Word: suffolk
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When Veeck bought out the twenty-four racing dates of Berkshire Downs two months ago, horseplayers were overjoyed. The reality of a fall meeting at Suffolk Downs seemed virtually assured. Since then, Veeck, a brilliant entrepreneur, has been trying to find his way through the local politicians version of the Porteus maze test...
...part bog. The first people to lose their feathers over Veeck's proposed fall meeting were the track owners of Rhode Island who had also planned a fall meeting. Depending heavily on many Boston area bettors for their revenue, it was in their best interests to block the Suffolk Downs fall meeting. But, they had no jurisdiction in Massachusetts...
...that they would schedule their races at night. This united the harness racers and dog racers lobby in Massachusetts who stood to lose money, so they thought, by having to compete against the thoroughbreds of Rhode Island at night. This combined lobby defeated the proposed daytime fall meeting of Suffolk Downs. Thus, during the fall their will be no daytime racing in this state of any sort--no dogs, no trotters, no horses...
Bill Veeck signed a midget to play major league baseball. He gave a yacht to one of the outstanding pitchers on his team. This spring various lucky bettors received prizes at Suffolk Downs--from a case of champagne to a steer. It is unfortunate that a man of such rare promotional genius should be fettered by local politics. In the end Veeck's way will bring more money to the state coffers than anyone else's way, and that is what the state is after anyway...
Veeck immediately launched a $1,000,000 refurbishing program. The facade of sickly Suffolk green was replaced with vibrant yellow along with occasional splashes of cool blue and hot red. He personally took a sledgehammer to the dingy rest rooms, did away with pay toilets, ripped the barbed wire off the fences, ordered 24 apple trees planted in the infield and reduced the admission fee to $1.50 for both the clubhouse and the grandstand. "Notice the new green carpet in the clubhouse," he readily tells passersby. "Color is so important...