Show ir V 1 J A LI LIft LIt S I t I ft JYo I I Sport Has lias as Its is Minded Absent Professors Too DURING the seasons of his greatest glory the newspaper boys were always uncovering one flaw In the perfection of that stout citizen who now Is devoting his declining de do clining years to golf No matter how often they might dine or otherwise commune with him they always dis t r covered that the first fifteen or twenty meetings were the hardest After that the stout citizen would give up guessing as to whether this was Bill or Damon or Joe and from then on their lives could bo be- made more beautiful by the knowledge that Babe Ruth would know them collectively and Individually as Kid Of course from time to time gentlemen gen tiemen from whatever estate the newspaper b bus u s 1 I Iness I- I ness happens to be beIn beIn beIn In resented this disregard for their undoubted w worth wortha 0 r t h hand fy a and baptismal mon mon- ickers Most I 0 8 t of ot the them ro tho though ugh merely took It as new evidence of ot hJ the pressure that besets a great man manor or smirked complacently compla compla- Ruth Gently at mirrors which persisted In to giving cl evidence that this Kid stuff was all wrong Recently a reporter made men men- mention mention tion of this at one of those vast r public gatherings where he Is s such sucha ch a favorite Immediately some busybody busybody busybody busy busy- body in the audience inquired i if In Inability Inability In In- ability to remember the names orthe of or the eminent commentators upon sports and wrestling was confined entirely to the Babe Sadly being one of those who are reluctant to share the miseries and the secrets of the profession with the world the reporter was forced to admit the truth For Instance there Is the St St. StLouis Louis baseball scrivener ner who devoted devoted de de- voted several seasons t to giving his best advice aid and comfort comfort- to Billy Southworth South while the latter was pla playing the outfield and man managing I aging the Cards Perhaps the they were not Dot as close as Park Parl and Tilford L but to all nIl outward evidence e they I seemed two hearts that beat as one Then fat fate and the failure to win a ap p pennant decreed that Southworth V should try his baseball fortunes elsewhere Scant months later the two met wet In the lobby tobby of ot a hotel V V How are arc you Bill caroled the ther thel r l baseball writer rushing forward with eagerly outstretched hand Gee Im I'm glad to to- to There was a hiatus which Is a 1 word high-class high writers use when they mean a painful pause and the handing out of a fish in the form of a handshake Ah uh nb It was not that Mr Southworth Is a snob a ribber or a aguy aguy aguy guy who devotes his life lICe to dealing out the Ice Ills brow was wrinkled wrin wrin- wrinkled kled In earnest concentration for tor a full fun minute Then he surrendered Say I know your our face tace Didn't you use to play the piano at n But the curtain must be drawn over this deplorable scene It can be lifted upon the fact that the athletes athlete also fail fall to know one another By this I do not refer to the Helen Wills Moodys the tho Helen and those others who probably probe I ably have very good reason for not nodding as they pass by Homer Fails rails to 0 Revive Memory JI Instead the reference la is to ordinary ordinary nary mortals such as the pitchers whose forgetful arms have hare showed V V a p the best strategy strafe strate gy of Rogers Hornsby Horns b by and F Franki rankle Frisch this season During one of those clubhouse sessions devoted to deep thinking g concerning 1 how to foil the op opposition op gf position told In detail bow ho the Drowns Browns should Hornsby pitch to It Roger o g e r Cramer That afternoon Cramer belted a game winning home run off George Knowing that the pitch had not been the one he had so prudently advised Hornsby rushed out upon the diamond Who the I h-I h I do you think that you were throwing to he demanded Gee Ive I've seen him around some place but I 1 Just cant can't think of his name Blaeholder con con- V this space Is not ORDINARILY O A devoted to answering letters but I have a feeling that there may maybe maybo maybo bo be many other young fellows In the same fix ac as the tho one who sought advice ad- ad vice three days ago So So- So If Dear Ted Ted Ted-If If I were wore you I would not worry too much about what the boys say at school Neither would I strain too much this summer Perhaps Perhaps Per Per- haps tho the coach Is right In saying that you arc are too small sall for football But what of It You are aro only sixteen six six- teen years old and you have h plenty Aplenty of or time for adding extra pounds and Inches so that you can make your letter Look at nt Jim Braddock Up to the time he lie was twenty nine years old he was kind of ot small for the honors honors hon hone ors he really was seeking and the up grown boys used to say Bay a n lot more about him than the boys at nt your school schoolY possibly could Im Jm agine agane He did not r fret Cret about It Instead Instead In- In V stead years ears after aftermost aftermost a most men In his lils line lino would have havo Braddock been through growing grow grow- lag ing or advancing In any fashion be he added d an Inch to his height and 20 pounds to his weight Then he became be came heavyweight champion of or the world by t Seating Max Baer As for your figuring that pounds is not enough for a baseball baseball base bas ball player because you have read that managers prefer strapping six six- footers let me tell you a story It goes back through the years to the decade that was known as the glamorous glamorous glamorous glam glam- orous nineties Baseball was young then a teemIng teeming teem teem- ing lag boisterous sport The ball was not endowed with the elastic clastic qualities Wes Ides of a later era and when fences were built far Car from Crom the home plate a giant could seem needed to produce produce produce pro pro- duce a n. batting average of ot It ItIs ItIs Itis Is a mark that never has been equaled since that season son and has been beaten only once In the sixty recorded years of ot the sport Want to see the tho man who achieved It as well as hits a record toward which not even the giant Hank Greenberg may aspire No I am not trying to kid you That pale little fellow with the thin cheeks and the angular elbows folded fold fold- ed cd across a narrow chest Is not the bat boy This is on the level Ted no matter what the boys at school may have told you What How could such a half pint rise to the heights when strapping pitchers and burly far ranging fielders rallied to defend against him McGraw l Were little Guys 1 Let us still Imagining that we we are arc back In the nineties ask him See Sec how he be gazes gares steadily at us while a n knobby chin ceases moving mo and anda a wad of oC chewing gum gets a moments moment's mo mo- ments ment's rest easy Wee Willie Keeler Keel reel er Is sn saying Ing I hI just hit em where the they aint Translated into more elegant terms Ted this atom of a man scarcely bigger than you are now has explained the superiority of or mind over matter Blazing speed muscles that coordinated co with an alert ever inspiring mind made one of the smallest men in the history of baseball one of the greatest batters bat bat- batters of all time Along with John McGraw another another an an- other great grea little guy Wee Willie WIIlie changed the trend of ot the game caused rules to be revised Their ability to tap V the ball out of ot reach of ot the tIe fielders Ide r s brought science Into a sport that had subsisted on force aye They proved pro roved the rG Pk Jf worth of ot the bunt f the sacrifice the run hit-and-run p play I 1 a y McGraw Before their time timea timeo a o foul ball ban did not count as a n strike McGraw V and Keeler could stand at ot the plate and deliberately hit so many fouls that they wore down the strongest pitch pitch- ers The rule was changes changed When they Joined the tho Immortal old Orioles they were such straw ny fly little guys the other players laughed and said they should not not be permitted to do anything more strenuous than carry bats They fought with frantic muscles fiery tongues and quick brains They never ceased trying learning Before Be Be- fore long the fans were fighting to get Into the park to see them For more than thirty years after that the greater little guy McGraw was to continue as one of the biggest men In the history of the game Of or course that was long ago no Ted but dont don't let the loys at school tell you that similar things s no longer can happen Instead when whon you return return return re re- turn In the fall ask them about Little Little Lit Lit- tle Bill Johnston or C Cyril Walker or Bert nert Metzger or Morris Ely Boston Poston promoters are trying to talk Jack Sharkey Into luto coming back to meet Jack Jacl Doyle This Is because because because be be- cause the Massachusetts commission commis commis- commission sion slon Insists that It If Judith Allens Allen's husband performs In the Hub flub It must be a against local talent It also Is because Dick Madden addeD and ond lack Jack McCarthy cCarthy the only active Boston Bos Boo tun ton heavyweights available are nut not good drawing cards O C New York Poet Sorrl Soni |