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Dyan RW ana RL a aN
} BLACKIE SHERROD
*
They‘re Right
Off the Bat
TLANTA—The visitor realizes he’s in the South’s
most progressive spot when old friends meet him
at the airport with jack daniels and grits and hustle
him through a maze of freeways to where major
league baseballers will soon live.
This is the sleek new stadium being built almost
in the heart of Atlanta. Bulldozers are shoving deep into the rusty
Georgia clay and concrete tiers are thrusting up amid the ever-
changing skyline of the oldtime city. ‘
“We're going to play an exhibition with the Yankees in this
stadium on April 9,” says Bob Richardson, a top governor’s aide
and one of the forces behind the new sports ambition. “And we'll
open the season in it on April 15.”
By “we’’, the Atlanta citizenry means the Atlanta Braves,
who will make the jump from Milwaukee in a matter of days.
There is much official hush-hush about it, lest an earthquake
or the Supreme Court or some other act of nature spoil the pud-
ding at the last second. And it’s typical of baseball’s pussyfooting
attitude that the Milwaukee-to-Atlanta move hasn't been openly
declared before now.
The Milwaukee directors are meeting today in Chicago. And
they'll vote to approve the shift. The National League officials
meet in New York later this week and will doubtless okay the
franchise transfer.
The stadium is a rush act. When the Atlanta leaders sudden-
ly decided they wanted in the Big Swim, they didn’t waste time
with flim and faddle and political strings and’ twiddle dees and
twiddle dums. A couple rich johns said they'd underwrite the
thing, so start digging and all the details would be worked out
later, like dividing the stadium cost between the city, county and
state and retiring it with revenue bonds. So the dirt commenced
flying. The contractors will have to forfeit $2,000 every day past
April 15 it takes to complete it.
On the Way
HIS CITY desires very much to be the sports center below
the Mason-Dixon and it dang shore will be.
It’s just a question of time until a pro football team locates
there:
Atlanta had the St. Louis football Cardinals, for a couple days
anyway. The Bidwell brothers wanted to move their NFL fran-
chise to that city. And the hustling Atlantans offered them a rock-
bottom rental deal. But when the Bidwells returned to St. Louis to
talk things over, they were offered a better deal by a citizen of
that city, one who owned a small chunk of the stock. So they had
to pull out of their Atlanta commitments. For the time being,
anyways.
There have been reports that the Steelers might consider
moving here. Owner Art Rooney has been seen lunching here with
Arthur Montgomery, a wealthy soft drink distributor and one of
the go-gettum powers around town. But the feeling now is that
Rooney will not leave Pittsburgh,
The American Football League, it's believed, would move a
club there at the drop of an invitation. Commissioner Joe Foss,
on a recent visit, warned the Atlantans ‘‘not to let toa many
trains pass hy”. Meaning an AFL franchise in the hand is worth
two NFL clubs in the bush.
ying. Lhe contractors will have to forfeit $2,000 every day past
April 15 it takes to complete it.
On the Way
HIS CITY desires very much to be the sports center below
the Mason-Dixon and it dang shore will be.
It’s just a question of time until a pro football team locates
there.
Atlanta had the St. Louis football Cardinals, for a couple days
anyway. The Bidwell brothers wanted to move their NFL fran-.
chise to that city. And the hustling Atlantans offered them a rock-
bottom rental deal. But when the Bidwells returned to St. Louis to
talk things over, they were offered a better deal by a citizen of
that city, one who owned a small chunk of the stock. So they had
to pull out of their Atlanta commitments. For the time being,
anyways.
There have been reports that the Steelers might consider
moving here. Owner Art Rooney has been seen lunching here with
Arthur Montgomery, a wealthy soft drink distributor and one of
the go-gettum powers around town. But the feeling now is that
Rooney will not leave Pittsburgh.
The American Football League, it’s believed, would move a
club there at the drop of an invitation. Commissioner Joe Foss,
on a recent visit, warned the Atlantans “‘not to let too many
trains pass by’. Meaning an AFL franchise in the hand is worth
two NFL clubs in the bush.
The» baseball people-are"anxious to land this splendid radio-
televidion market. At Milwaukee, the Braves are sandwiched be-
tween, Chicago and Minneapolis. At Atlanta, the nearest major
league franchise will be Cincinnati.
} ' Familiar Faces
ND THE BRAVES should fit right in like homefolks. A Sonplé
of the Negro players, Hank Aaron and Lee Maye, say they
are muchly agin moving to Atlanta because of the segregation
business. But they'll play where they're told, or else get another
job.
Ed Mathews, the Braves third baseman, was a minor league
star here in 1950. Coaches Whitlow Wyatt and Dixie Walker both
managed minor league teams here. Coach Jo Jo White is a Geor-
gia native and Manager Bobby Bragan is from nearby Birming- -
ham. .
Tova’ of London once made a study and predicted that
Atlanta would be the largest city in, the world at the turn of the
next century. At least that’s what some local citizens claim.
And it’s believeable because the impressive notion about this
city is its drive, its scorn of redtape and meaningless hours
around conference tables. There is more action than talk. Atlanta
wanted to be bigtime in sports, so some of the riches underwrote
the project and they went out and got results. It was as simple
as that.