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Show New Middleweight Boss ANY doubt about who Is . the boss man among the middleweights of America, if not the world, was cleared up when Fred Apostoli of San Francisco knocked out champion cham-pion Freddie Steele of Taco-ma, Taco-ma, Wash., in the ninth round of a scheduled twelve round bout in New York City recently. Luckily for Steele, the fight was above the middle weight class maximum max-imum weight of 160 pounds. Though the champion at 158ft pounds was under the weight, Apostoli by agreement in the bout contracts weighed in at 161. In order to win a title, a challenger must be at or under the weight of a champion he peaking! Sports By GEORGE A. PARCL aTJJJ I Toughest Spot in Baseball Confronts Vitt MAKING his big-time managerial debut in the major leagues this year, Oscar Os-car Vitt, new pilot of the Cleveland Indians, is proba- bly faced with the toughest job in baseball. Vitt has to make good with a club that has won the American league .' .. -. ' pennant Just once in 35 years. This does not mean that Cleveland is or has been a bad ball club. The contrary Is true. It has been a consistent first division outfit in recent re-cent years. It has threatened the leaders lead-ers occasionally. It has spent money. is fighting. Apostoli, therefore, is an uncrowned un-crowned champion. Those at the ringside who saw him batter Steele Into a state of helplessness are in no doubt about what will happen when the two meet in an official championship fight. Steele fought gallantly and effectively. He'll do the same again and their bout In the spring should help arouse high Interest in the middleweight division divi-sion among boxing fans everywhere. every-where. "Dead" Pall Is Tested When the umpire barks "Play Ball!" on opening day, April 19, fans in the National league will have a first hand chance to draw their own conclusions about the new "dead" ball. Johnny Allen routed talent shrewdly and developed devel-oped some star players. But It has had a sort of contented "also ran" complex. - Recent midwinter tests at Baltimore, Balti-more, Md., of this new ball with sluggers Jimmy Foxx of the American Amer-ican league, Chuck Klein of the National Na-tional and Charley Keller of the International In-ternational league participating brought three conclusions from baseball men assembled: 1. The dead ball has a soggy "whoosh" sound when hit 2. The livelier American and International Inter-national league ball emits a socking "whack." 3. Either ball will go over the fence when hit "on the nose." Before 300 shivering fans and sports writers, sluggers in Oriole Besides Cclgvcland, three other major league teams will have new managers in 1938. Bill McKechnie, who has won pennants with the St. Louis Cardinals and the Pittsburgh Pirates, moves from the Boston Bees to the Cincinnati Reds. Casey Stengel, who was paid his regular alary not to manage the Brooklyn Dodgers last season, succeeds McKechnie Mc-Kechnie at Boston. Gabby Street, the "old Sarge" who had a world's championship to his credit with the 1931 Cardinals, moves in to manage man-age the St. Louis Browns. Problems of Pilots All of these pilots will have problems. prob-lems. But a pennant or a near pennant pen-nant isn't expected of Messrs. McKechnie, Mc-Kechnie, Stengel or Street in the next couple of years. In Vitt's case it is different. He's on the spot and he has to make good almost right away. Vitt has proved he can take it. He had a phenomenal year with the Newark Bears, a Yankee farm, in i Ann v t i .... park indiscriminately indiscriminate-ly "whacked" eighteen eight-een balls to oblivion over the fence. Foxx and Klein had about as much luck slugging the "dead" ball out of the lot as the lively ball, but Keller's home run clouts ' were confined to the ' latter. Foxx noticed the j, Fo biggest difference in the way the balls sounded when hit. "The lively ball has a sharp crack when hit soundly," he said, "and the dead ball doesn't jump as much when hit, but it will ride just as far when you connect with a solid swing." Klein could "feel" the difference rather than hear it. "You can feel a spring when you hit the American league ball," he said, "and the best way to describe it is the difference you'd feel In hitting a loose drum, then thumping a tight one." "Hunk'Lights Once More 1937. His club won the International Internation-al league pennant by 25H games, then swept through the playoffs by taking four straight each from Syracuse Syr-acuse and Baltimore. In the "little world series," Vitt showed he could handle ball players In adversity as well as success. Columbus, Co-lumbus, the American league champions, cham-pions, won the first three games from the Bears at Newark and then went west to polish them off. But Vitt's club came roaring back to win the next four straight at Columbus Co-lumbus and capture the "little world series." Vitt, who had successful playing career with the Detroit Tigers some years ago, has one other outstanding gift. He has an uncanny un-canny ability to handle pitchers. At Newark, he developed devel-oped the finest staff In the minors from inexperienced men. With Allen, Feller, Harder and Gale-house Gale-house to build around, Vitt may fillip Nomad of the football gridiron, Heartley W. Hunk) Anderson, former for-mer Notre Dame football star and until recently assistant coach at the University of Michigan, has moved again. This time he has joined the coaching staff at the University Uni-versity of Cincinnati, as assistant football coach. Much of whatever effectiveness ! the 1937 Michigan team possessed was credited to Anderson for his work with the line. But after Harry Kipke was given the gate, Hunk's number was up. Anderson played guard on the Notre Dame teams of 1919, 1920 and 1921 and was a buddy of the late George Gypp. He was made assistant assist-ant coach of the Irish in 1922, a post he retained until 1927 when he left to serve as head coach at St. Louis university. He returned as line coach In 1930 and succeeded Knute Rockne, who was killed in an assemble the best Bob FelIer mound staff in the major leagues. In sensational young Bob Feller he will have one of the most Improved pitchers in the American league In 1938. Players Must Hustle This forty-seven-year-old veteran says he will have only one ironclad rule: "My players must hustle all the time or out they go. There will airplane accident in 1931. At the close of the 1933 season, he left Notre No-tre Dame and went to North Carolina Caro-lina State as head coach. He left that post in 1936 to assume the Michigan job. Here and There Oscar Vitt found 94 applications for coaching jobs on his desk when he reported to the Cleveland Indians as manager . . . Harvard's hockey squad is composed of nine members of the varsity football team . . . Coach A. A. Stagg of the College of the Pacific has prayed before every game for years, but the competition is becoming so tough be now prays before every play , . . Cleo Dichl, Northwestcrn's football captain-elect, captain-elect, is on his way toward becoming becom-ing the Wildcats' first nine letter athlete in over a decade ... He won letters in football, basketball, and baseball as a sophomore . . , Jess Burkett, the old Cleveland slugger, is a watchman on a highway project. De no exceptions. So, some of these days, Cleveland may recapture some of the glory that was its in 1920, when the Indians, In-dians, led by Tris Speaker, swept through the Amer, sn league to a pennant and then overwhelmed the Brooklyn Dodgers to capture the world's championship. How about the other new managers? man-agers? The job confronting Gabby Street with the St. Louis Browns is largely one of rebuilding. During his managerial man-agerial career in the majors and minorsthe mi-norsthe Cardinals, Missions and St. Paul Street has always improved im-proved the club he took over. The Browns had the worst pitching staff in the majors last year. Street, an old catcher himself and wise in the ways of the art, should be able to help the Browns' pitching. McKechnie, who was a standout at Boston last year, should do well at Cincinnati. His work in developing devel-oping Jim Turner and Lou Fette, a couple of minor league veterans, into in-to 20-game winners and of piloting the Bees to fifth place in the National Nation-al league, is a tribute to his efforts. Casey Stengel will not have a world of material at Boston, but he can be counted on to inject some color into a rather drab team and pep it up. He can make a club bustle and the players all like him. Ken Ryan, Utah State halfback who turned down professional foot ball offers to become a post-graduate student at Harvard last fall, has reconsidered and will go tc camp with the Brooklyn Dodgers next September . . . The New Yori Ski club uses all surplus funds U finance professional instruction foi its members. C Western Newspaper Union. |