fight in the world series, and although their defeat ran our string to 4 h 1t must be remunbend that in the 10 of these interleague matches the record stands but 6 to 4 against the old league. Raules Cut to 80. For 1931 many promising young - ers will add skill and hope to ourp:n{- tenders. They will play under an amended and clarified code of playing rules. There will be 80 rules for them to nudy instead of the former 86, Home will be universally judged when !hey leave the actual yhyl.u fleld and not where the ball “disappears the umpire's view.” Two bases will be allowed when a fair-hit bounds over a fence or into a stand. The term “momentarily held” will be missing, thus doing away with hair- ger equal rights on the field with captain; t, % > there is a new hnm—vubo(-m rule, | better definition of lu'.hln‘ nnd lnwnerence nue- and mg scoring rules. Du'pi'e a tzmwrl.ry setback, we hope for more cordial and helpful relations between majors and mmer- ‘We have been criticized as pursuing a selfish end d in asking for the restoration of the umversnx system of player gmmowm At present, if a major dt-n one player from each of the five wer classifications, the cost would be leagues, the these players would cost $22, an tn- crease of over 50 per cent. Surely & liberal trend, in these tim<s when every reasonable endeavor must be adopted by base ball to cut down sky-high opera- tion expenses. Game Is Spreading. In Jspan. the Philippincs, Ciba and Hawail - base ball made " raph strides; in fact, has dh'phced in interest all other outdoor 3 that cramj bon'mhnel.helrdlym new base ball diamonds. nl‘naeh‘:‘fi'l ‘:mnln.mun.mm own leagues have set aside for 1931 more than 10 per cent of their net receipts . | from the old year's post-season m Having all these things in speaking solely as one the immediate future promises national game. NEW YORK, January 3 .—The American Olympic Auocllflan{n . | its Executive Committee, Ml built ; | framework of a comj prehensive organiza- tion for the 1932 Olympiad to be held in Los Angeles. Subcommittees have been appointed to select American teams in been named, will set tryout dates and sites and pick the teams. Joseph T. England of Baltimore was named temporary chairman of the Track and Field Committee, most im- portant of the Olympic organizations. RITES FOR CHESELDINE “Hut,” Sandlot Base Ball Player, to Be Buried Tnmormv. Funeral services will be to- morrow morning at 11 oclock for “Hut” Cheseldine, well known sandlot pitcher, who died Thursday at his home, 734 Twelfth street southeast, as the result of a knee injury received during the last base ball camy Interment will be made at Hil Our Pledge to John Ruskin Smokers «that JOHN RUSKIN will always be the outstanding cigar of Quality at 5c. and guar- mhee to times. Wenhouke our aj and maintain this excellent quality, mildness uniformltvof]OHN RUSKIN cigars at all nity to express their salesmen dulgnwbo have helped make JOHN RUSKIN + the foremost cigar in the world. hm) pperkeepodum “mm-vfl‘lwlllhm eigar you ever smoked--regardiess of price--. m the tobaceo used is mm L—Ez--c&-rmnm rid. WASHINGTON TOBACCO CO. Distribuf ‘Washington, D. C. 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