Show am q 6 TO GRAZIANO the dead rend lv end kid from brooklyn is now middleweight champion of the world rocky Is not what you would call a lovable or a likeable character packed with intelli gence and charm I 1 but he Is still the middle middleweight weigh t champion of tha the toughest division we have the only active division we have left his profession Is I 1 prize fighting which is the lowest form of making a graziano living and the toughest but it is still bis his profession and it is a profession that demands certain fin qualities before you reach the top As we understand the case bra ziano was barred in new york by the district attorney attorneys s office with eddie eagan of the boxing corn COM mission forced into a position he was never too keen about grazi ano a main offense was a matter of politics too many were looking tor for headlines this Is a normal situa tion As we bave have said before graz graziano ano Is not a likeable or a lovable character but he has proved that he can fight lie ile doesn doean t wear a tie tic and his manners leave much to be desired but he can nail you and hurt you and that happens to be his trade the main answer is that right now graziano is the middleweight champion of the world there Is no one even close to joe louis in the heavyweights there is no one even close to gus lesnevich or ray rob inson in their class they are three robinson crushes on a desert island but outside of 0 tony zale graziano still has lamotta and cerdan left and one or two others he ile happens to be in the land flowing with milk and honey and I 1 b believe he has earned his place to make one of the big killings of his game he proved both his ability and his gameness against zale he had to hurdle the handicap of their first fight where he was accused of tak ing a quick powder he was being beaten again when he came from behind to win he had to show dou ble courage here hans wagners successor in lining up baseball baseballs s all time stars you run across one spot that has only one guardsman back of the bat you have mickey cochrane bill dickey gabby hart nett johnny kling and back in the dim past a great catcher remembered as buck duck ewing a master in the box we have cy young walter johnson christy mathewson old pete alexander carl hub bell rube waddell lefty grove and others at first we have george sister lou gehrig hal hat chase and bill terry at second there are eddie collins pie traynor art devlin and bill bradley in the outfield we have ty cobb babe euth ruth tris speaker joe jackson and joe dibiaggio dimaggio but at shortstop we come to a big shuffling bowlegged won wonder der by the name of honus wagner wag ner has been so tar far in front of all other shortstops as an all around star fielder hitter and base run ner t that hat no one else has been of ered in comparison such names as herman long hughey jennings travis jackson dave bancroft and marty marion have been given they their share of acclaim but none of ot these has been even close to wagner the flying dutchman led his league seven years he ile was a I 1 hitter he ile could steal from 45 to 55 bases a season according to john mcgraw and ed barrow two of baseball baseballs s smartest hans Is the greatest ballplayer of all time who comes seconda As both put it wagner was a great shortstop a great third base man a star outfielder a good catcher one of the greatest of all hitters and base runners wagner still stands alone at short but who is the second choice who belongs closer to pitts burgh a brilliant star our guess is lou boudreau of cleveland boudreau has bad had to carry the extra burden of handling a losing ball club in this respect he has done everything you could ask with indifferent material year after year he has been a brilliant infielder and this season he has been among the leaders of the american league at bat for some odd reason outside of wagner few shortstops are hitters boudreau isn t wagner but he is at least close to a grip on the no 2 spot at the agile art of short topping stopping he was born in 1917 and entered baseball in 1938 with the three eye league after two season seasons at t the U of illinois before the yar year was up cleveland grabbed him he has been hitting around |