◆ SpookStack

COUNTER i.%.1CK~ RECIITERED I0 THE UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE “ nepbers of the Baseball Writers Association, to vote for those players he . ‘ . racts-~vo @ BAT COMMUNISM 4 23? BROADWAY, MEW YORK 6,NEW YORK Vol. 9, No. 24 June 24, 1955 = OF = BASEBALL AND THE DAILY WORKER Twice, recently, columns in the Daily Worker have expressed extreme annoyance with Counterattack for, of all things, its attitude toward cov- erage cf baseball in the Communist press. Specifically, the columns take exception to this newsletter's editorial suggestion that in according the Daily Worker's sports columnist the full privileges of locker room and club house, major league ball clubs were simply lending a hand to Communian's daily press in this country. The fact that Daily Worker sports coverage might be calied one of the few “non-controversial" parts of the paper {al= though it actually isn't] wakes the assist even more valuable inasmuch as gports coverage is one of the main things upon which the paper tries to sus- tain its myth of being "just" a newspaper. "Slimy little blacklisf# sheet” run by “former FBI men out for a quick buck," is a sample of the Mindnesses paid Counterattack in the Daily : Worker criticism. Leste ey, the sports columnist in question, was the author of that particular bouquet. Rodney hastened to add that the New York Post echoed his wrath against Counterattack for objecting to Communist report- era receiving full accreditation from the baseball clubs. Now, with the baseball season in full swing, however, it is time again to risk this wrath. Thies year, as in the past, Lester Rodney will be asked, along with other deems most worthy of going into the Baseball Hall of Fame. (In another sports balloting, incidentally, Rodney is one of the writers asked to vote in the _ United Press poll of basketball teans. } : - And, this year, as in all his years in the Communist press, Rodney will liberally sprinkle his coverage of American sports with choice Communist line foul balls all over left field. He has ranted against baseball management as "simcrow" and anti-Negro despite grudging admission of some progress. He has, in fact, turned practically every sporting event into an arena for dis- playing Communist-line race and class struggles. His Olympic coverage is replete with praise for Soviet entries with en- phasis on what Soviet athletics "prove". Currently, the line is that we can compete peacefully in sports so why not peacefully in all else. Rodney has not yet covered to any great extent the sporting activities of the Red Chinese in their massacres of American soldiers or of their current playful detention of Anerican soldiers despite the Xorean truce. Before urging specific actions concerning Lester Rodney and Communist sports coverage, pertinent questions are in order. They are questions that Published weekly. Copyright 1955 by American Business Consultants, Iac.; J. G. Keenan, President; ° A. E. Cullen, Vice-President; L. F. Budenz, Contributing Editor. ' 6 Reproduction in whole or without written authorization ie prohibited.