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T, » — :. Runaway Flag Race by Yankees Could Prove Costly to Owners Estimate American League Can Lose Oyer ,000,000 When Fans Interest Wanes By FRED DOWN United Press Sports Editor NEW YORK, N. Y., June 18.— The New York Yankees have made a joke of the American League" pennant race, but itll be no laughing-matter when the years finaii- cial figures are compiled. - Unless the world champions are brought back to the field, it is estimated that the league could lose 600,000 to 700,000 paid admissions representing more than ,000,- 000. The Yankees themselves will lose heavily n as a result of a runaway, although baseball fans may be assured such a con- g sideration will not weigh heavily on man- ager Casey Stengel or his players. I Its a curious instance of where the interests of the manager and his players directly clash with those of his front office a and its workers. Stengel, of course, is intent on winning * an unprecedented fifth straight pennant. His whole existence is wrapped up in that ol objective and he will not regard any lead a, as safe until the seven other teams are n mathematically eliminated from the race. s Stengel showed that when he refused to c concede the Yankees "were in" after the •four-game sweep in Cleveland which in- c creased their lead to 10 games. Different Story With Office Help The players, with their eyes on World s Series checks, quite naturally feel the same v way. Its the other Yankees— the ones who v work in the front office in publicity jobs, s secretarial jobs, etc. — who dont know v whether to laugh, or cry. "T hope they win, of course, but it hurts to see em run away with the race," one • v well* known and very popular Yankee f front office worker said as the Yankees s staged their pennant march in the West. "Were all doing everything we can to 1 . help em win," he continued. "But were 8 all being too successful for our own good." 1 Behind his reasoning was the very liberal [ y bonus-on-attendance policy of co-owners [ j Dan Topping and Del Webb. The Yankees grant . their "lower-case executives" salary r bonuses each year, according to attendance. The bonuses start when the club reaches a j season home attendance of 1,200,000 and c continue as the attendance total increases. t Thus, each worker in the organization » £ stands to make a healthy bonus should the * attendance figures reach 1,700,000 to r 2,000,000. . Yankee home attendance now is rising at an expectancy of about 1,700,000 for the J season j but it is almost certain to tail off unless the race tightens. Once past a certain | point, success in the front office varies inversely with success on the field. As for the rest of the teams— well, there b just ■ wont be those big gates in August and i 5 September if its a runaway race. The losses - will be heavy but the Yankee front office _ 1 workers arent concerned with them, of . course. In fact, when pinned down, most of em t wont actually feel too badly about the _ : financial loss if Stengel achieves the fifth e : flag. "Itll mean less money, of course," one fellow said.* "But I guess this is one instance in which pride in the club and affection for Stengel come before the dough." a 0 o t: * c c c I r a a l t * £ j 3 ■ 1 3 J : j i ; ; » ; 3 i i ; 3 t 5 f _ s B s e f a £ p f
