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. 4 Bill Veeck Confers With City Officials on Switch to Frisco Owner of St Louis Browns Has Tentative Agreement On Price of Seals Stadium . By HAL WOOD United Press Sports Writer I j SAN FRANCISCO, Calif., Aug. 20. San i Francisco, city officials met with owner j Bill Veeck of the St. Louis Browns today to get his demands on what will be needed to bring his American League franchise 1 to this city. j As the secret conferences got under way, J these developments were revealed in the fast-growing details of the plan to bring t major league baseball to the West Coast for the first time: j 1. It was learned that ,Veeck had con- , f f erred with Paul Fagan, owner of the Seals i stadium and the local franchise in the i i Pacific Coast League, and that they had ; reached a "tentative agreement" on what J the price should be for the 22,500-seat , I baseball plant, considered by many to be 1 the finest minor league park in the nation. ; However, from Hawaii, Fagan denied hav- ! 1 ing any conference with Veeck. ! 2. Veeck told the United Press that he "should" move the franchise away from St. 1 Louis, but still was undecided where he should go. 3. It was learned from Brick Laws, owner , of the Oakland Acorns, and Eddie Mulligan, owner of the Sacramento Solons, that "big indemnities" would be demanded if I the majors moved into Pacific Coast League territory. Laws was quoted as saying that, "We wouldnt be satisfied with any meager 5,-000, , like American Association clubs got for loss of Milwaukee to the National League. 1 Mayor Enters Negotiations Mayor Elmer Robinson of San Francisco . has reportedly entered into the negotiations. He lias asked for a full report on the meeting between Veeck and city administrator Tom Brooks, N. Loyall Mc-Larin, who has been chosen to represent the city; and supervisor Francis McCarthy today. Fagan previously had told United Press that the Seals stadium would be "unsuitable for major league baseball because it could not be double-decked. He also has said that he wanted the property for "other purposes." However, it is believed this was a cover-up statement in an attempt to keep the price up. One of the major stumbling blocks to the use of the stadium, even if it could be enlarged, is a parking space. However if the. city takes a hand in it, there is a block-square park, right across the playing field that could be converted into a park-: ing lot. Other problems facing Veeck include the ; possibility that the other major league owners might not agree to the transfer. Clark Griffith, 84-year-old president of the Washington Senators, already has gone on record as opposing the shift to the West. However, if the Browns moved to San Francisco,-it is expected that some other , American League club possibly the Phila- delphia Athletics might move to Los An-, geles. in such a case, teams coming in from the East would be able to play two , series on the West Coast before returning. Veeck admitted that he "couldnt say much at this time" because of the possible repercussions it might bring from American T League officials and possibly from other , cities. But he appeared optimistic that some sort of a switch could be worked out.
