| Show Backseat 4 r. r i Driving rF By FRANK K K BAKER BAKER- Telegram Sports Editor This has been a year of great comebacks 1 in n sport a 1 year in which a number of names thought to have been erased from the sports sports' headlines by ti time e misfortune and superior competition came back into the big type Nationally there hasn't been anything in baseball in re recent recent recent re- re cent years to overshadow the comeback of the Cincinnati Reds in the world series Few teams carry carryon on like they Hid on the heels heels' of their Crushing defeat by the New York Yankees the year before With dogged determination the Reds outlasted the Brooklyn Brooklyn Brook Brook- 1 lyn 1 Dodgers for the National league pennant and amI then they had ad the stuff to come from behind three different times in the series with Detroit and finally win the seventh and deciding deciding ing game for the championship Even then it took an individual comeback to spark the Reds to their team success that hero being Jimmy Wilson Wilsona a gallant gent admitting to odd 40 years It was Wilson Wilson- previously relegated to a coaching role who role who stepped back into a playing assignment and completed his active service with a remarkable bit of substituting for big Ernie Lombards Lombardi Lombardi Lom- Lom bardi bards behind the bat when that worthy was too crippled to catch in the series 4 J That pinch-hitting pinch proved doubly valuable for the weary Wilson as it elevated him into the limelight and he has since Caught chught on as manager of the Chicago Cubs replacing Gabby H in that capacity Baseball produced its comeback right here in Salt Lake City too with the Bees who were were a second division club the the theY Y year ar before as the Pioneer league got under way rallying to win the pennant by a wide margin Even then it took Ogden's suddenly revived forces to supply supply supply sup sup- ply the Pioneer league fireworks by beating both Sa Salt t Lake and Boise in the play-off play after the Bees had g galloped to a ten-game ten triumph in the season long campaign year two Max Baer Bacr came back from ap apparent apparent apparent ap- ap parent oblivion to earn a fair share of headline space by disposing disposing disposing dis dis- dis- dis posing of Tony Galento the two ton from New Jersey and Pat Comiskey an overrated youngster Few fans would go so far as to argue argue that Baer is entitled to an another another another an- an other crack at Joe Louis and amI the heavyweight championship he once wore so confidently But one has to admit that Maxie l c came me back a long long way in the past 12 months c. c The golfing comeback was as dramatic as any with two comebacks meeting in a play-off play for the national open championship This saga of rehabilitation found Lawson Little t-ittle beating Gene for the title after both had Hovered Covered on the fringe of the sport shadows for a number of f years Little the creator of that hat slam in 1934 and 1935 when he hewon hewon hewon won both the British and the U. U S S. S amateur titles for two years in ift a row has every right to be proud of his newest laurels because in he was pitted against a foe who has won about every honor golf has to offer I Certainly one doesn't have to look far to select the outI outstanding outstanding out out- I standing comeback in football Its It's Clark Clar the I Stanford coach who'll direct his charges against Nebraska's in the Rose bowl game at Pasadena in a little littlemore littlemore more than a week u J is no new introduction to the gridiron He Was a man of accepted prestige and wide influence in football c circles rc es long before he was engulfed by the emphasized de program program program pro pro- gram at the University of Chicago He was an unfortunate victim of that ife tte however and for a time appeared at the end of his career as a football coach but he has has' bounced back with Stanford Stanfor l as s dramatically as the Reds Max Baer Lawson Little or orGene orGene orene Gene ene did in their comebacks comebacks Even the turf produced something of a comeback k thrill when won the Santa Anita h handicap after twice ice being nosed out in int that at rich race This victory making him the first racer eye ever to o win more moc than was all the more spectacular b because ca sc suit had been hampered on repeated occasions ty occasions y lameness and was precariously near to retirement when finally came up with the triumph t Th The e year will be remembered by sport fans as as the time Dick Chapman scored his unprecedented 11 and 9 victory over ver Duff McCullough for the national amateur golf championship cham cham cham- It'll also be remembered for Don McNeils McNeil's surprising tri triumph triumph triumph tri tri- over Champion Bobby Riggs for the U. U S. S tennis title anc and for lor Alice Marbles Marble's continued domination of the fe feminine nine ne net field In the final analysis though it will be the comebacks that tha are remembered most Even as Utah returned to the Big Seven football pinnacle coming through after being upset by Utah I |
