The White Falcon - 06.05.1944, Síða 6

6
Turnstiles Play Sweet Music;
Major League Owners Relax
They cried, they moaned, some tried to close up shop, and a
couple gave out with the old martyr stuff about “we’re gonna lose
dough — a pile of dough — but we’ll field a team and play the
season out as long as we have
were the major league baseball
bout the current baseball season.
Today those baseball owners
are wading out of their ball
parks with plenty of loose change
kicking around in their pokes
because a little over a quarter
of a million fans turned out for
the opening week of the new
season.
Maybe when the torrid summer
weather comes along things will
slow down, but night baseball
ought to take up the slack. Any-
how, after one week the atten-
dance was nearly 50,000 over the
total for the same time last year.
•
That quarter million paid att-
endance was piled up though one
of the openers was postponed
and two played in frigid weat-
her. Also, those first juicy Sun-
day bills in Yankee Stadium,
Shibe Park, Ebbets Field and
Pittsburg were rained out. A
super-conservative estimate of
attendance at those games would
be 60,000.
•
The first week’s National Lea-
gue altendance total of 152,620 is
25,000 over the figures at the same
time last year, and the American
League is 11,000 over previous
figures with 134,990. Cincinnati’s
big 31,000 opening day crowd
helped the senior circuit, while
the two 20,000-plus crowds at
Detroit and Washington made
the American League gain.
Although the count is a little
out of proportion because of big
opening day crowds, average
attendance has been over 8,500
per game. Anything even resem-
bling that kind of attendance
for the rest of the season would
dwarf last year’s paid total by
over seven million and put those
howling club owners on easy
street.
nine men and a park.” “They”
owners who were talking a-
Short ones: The pro footballers
made two rules changes at their
meeting. They banned the out of
bounds kickoff and made it legal
for a coach to direct his team
from the bench.
•
Big Ed Budka,Washington’s re-
serve second baseman and chief
pinchhitter, got to the Senators
by virtue of a little skulldoggery.
pro club in Florida when some-
Ed was working out with a semi-
one told the batting practice
pitcher that Clark Griffith was
in the stands to see Budka. The
pitcher liked Budka, so he made
a great show of putting his all
on the ball while actually throw-
ing up nothing but fat ones.Budka
stood there and parked all the
pitches against the walls or out
of the park, and Griff rushed
down and signed him with a $400
bonus .... Budka’s admission
of the story recalls the time that
Griff sent scout Joe Engel to
Salt Lake City to outbid the
Athletics for Paul 'Strand. Eng-
el’s instructions were to pay
anything to get the rookie if he
looked as though he had the
goods. Engel didn’t like his looks,
so he didn’t bid for the young-
ester, and the A’s got him for
$75,000. The Nats had the A’s
scheduled fo a spring exhibition
game and Stengel was worried
that Strand might make a great
showing and ruin his reputation
as a scout, so he called Walter
Johnson, who was hurling that
day, and explained his fears. To
do a friend a favor, Johnson
bore down when Strand was up
that day, and the Athletic rookie
fanned three times on ten pitc-
hes. He later proved to be a
prize lemon and didn’t stay in
baseball long.
»

Kentucky Derby’s 70th Running
Takes Spotlight At Home Today
The Army lent the Andrews Fieldhouse to two Reykjavik
sports clubs for Icelandic championship fights Wednesday night,
and the Icelanders showed how they go for boxing by jam-
ming the place to the rafters. Most amusing to Army personnel
present was hearing the crowd of more than 1800 break out in
a chorus of “Knock him out! Knock him out!”
i '
Boxers Turn Out In Force
For Workouts At Keflavik
This afternoon at Churchill
Downs, Americans will see the
70th annual running of the con-
try’s most historically important
horse race, the Kentucky Derby.
With the sixth largest field ever
nominated — 148 three-year-olds
are in the books — and with not
one really outstanding two-year-
old to install as the favorite, the
horseman have tagged this year’s
scamper the “Grand Canyon
Derby” because it is so wide
open.
This also is going to be another
of those “streetcar” derbies, as
the Office of Defense Transport-
ation has again banned atten-
dance by out-of-towners and the
use of cars to get to the track.
However, Servicemen from out-
side Louisville will be admitted.
The winter book odds-makers
installed Col. C. V. Whitney’s
Pukka Gin as first choice. Gin
took five of 13 starts and was
second three times as a two
year-old, but attracted little at-
tention until he won the Cham-
pagne Stakes, beating Platter and
Occupy.
Ranked right up in the betting
with Puka Gin is George Widen-
er’s Platter. The colt took two
nods as a two-year-old, but they
were both mile-and-a-sixteentb
canters The big son of Pilate.
Let’s Dine copped the Walden
stakes and the Pimlico Futuity
and both times came from far
back to win with a great stretch
run and prove that he had the
stamina for the Derby distance.
Lucky Draw7 is Platter’s sta-
blemate and equally well thought
of. A couple of years ago the
same stable entered Devil Diver
and Shut Out, with the Diyer
listed as the horse to win. Shut
Out broke on top and tried to
run the opposition dead for his
teammate. When the Diver made
his bid the favored nag didn’t
have it, so Shut Out turned on a
little more and went on to win.
It might happen again this year.
Pensive, from Warren Wright’s
Calummet barn, is another top
ranker. Trained by canny Ben
Jones,. the runner copped two
out of five two-year-old starts
and may be the sleeper in the
classic.
Detroit Tiger pennant hopes
took a rise this week when Rudy
York, last year’s home run king,
was rejected by the Army.
Rudy, one of the few Indians
ever to play in the Majors, was
rejected because of a loose car-
tilage in his left knee, resulting
from a basketball tumble.
The hardhitting first baseman,
who came to the Tigers as a
catcher, led both circuits last
season with 34 homers. He has
slapped one since the current
season opened;
By Sgt. Samuel Kopp.
Contrary to the belief in cer-
tain circles that boxing was dy-
ing a slow death in Iceland, an
amazed Lt. William P. Cumiskey,
Athletic Officer, greeted 45 box-
ing hopefuls at the opening of
the boxing gym at Club 23 in
Keflavik this week.
The men are being coached by
Lt. Jack Glenn, a former pugilist
from Illinois, and are being train-
ed by Pfc. Kladek, a former pro
middleweight from New York
City. Assisting Kladek is Sgt.
Frank Fagin, kell known in fistic
circles in Connecticut.
Pfc. Kladek was formerly as-
sociated with the training of box-
ers at the Andrews Fieldhouse
and assisted in the training of
the team that was so successful
on its recent tour to England.
When questioned as to the ab-
ility of the boys turning out, Kla-
dek replied, “Nine out of ten are
novices, but with the proper
training and instructions should
turn into good boxers and be
able to put on some crowd-pleas-
ing matches. The rest of the boys
have fought before and should be
ready as soon as their timing
comes back. I expect to be able
to put on my first boxing show
no later than a month from now,
and I am sure that within two
months I will be able to take
a boxin team to the Andrews
Fieldhouse and beat the best that
Base Special Service has to of-
fer.”
Among the glovers who will
be seen in action are Pvt. Nellion
Haaga, lightweight who has
fought at the Fieldhouse; Pvt. Joe
Padille, heavyweight who has
fought AAU at Santa Barbara,
Cal.; Cpl. Mike Patricelli, form-
er welterweight at Fort Bragg,
N.C.; Pvt. Jack “Moe” Lindell,
20-year-old light-heavy from
Montana; Pvt. Patrick Kelly>
light-heavy from Pennsylvania;
and Pfc. Paul Tokarz, former
welterweight Golden Glover from
New Jersey.
Outstanding among the novice
fighters are Pvt. Bernard J-
Rasch, light-heavy from Indiana;
Pvt. Manuel Valenzuela, welter-
weight from California, and Tec
5 John Duncan, Ohio middle-
weight.
Dead Walks Away
“Send an ambulance, the mor-
gue wagon and some detectives,”
an almost hysterical woman im-
plored Paul Gillen, police tele-
phone operator in St. Paul, Minn.,
“there’s a dead man in the hall-”
Just as the squad car and ambul-
ance were about to roar away, she
called again and said, “Never
mind, the dead man got up and
walked away.”
Gum Supply Goss
To Armed Forces
The William Wrigley Jr. Co.
announced this week that civili-
ans would have to go without
its three most popular brands of
gum, Spearmint, Doublemint and
Juicy Fruit, after May 1. Its en-
tire production will go to the
armed forces.
Fights Next Week
It was announced yesterday
that there will be another boxing
card next Saturday night at the
Andrews Fieldhouse. American
fighters will top the bill, with
the first bout going on at the
usual 2000 hours.