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Show CEVt:RAL old-time ball playen have suggested that the publn at large should not judge Hani Greenbcrg in the same light ai some of the other ex-servicemet who have returned to make good Two of those mentioned were Fer riss and Benton. "Remember." one of these said. "Ferriss and Benton had a chane. to play a lot 01 baseball before they were released froir service. Any num ber of star ball players have beer playing on army oi navy teams. Bui Greenberg h a i played practically no baseball for over four years. That's a long gap. Hunk lirernberf I recall that old Pete Alexander came back from the A E.F. to keep on going at a winning clip, but old Pete was only out of the game a year or less. It will be remarkable if Hank can start hitting home runs right away. Even close to his old form he could murder a lot of these pitchers now around, but it will take time." This brings up the old argument again regarding Joe Louis. Joe has been away over three year-. But after all he has had the ilia net- to box in a long list of exhibitions for various camps and hospitals. This isn't the same as actual ring fighting, hut at least It has given the heavyweight champion a chance to keep his hand in. The same il I true of Billy Conn. They probably won't be what they used to be but they can still get back into pretty fair boxing and punching form, if they happen to get out before too long. With the heavy play both army and navy are now making on the side of sport for servicemen in Europe Eu-rope and the Pacific, their chances for any sudden exit are none too warm. Army and navy have made plans to get all the coaches and trainers they can collect and to build up as many all-star contests as they can find especially in the way of boxing, box-ing, baseball and football. These are the three top sports that carry the leading soldier and sailor appeal, ap-peal, although basketball also has a terrific call. Louis and Conn I asked Jimmy Johnston, sage Of the leather district, how he figured Louis and Conn would go after returning re-turning to the ring. "First of all," he said, "just tell me when they are going to get out. That's important. If it takes much longer I'd say some tough young heavyweight soldier will come along who won't be afraid to tear in and punch. He will also be younger and tougher. No, I don't know who he will be. But with all the boxing training hundreds of thousands of these kids have had, a few of them are sure to learn a lot and to have what it takes." "Just what does it take?" I asked. "Very simple," the sage said. "To know how to box, to know how to punch, to be able to take a punch. You see thousands of kids who might have been good fighters never had a chance to get any instruction before. They never had a chance to do any boxing. The big majority had no chance to be a champion, anyway. But there must be many others who are sure to move far up. This goes for every class. Some of our best ring fighters have been teaching thousands of these younger men. It is for this reason that I think we'll get most of our ring champions after the war out of this group." In this connection a friend of Joe Louis tells me that the heavyweight leader now has his golf game down into the low 70s and expects to hold a big July tournament over one of Detroit's municipal courses. It is much easier to get Louis to talk about golf and the golf swing than it is to lure many words from him about boxing or the heavyweight championship. Also, Bowman Milligan, manager of Beau Jack, reports that while the lightweight's knee is still bothering bother-ing him, he is winning camp fights by quick knockouts. Beau Jack's present weight is over 145 pounds so he will have his share of trouble training himself back into the lightweight division. But it won't be any great trouble in most cases to remove surplus flesh. The big gamble will be what the returning veteran can do with the flesh, bone and sinew he has left, once he is down to weight. And there will be a flock of different answers an-swers to this problem. Al Benton s Case There is, for instance, the cas of Al Benton of the Tigers. Al is 6 ! feet 4, 238 pounds, age 32. He served two years in the navy. Many people will refer to his record as proof that service in the armed forces does not affect a player's ability, but Benton spent all his time at Norman, Okla., nad the position of athletic director, and about all he did was pitch, tie nad time to improve his curve ball and his slider, his main pitch today is this slider in fact. |