Call to Arms

Ted Williams, the $125,000-a-year outfielder of the Boston Red Sox, had a salary reduction notice last week. Ted was fishing in Florida when he got the news: the U.S. Marine Corps was calling him and a few hundred other aviators back to duty. On April 2, two weeks before the baseball season opens, Ted will report for his physical. If he passes, he will start getting a captain's base pay ($356 a month) and probably go to work at his old wartime job: teaching cadets how to fly. Airman Williams, an indiscreet talker when he gets his dander up, said the right thing this time: "If Uncle Sam wants me, I'm ready. I'm no different than the next fellow." Just to show that it was impartial--and not out to sabotage the Red Sox pennant chances--the Marine Corps also called up the New York Yankees' $17,000-a-year Second Baseman Jerry Coleman, a captain and wartime dive-bomber pilot (57 missions).

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