OCR Text |
Show gf fiCE Ji .r- I IN THE midst of the turmoil of nations and the crash of planets the argument has arisen as to which is the more proficient type in competitive com-petitive sport the fellow who is knock-kneed or the one who is bowlegged? This query comes in from one of the army camps, where It seems that quite a debate followed without with-out arrival at any fitting and proper exit. As a starter I put the matter up to P. Hal Sims, golfer, bridge player and a close follower -yp-SiT"! of all sports where N he might pick up a l worthy wager and on the right side. S$'KS- Mr. Sims promptly Dm J went for the knock-.! knock-.! kneed entry. "I knw " Eolf." rf vices a more com" ' fcVtV fortable stance, and Saw.,( -.J it also allows you to Crantland Rice Pivot much more freely." To carry out his point Mr. Sims picked up a random brassie and proved that a bowlegged golfer had to turn with great effort, whereas the knock-kneed party had no trouble at all in this respect. "With the two knees bearing in," Mr. Sims continued, "you are bal-. bal-. anced at the start. You are all set." To prove his point further, artistically artisti-cally and financially, Mr. Sims then played the first nine holes at Garden City in 36, one under par. Other Stars On the knock-kneed side I can give you the case of two star performers. per-formers. One was Ruby Robert Fitzsimmons, who stopped Jim Cor-bett Cor-bett at Carson City, Nev., some 45 years ago. Fits was a terrific puncher especially espe-cially for his weight, which was from 158 to 165 pounds. One day Fitz had a workout with Kid McCoy. In that workout Fits gave the Kid a heavy lathering. As the operation was taking place, McCoy's keen eyes noticed how Fits stood how knock-kneed he was. Deciding this stance, a natural one, provided at least part of the leverage, the Kid tied a towel around his knees, just enough to permit him to move around, but getting the benefit of the knock-kneed effect. He always claimed as a result he became a much harder puncher later lat-er on. "It was the added leverage," according ac-cording to the Kid, "that did the job." He went on: Christy Mathewson was the most knock-kneed pitcher I ever saw. It was Matty's idea that being knock-kneed knock-kneed helped his balance tremendouslyaccounting tremen-douslyaccounting in part for his fine control. You could barely get the segment of a toy balloon between be-tween Matty's knees. Against this, Hans Wagner was as bowlegged as a barrel hoop. You could drive a horse a short one between Wagner's wide-spreading legs. I have known many great football players who also were on the bow-legged bow-legged side. The Normal Stance Mr. Sims brings out the point that in golf, instructor Alex Morrison always al-ways advocates an inward roll of the left and right foot left foot on the backswing, right foot on the ! downswing. This naturally comes i much easier to the knock-kneed party, par-ty, who has a slight start along that route. But it must be admitted that the ! normal stance is the straight-legged fellow Joe Louis, Ty Cobb. Bobby Syv Jones, Walter Hagen, . M, Byron Nelson, Jack Dempsey. Bill Til- f7. den. Babe Ruth. ' I don't think there r V . is any question thai k . a pigeon-toed take- 1 I leverage and a quick- Jr er start ' than one Ik that Is slue-footed. k 4 I should say the Walter Hagen pigeon-toed stance would come more naturally from a knock-kneed player than from one j on the bowlegged aide at least generally gen-erally speaking. Stance Is largely a matter of bal-; bal-; ance and leverage. There is certainly cer-tainly more power to be gotten from ' the Inside of the feet than from the I outside. You can get an Inside grip, whereas there is no outside Rrip. . . j The Greatest Ball Player "Do you know the greatest ball i player I ever saw?" Andy Coakley, the old Philadelphia Athletics' star, asked. "His name was Louis Sock-alexis, Sock-alexis, the Indian who once played with Cleveland. Lou lasted only a short while, but he had everything Ty Cobb's , speed. Babe Ruth's swing, a great arm. He was a master mas-ter artist If he had only given more attention to baseball he could have been a steady .400 hitter. I've never seen another who had as much natural all-around ability." i 1 |