Baseball

In Manhattan the club owners of the American and National Leagues held their annual meeting with Commissioner Judge Kenesaw Mountain Landis in the chair. In many hours of the sort of conferential argument known as bag-punching they discussed a point or two.

New Balls. President John Heydler of the National League said that home-runs in his league dropped off 45% when umpires roughened the dead white, glossy balls with dirt. He suggested that if manufacturers left the leather covers unfinished instead of polishing them, pitchers would be able to handle the ball better, batters would not be able to see it so well.

Spit ball. Went on Heydler: "The spitball . . . will never return ... an unsightly, insanitary form of delivery."

Sandlots. The club owners voted $65,000 for promotion work, $10,000 of it to go to Leslie Mann, onetime big league outfielder, as pay for coaching sandlot teams.

Jack Dempsey. Discussing people who got in on passes, Judge Landis said severely: "Jack Dempsey had no business in the press box at the last world series game in Chicago."

Asked a baseball reporter: "Why didn't you have him thrown out, Judge?"

Judge Landis chewed his lips, made no reply.

New Season. To start April 15, end Sept. 28.

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