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Show asssssss YOUR correspondent Is not among those who see only greatness in the past history of sport. All games j advance when greater numbers ol players take part and Improved methods are utilized In training Ud competition. But when we read and hear that I the new golden age of sport, due to j j follow In the postwar boom, will far j surpass the golden age that came i j after World War I, an Immediate 1 disagreement Is hereby entered. This 'doesn't concern the greater crowds that will undoubtedly pay out more cash In sport's coming boom, but it does concern the quality of the talent the next few years will bring along. Suppose we look over a few names that featured our headlines some j twenty or twenty-five years ago 1 1 Baseball Babe Ruth, Rogers j Hornsby. The Ring Jack Dempsey, Oene Tunney. Golf Bobby Jones, Gene Saraxen. (Hagen got an earlier start, but he was still a big part of the show.) Polo Tommy Hitchcock-Racing Hitchcock-Racing -Man o' War. Football Knute Rockne Rad Grange the Four Horsemen. Tennis Bill Tllden, Little Bill Johnston. What chance has the next decade to surpass this list In skill, color and crowd appeal? It might hap-i hap-i pen, of course, but the odds are the i other way. Such present day stars , as Joe Louis, Billy Conn and Byron Nelson were at or around the top ' some time before World War II started, and so can hardly be classed as members of the new "golden age" I group who are supposed to outclass the names we have mentioned. WHO CAN EQUAL THESEf Will any ball players come along to pass Babe Ruth's home run reo-ord reo-ord to pack ball parks that had, in many places, been drawing from 800 to 1200 spectators? Will any ball player come along to average above .400 for four consecutive years, as Hornsby did? Will any golfer come along to equal Bobby Jones grand slam, or hold the high average Oene Sarazen has carried for twenty-four seasons? Will a better polo player than Tommy Hitchcock report or a greater tennis player than Bill Til-i Til-i den? Or what new heavyweight will take over the show who has the ring appeal that Jack Dempsey knew In his seven years reign? All In all that bunch of old-timera will be hard to outclass as we look at the picture. The new golden age will first have to depend largely upon stars estab-j lished before Germany and Japan 1 decided to split the world like an apple and not even leave a core. This would have to Include such well known names as Joe Louis, Byron Nelson, Ted Williams, Bob Feller and a few otherB. After this ' we get a long list from baseball and football stars on the pro side who ' were called by Army and Navy when they were barely starting i , their Invasions of fame's kingdom. STARS AMONG VETERANS In spite of valuable years they have lost on the field, many of these will return and scrap their way Into, coming headlines. But the majority of the new stars will have to come from the millions of kids now under eighteen, plus the roll-call from some 11,000,000 servicemen who have ; been taught many games they never had the chance to know before at close range. There is no doubt the fact that the general average of skill will soon be well above the average we knew twenty years ago. And that Is what counts heavily. There will be new records especially In distance races ae we go out after the flying Swedes. We will have a far greater number num-ber of participants, also deeply Important, Im-portant, In every sport. And these will all play to record-breaking crowds, as Belmont showed the way last week with Its 57,000 human sardines hurling well over $4,000,000 Into the mutuel's maws. There will be a far greater mass of competitors to call upon. But that first golden age Is still something some-thing to outclass Ruth, Dempsey, Jonee, Tilden, Man o' War, Grange, Hitchcock and the others mentioned. For In addition to their skill and power they also had incredible flares of color and crowd appeal. In the main their names were known around the world. In addition to Louis and Nelson, Williams and Feller, the new golden age should lay claim to the Army and Navy football teams of 1945. The two great squads directed by Red Blaik and Swede Hagberg have the chance to be rated among the best any colleges have ever known including Notre Dame, Minnesota, Michigan and Southern California. Unfortunately they haven't the competition known before the war, but this Isn't their fault. Whatever happens, the next few years In sport will be something to watch and follow, possibly the oiost Interesting Interest-ing decade that any crowds have ever known. THE ONE TOP MAN We have often heard various flights of oratory about the beet ball player or the most valuable ball player through the war era-Many era-Many names have been mentioned, including those who were not called to war service, for various end official reasons which in no sense reflect upon the ball player. But when you complete your excavations ex-cavations and get down to what Is technically known as rock bottom, there Is only one answer. His name is Hal Newhouser, the willowy left hander of Detroit's Tigers who won 29 ball games last season. |