CRICKET

Gisborne Times, Volume LXXXII, Issue 12254, 9 April 1935, Page 6

CRICKET

ARE “PROS” UNDERPAID? BABE RTJTH STARTS DISCUSSION. LONDON. < March 2. Babe Ruth, the man who did! more than any other to make baseball salaries what they are todays, has started a red-hot movement to improve the financial! lot of England’s professional athletes. The Babe doesn't knew it, but a few of his muttered remarks during his recent visit here may prove the inspiration for a new and: better deal for the soccer player and the cricketer. His visit, and his remarks, at least-, have awakened both public and l players to a realization that £8 a week is nob an cron mens sat ary. “Forty bucks a week top pay?” the Babe. “What, a racket that is. What’s chances of me haying into one of those football or cricket clubs-?’ , "While the assembled newspapermen were not to impressed with the Babe’s diplomacy, they were forced 1 to admit that lie had hit the nail, somewhere near the head. Ever since, ns though it had just occurred to them they have been proposing in print that a man h’ke Alex James “the Babe Ruth of Soccer” might be worth ft trifle? niote than £8 every Saturday. . , That, of course, is the maximum salary a player in the British Football Association may be P a id though some of them, like James, add hnywhere from 20,000 to 30,000 to the size of the crowd every time they my- > , . A star cricketer who works at his job 12 months of the yean can, make around £6OO. The Babe’s remarks might result in getting him a slight raise. Who knows?