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Show Playing 'Managers fNLY three" major" league man-V7 man-V7 agers who can also take their turn playing in the field or facing opposing pitchers in the betting box will be left in the big time, when the season opens on April 19. They are Jimmy Dykes and Joe Cronin in the American league and Jimmy Wilson in the National league. Mickey Cochrane, pilot of the Detroit Tigers, Ti-gers, recently announced that he would not play again. At one time not so long ago there were as many as nine active play-ing-managers in the big leagues. That was when Charley Grimm of the Cubs wasn't bothered with lumbago; lum-bago; when Frankie Frisch of the Cardinals was still a flash; when Pie Traynor's throwing arm was working at Pittsburgh; when Bill Terry's knees didn't squeak when l Speaking of Sports County Fair Gave Start To Track Ace By GEORGE A. BARCLAY BREAKING track records AJ for the mile and other distances dis-tances and winning tight races is old stuff to Glenn Cunningham, ace miler of the present generation. Glenn gets a kick out of his victories all right. He's mighty proud of being the man who ran the fastest mile ever recorded in the world's history. That amazing performance was recorded recently at a meet at Dartmouth Dart-mouth college. The time was four minutes, four and four-tenths seconds. sec-onds. This was four seconds under the Kansas star's own indoor record rec-ord of 4.: 08.4 for the mile set in 1934 and two seconds under the 4:00.4 outdoor mark made last August Aug-ust by Syd Woodersen of England. Only a few days before this epochal epoch-al feat, Cunningham had broken another an-other world's record at Madison Square Garden, New York, running the 1,500 meter event in 3:48.8. Those were performances calculated calcu-lated to thrill even the most victory-laden victory-laden champion. But if you asked Cunningham about the biggest thrill of his career he'll probably tell you he experienced it in his first race. That was a long time ago. The story trails back to a county fair grounds and an obscure school-boy track meet on the plains of Kansas. When Glenn was about eight years old he was severely burned in a school house fire and for a time it was feared he would lose one of his legs. But pluck and a rugged constitution consti-tution pulled him through and soon he was learning to walk all over again by holding onto the end gate of a wagon. Later, to strengthen the crippled leg he would run up and down the roads surrounding the old home place. Never Saw Shorts A few years later while he was still in grade school, Glenn etered a county school meet at the fair grounds at Elkhart, Kan. The track was Just a dirt road built for auto- Jimmy Dykes Joe Cronin he first-based for the New York Giants; when Rogers Hornsby still took an occasional turn with the St. Louis Browns; and when Cochrane Coch-rane was the outstanding catcher of the business. So now only Dykes, Cronin and Wilson stick to their double chores and only one of them, Cronin, Is a day-in and day-out performer. Wilson Wil-son gave up his regular job as catcher catch-er for the Phillies two years ago and Dykes yielded to a younger man last year. Cronin, manager of the Boston Red Sox, Is among the standouts stand-outs as an active ball player. He was rated the best shortstop in the American league In 1937. He Is only thirty-one and will probably stay active after Dykes and Wilson Wil-son have quit. The passing of Cochrane as a player marked the retirement of a masterful catcher, ranking among the greats of all time. Among hitting hit-ting catchers, none ranks in his class. He knew how to handle pitchers. pitch-ers. He knew opposing batters' weaknesses. He hit to all fields, rapping out frequent home runs, bunted smartly and ran the bases with speed and intelligence. Cochrane Coch-rane spent 13 years as an active big leaguer before he was injured critically by a pitched ball last year. Here and There WALTER HAGEN, JR., son of the famous golf professional, is a sports commentator for the campus radio studio at Notre Dame . . . The operation on Dixie Walker's Walk-er's shoulder was so unusual that the former White Sox outfielder, now with Detroit, has become exhibit ex-hibit No. 1 at medical conventions . . . Kid Norfolk, light heavyweight challenger of 15 years ago, has not seen a fight since he retired. He is employed by a Philadelphia construction con-struction company . . . The American Amer-ican league record for most errors er-rors In a single game is held jointly, of all people, by George Sister and Hal Chase. Glenn Cunningham Pro Tennis Treat TENNIS fans may yet be treated to the spectacle of Ellsworth Vines and Don Budge and Helen Wills Moody and Helen Jacobs fighting fight-ing it out for supremacy in pro singles matches and Budge and Gene Mako opposed to Vines and Perry in the doubles. Word from the West coast indicates indi-cates that the fires are being stirred up under the tennis pot and it is reaching the boiling point rapidly. Budge, who electrified the tennis world when he single-handed won the Davis cup last year, is announcing announc-ing unofficially that when he finishes defending the cup next summer, he will be in a receptive mood about joining the pro ranks. Helen Wills Moody will not say she will and won't say she won't be interested in turning pro. But she has given her tennis game a stout mobile races. The youngster had never had on shorts and a sweat shirt, and hadn't yet seen spiked trnck shoes. So in his ordinary shoes and ev-ery-day clothes he ran around the track and, surprisingly enough, won that mile. Winning miles has been a steady habit with him ever since and he admits he has never had any relish for getting beat in any race. Since that unnoticed little race out in Elkhart Kan., Glenn has won any i z i',& it. h , z : s ' i number of brilliant track battles. In high school at home and in college at the University of Kansas and clear down to the present day when he is running under the auspices of the New York Curb exchange, he has streaked through track events like a comet Cunningham lost his last race last year to his fellow Kansan, Archie San Romani. The younger Archie has been handicapped by a game leg so far this year, while Cunningham Cunning-ham has been running in the greatest great-est form of his entire career. Future of Track , The champion sees a great future for track events in the United States provided communities that have neglected them ki past years will join in a revival. "Track." he says, "is one sport all youngsters can and should take part in. It returns untold dividends divi-dends in health, physical development develop-ment and the building of self-reliance and morale." Glenn believes that any school, no matter how small or pressed for ready cash, can put on track events for its students if it really wants to. He pointed out that hundreds of schools are actually making the equipment in their own manual training departments. Rural schools particularly, he believes, be-lieves, can sponsor a track if they are not 'already doing so Helen Wills Moody test in recent months and if It is as good as she hopes, she is going back to Wimbledon to take another crack at the women's world's title. If she wins she will try for the national na-tional title at Forest Hills. Then she may be landed in the pro net. The catch in the scheme for this troupe may be the landing of Helen Jacobs. She appears to be not too anxious to play either amateur or professional tennis, but a $30,000 offer of-fer from the pros might land her. e. Western Newspaper I'nion. |