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Show if NOTED STARS DEFY FATHER TIME Wagner, Plank and Lajoie Among Those Who Still Shine Brilliantly. By Tribune Special Sport Service. NEW YORK, July .'.,-Acc is a niihlv formidable fue. but there are a few tef-lows tef-lows In tbe different branches of sport who seem to be able to stand ud under lis wallop? and come Kuk for more. I lonus Warner of PiUohurw began playing play-ing hall soon after t tie whi- was finihcrl. ir'inieihitij: like ten years h;o tlie general public began counting out Hon us, but they iicvpr cot pat the count of nine. Once or twice illness or injure n?tv have made I he "Klyhig Dutchman" a bit grog-g'. grog-g'. but he always carried enough reserve force t'o do an efective come-back. And now. in 1?H. the same Montis, grav-liaireri. grav-liaireri. wrinkled and pro ha bly spa'ined and suffering irom the diseases of old a ere, i;. considerably among thorc present In file Til-ales lineup. .Tohnn' Kali of England began golfing when ih" game Wds young. J o i 1 n 1 1 - i s nver fifty now an where it is siiid that a man's hones got stiff and his muscles mus-cles become usekss. Jlut .lohnnv is playing play-ing as good a game of golf tudav as he d'd Ut his youth. ' Bill .T.a.rned. the net star, first shone brightly in the tennis firmament m;in" ypars affo '',t there arc few men In .nu--rha or Hngiand todav ho arc :-perior :-perior 10 tdm. altlinnsri, he is supposed to I"1 lone past thai ncriod in life " hen a imiii is In his athletic, prime. Mathewson and Plank. Christ y lathewson besan pitching for the '"iinl)ts thirteen or fourteen vears nso. Bock in IftfiS the fans began to figure ihat Matty whk slipping. In their opinion MRtty whs due to he shunted on" to the niinorp long befovo the 11" season rolled around. Yet, here we are in 1914, six yenrs away from the time when Mat'.y wa first loo)-:ed upon a:: a has-ben, and Matlv is 'pi'-viiing the best bll in either leaeue, with the possible exception of one Edward Plank. And Plank is another of thoi-e persons who defy age. Fdwan began Ins base-bflll base-bflll career so long ago liint the fan eynuot recall tlic exact date. Fi-e or six years ago Plank was regarded as "done." Eulogies began to find their wav into print. En.jp whs a mighty good pitcher in his dav' "but time exacts his toll and Plank soon must take the ropd that all others have followed." Plank did --not . PI a iik, evidently vexed at the obituaries whi-di lie considered premature, lie jr'a n pitching 1 tie besl ball of his career, nnd lie's si ill doing it. Tf wouldn't be surprising If bo led the American league al ihe end of the present season bv a wider margin that ever was scored bv a pitcher in that organization. Lajoie Still at It. Lalni of the Naps hp 3 ban in the big leagues for something Hke eighteen years. They began to sing a major league requiem for him years and vears ago. Yet Larry is still among those present. HH fielding this vesr eelf-psos am-thinc- MM NOTED STARS DEFY FATHER TIME (Continued from Preceding Page.) he has ever shown, but his batting is a bit off. Has the wonderful orb of other years been dimmed by years? This is one of the big questions just now. Some there are-who iVwl that Larry's batting eye is gone because he is hitting far below the .300 mark Just now. But those who have followed the greut Frenchman's career are sure that before another monlh comes along he will be out of his slump and clubbing his way to the top again. Frank Kramer, the bike rider, has been racing for many years. He got into the game back in the '90s and he's been In it ever since. Others who were stars when Kramer first entered the cycling ranks long ago have started off Into obscurity. But Kramer still remains, and the added years have not robed him of his skill, his nerve or the pedaling power of his legs. Barney Oldfield, the racing daredevil, has been making flights against time for more than a dozen years. The life of an automobile speed demon Is short lived, at best. If he isn't killed, he's probably Injured In-jured so that his racing days are ended. And if no accident befalls him he is forced to retire from the game as soon as age creeps on, for the pace is so swift, the life so nerve-racking that few men can stick to It more than a half dozen years. Yet Barney still is here and doing the same old halr-raistng stunts of yore. Case of Sheppard. Melvin Sheppard, the greatest distance runner In America, has been In the public pub-lic eye for more than ten years. And although he long ago reached an age where most men are forced to retire, the speedy Sheppard is still circling the cinder paths and making new records and bringing greater glory to himself. In pugilism there are many Instances where men, long past the age when time is supposed to have forced them to retire, re-tire, are doing their greatest fighting. Leach Cross, the New York lightweight, isn't very old, as years ago, yet he has been In the ring something like nine years. Most men usually are forced out of the ring long before that time. Age and the pounding they get in the ring weaken them so that they are easy prey for the rising generation. But Cross, after eight years in the ring, came Into his real prominence and did some of the best work of his career, work so good that it merited him fights with Champion Ritchie and other top-notchers In his division. di-vision. Jack Johnson was pretty well into his thirties before he knocked out Jeffries. Fitzslmmons was a rather ancient person per-son before he got his chance at Corbett. Abe Attell was long past a pugilist's prime before he succumbed to the punching punch-ing of Johnny Ktlbane. These are only a few of the most prominent prom-inent exceptions to the rule that Father Time easily and quickly hann"s a knockout knock-out wallop to those who mingle in things athletic. |