Do Big-Time Leagues Dip into College Athletics?
“Certainly professional baseball dips into college athletics. Everyone knows that. Not often, but every now and then, baseball reaches its ladle into the college gravy bowl and comes up with a choice morsel in the form of a clean-limbed, clear-eyed young chap who wants to follow the game as a profession. … No one would criticize a student for quitting college to accept a business position that paid him a salary comparable to what a Coast League player gets. Why should he be criticized for quitting college for baseball? …The fact is, however, that the boy doesn’t need to do anything of the kind, … he’ll play ball and get his college degree too. … Fred Hutchinson signed with Seattle just as soon as he finished high school, made a sensational success, was sold to Detroit for the biggest price a minor leaguer has brought in years, and entered the University. He is 20 years old, has money in the bank [and] gets a salary that would be comfortable for a man considerably older. … You
