Sunday, May 251 1958
THE MICHIGAN DAILY MAGAZINE
Pnno Covon
Su.dy. My,25.195.THEMICHGAN .AILYMA AINFL-Drage seven
I
Twilig9ht of the Minor League's
Televising of Some Major League Baseball
" ~Threatens To Kill the '.little Fellowrs'
By ALECANOR s"I television sets tot
ACODN*t ic legend have been called
Apollo gave the gift of psoph- pthers at a slugf - eyt asnr satkno iNtn ra
love for hes. Then sn a lover'stedance at Box,
quarrel, he or dasned that no one, ?yLtedance st Eastern
ever should believe wxhat she said Gov, Thomas B. L
ao the poor gir1 kept alling the York, in 1954, uratn mr io
turn with usncanvy precisenaess ad at nd moenii
noune p ilic heed. Cov. Dwysaid,
Baki 1a nB ai the peo,,ragm is a1p1
Johnson, a Cosi ado Demnocrat a thre _ten sucl a
tharew out a pioplacecy at thia Base I gasthe Eastern."
ball Wit is disn > lo pi cxxIn aia effoet toc
cent of the WestI na l) 'ge enI a wve of the probleme
weils nt to tse
pgof a ha oic P satusL t1 ,_' PYoble'na and ased
sting minor leagie; ierrstiy'x vithi Vt a' paths in prescribea
big 3el sa xek ie'r tB IGp to ccp
felow "' nosne:)ly the miu '2 dT ii'a.I
C' asle nc ol e 7t« iis xi W
i'on: le pain hes at lie boac of
EN.f JO1}NS o'o am [t~ .o o t i Iipp7 ';C x?'
ins did not '.t I ttentive i six m~ajor ; le,r 2'u.t7epac r;
reeragiisFli an iesce inef~ina tionsally televi
f-cii oiix frolic, not fo hr itte'ici wn
pleasaisn se a cc, iins. But. Se nn uda st
Johnson's' di iat:entil preeronini: wee whnh
are bacek dJeah n facts which ,{4 :,, u , 1r , zebnalet
shiowe tlst tare naional 1game i a~ek nd keep the'
sick lMT TAI -aats atsbae l~ecamne r m, snanplacci~ x ble. When peoplei
TI e record shows, that, is 195x2, 'an 'aics a mao ins
there E re 320 mnor leoague team.. naxy nri se 'cna 'n ,,, , since miajor 1- a,u'e baseball tel 'c..'ting television, most of
By1°7 she total hiad desppsed to has beens e Iiandfed. 'The 'ita tia)n threatens tos become 'airse. bother to pay tose
17Inthe most prosperous five- so Ii en sroil'hr-Fste h ubro c ie.ball.
eriod in ihis country's his- bsr~l sbigsrosyhr--Frhr h ubro ege
tory, a totalI of 129 clubs vanished. mye even ruined-by th e -big have sharunk frons 59 to 24.
Fans in 129 towns could no loisger leagu .s. The victim, sic the minor Fortuna tely, the Senatoe's words
enjoy orgasnized baseball played by laethsoreftaetnes-did not go entirely unheeded.
their home teams., sary for the niajors' own surviva1. Aplofie oteltoIfun
Ford Prick, baseball comnmi'sioner, taolo fiedee to tell to infue-
Amont the isadependent minor- , ilgnlmn oduttemd
lceasic clubs, with no steing at- onesi,"eto h iosn ern-day Cassaodes. The day tot-
t~ ehed to the ma jors, a saggeriing you destroy tse majors" Ansd this lwn e.Jhsnssec h
104 of an existing 129 teama tfolded, bringa us back to Scsn. Johnson 'loig n on'nssec h
propecymorn ig newspapers carcried Sen.
propecy.Johnson's accusatuian and the eve-,
NTHlE sanse period, there was 0 LIE TESspnea d h ing journals carcried a reply by
10os of only 25-from 18 Ito 158 mnrpoblyrbegdeMesrs. Gearge M. Weis :eneral
-amongY minor league clubs cola- manager of the New York Tan-
tirnlled by the miajors. Each year, stroyed by thse iiiva'ion of msajor; kees) and Fra nke L'ine t esseral'".
ea 'and bigger ohacc of the heasue telecas'ts as xx ell as broad- monoger of the Chicago White
iniro league ieams-the surviving cast-s. 'Turnstil' const for the Sos), The pair 1ausnched a cam-1
nis-cons. nader big lea i ue rule. minors has' shironk ala 'miiii 'ly in psi n in determine if televising of
-1102, the isajoe I cue clubs recent yeara, nmajor league' b., aeball had affected.
ox 'n d or coisrirolled 56 pe'r cent of Ins 19)48, the first ye'ar of e-(ten- thse inor league , an if so to fnd 1
ih n I 1' "ui teains, By the cnd, sive t 1 '1 '~tic munor Ica sue at- o reiiedy,
of 19-J0, the p )reengage had 'ky-; tendonece wxas isely 41 million.
zoceld to 0. Laot yer15,496.000 cii.tomees SICE 1953 preisiiis anid pana-<
t 11axl p is ona thing: lvemit to ihe minor lea gue parks., cca' to lure b aseba1 fano from
W HENEVER major league TV
sscomes to a minor league twn,
a chain reaction aeta in, Fans,
suddenly exposed to 21-inch inm-
ages of Ted Williams and Stan
Musial, first turn away from
watching real life minor leaguers.
Then newspapers shift emphaais
and play wire-service stories from
big league cities over articles on
local stars, In a year or so, the
reaction reaches its climax, The
minor league franchise blows up.
And, as their indispensable spawn-
the ball parks hsg grounds of talent dry up, all
in like relief that the majors seem to be doing
is turning the screws, or TV dial-
Pet. ing knobs, a little tighter.
decline in at- "ft was just pos''ible that un-
stern Leagsues! limited nunabers of telecasts will
n.League gamaes, wie out the minors," Frank
NwShaughnessv, president of the
PewSey ofNwG Triple A Inteirnational League has
n ed people to predicted.
rleassiue games.
"The gravity of HAUGHNESSY has been known
2arent w hen it foi being amiablc and ea sy-
astronsg league' going But he was boilinxg mad,
fighting for the life of the minor
obtaina fresh! le.a"nes. "Sunday is our payday,"
nCommissioner he said. "We'll go eo court."
'ixns vwiths the To block Ic '.<<l action, the broad-
Sthem ilseou ,la e astisng coipaiiy lured to do the
aremedy, Suniday telecasts agreed not to
televise its second sf7 ame withsin 50
oPb the msajor;'' mile of a m~inoi lx gig co)ntes-t,
;Inn cams thick Iod ft" 's'5d Sbtugh
sic evio'iinxy Wi oei'V set 20
aFi' flstTv iles is;isi foe«eosii;;120{}x'ould
th ullisbe better. cdEsfitie point is any
bgleasse TV cut' into nminor
Ths i' leavgii ue di xs.
.eelib aicd "The mxee inori x leagsue are
Vooe,(r,at-isn bi') gone nov," he coistinued. "Only
i silla-' Susnday thse strngoisss, withs real fan
l initeest, have u"em ainel. People
the one day of xi,,ill pay to are good nminor league
msissor le'ues,' ball, if you don't offer them big
fill their ball leag ue games for free, If the ma-
eir lo:Saxs bear-.xors adopt a sane TV policy, we
is small towns v,-ill survive."
leag.ue ,usne on
)fthsem won't 1AKING Shaughneasy's view, the
e minor league minors made an attempt to
See DECLIN'iE, Page 13
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