Baseball is King of Games in America

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 223, 9 December 1927, Page 10

Baseball is King of Games in America

Huge Salaries Paid to Star Performers A NEW ZEALANDER'S IMPRESSIONS "What Rugby is to us, baseball is to the Americans,” is th? opinion of Mr. W. G. Compton, who returned to Auckland the other day after an eight months’ world tour. Even the treiriendous interest stirred up by the Dempsey-Tunney fight was eclipsed by the almost passionate fervour with which the Americans followed this year’s "world series.” The winning team this season was the New York Yankees, of which the star performer was the redoubtable "Babe Ruth.” Mr. Compton saw the “Bambino,” as he is nicknamed by the American fans, clout one of his famous home runs. It was the signal for the crowd to go mad with excitement.

Baseball is a highly organised business in the States, and the stars in the game command salaries running into many thousands of dollars a year. They also get a big percentage of the gates. In the final series played by the Yankees for the "world’s” championship, the players* share of the gate amounted to £BO,OCO. Each of the triumphant Yankees received £l,lOO as his share of the game, and each man in the losing team £750.