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Show I SPEAKING OF SPORTS ij: By ROBERT McSHANE i Rdaaisd by Western Nowipapor Union THE selection of tenants for baseball's base-ball's Hall of Fame in Coopers-town, Coopers-town, N. Y., is causing more and more heated debate as the months roll by. Big league baseball writers already al-ready have picked 14 players for the honor Ty Cobb, Babe Ruth, Honus Wagner, Christy Mathewson, Walter Johnson, Napoleon Lajoie, Tris Speaker, Speak-er, Cy Young, Gro-ver Gro-ver Alexander, George Sisler, Eddie Ed-die Collins, Willie Keeler, Lou Gehrig, and Rogers Horns-by. Horns-by. Hornsby, inci- yM I dentally, was the most recent nomi- Bab Ruth nation. The verbal strife centers around the fact that the moderns are getting get-ting all the votes and many old-timers, old-timers, who also deserve the honor, are moving farther into the background. back-ground. Those who utter the complaints com-plaints are fearful lest the latter soon will be forgotten altogether. The emphasis upon modern players play-ers is not difficult to understand. The big league writers who cast the ballots bal-lots aren't familiar with the ball Dlavers of the 1900-10 era. They pre- fer to evaluate the relative greatness great-ness of players whom they have seen in action. They do not always pay attention to the fact that there were good ball players three-quarters of a century ago. The present system can be Improved Im-proved on. With one exception, all 14 men elected to the Hall of Fame by baseball writers were active around 1910 or thereafter. The period pe-riod from 1900 to 1910 certainly is not without its share of stars. It was then that the American league was born. For Instance, there was Fred Clark, one of the National league's all-time outfielders with the Pirates. He always draws some votes but never enough. Babe Adams, also a Pirate, has plenty of supporters, few of whom have anything to say about the nominations. It's a pretty safe bet that among those soon to be mentioned for lasting last-ing greatness are Bill Lange of the old Cubs, Wild Bill Donovan of the Tigers, Bob Grove of the A'a and Red Sox, Ed Walsh of the White Sox, Johnny Evers of the Cubs, Nap Backer, Zach Wheat and Daszy Vance of the Dodgers and Harry Heilman ' of the Tigers. Catchers Cochrane and Hartnett may make j the grade in the not-too-distant ru-ture, ru-ture, together with Bill Dickey, when the latter is eligible. Walsh is a likely candidate for elevation. He is gradually gaining votes each time a ballot is required. It is obvious that the real oldsters of the game are being ignored to a large extent. Just what will be done to remedy the situation isn't clear. A suggestion already has been made that each year's voting be restricted to a definite era perhaps 1900 to 1910. and 1910 to 1920, etc. Such a move would do much to clear up the situation. It doesn't supply all the answers, but at least it would be a start in the right direction. direc-tion. The same full share of disagreement disagree-ment exists In Ailing golf's Hall of Fame. The latest entries In this select body include Chick Evans, Johnny McDermott, Jerry Travers, Alex Smith and Willie Anderson. They now are In the august company com-pany of Bobby Jones, Walter Hagen, Francis Ouimet and Gene Sarazen. As in baseball, there is no lack of talent. In fact, there is a superabundance. super-abundance. Amnnff ti' " Ft the players eligible for membership are Tommy Armour and Jim Barnes, both winners of the U. S. Open, the British Open and the P.G.A. There is MacDonald Smith, one of the game's topnotchers for the past 25 years, despite the fact that he has no Bobby Jones major title. Lawson Little is twite winner of both the U. S. and British Amateur titles and is a winner of the U. S. Open. Little Ben Hogan's consistent money winning career will go down in the books. It is one of golf's most remarkable records. Byron Nelson proved his greatness by winning win-ning the U. S. and P.G.A. crowns. Craig Wood is the present U. S. Open and Masters' champion. Among the former great men of golf, Walter J. Travis ranks near the top. Travis didn't become interested in-terested in the game until he was 39. The list is far from complete. There are many others whose standards were just as high. But It is quite likely that the next nominations nomina-tions will be men whose names are included here. For the most part, these players are well-known. The measurement of a man's ability abil-ity is a comparative process. Because Be-cause the basis for comparison is not always the same, there will be endless disagreement. Nevertheless, it is safe to assume that the average Hall of Fame nomination both in golf and baseball meets, with the approval of fans. |