Show S SHORT HORT time ack we opened a A discussion on the importance ot of concentration and other mental aids on the side ot of winning competition this piece seems scorns to have developed a number of reper cushions cuss cus lons and disagreements in the scattered belief that physical skill and physical superiority are the dominating points this happen to be true the mental or concen Grantlan dRice tra uve side is still m more 0 r e important than the physical I 1 side what good ls Is a pitcher with blinding speed who cant locate tho lie plate who h haa as no change ot of pace who know the weakness of opposing batters when lefty grove first came along with the athletics I 1 recall watching him strike out six of t the he first afine yankees who faced him and then have his west virginia Vit ginia cars pinned back by the fifth inning as he headed for the cooling shower grove only became a great pitcher when he learned how kopitch to pitch lucli students of golf as hobby bobby jones walter hagen tommy armour and others have all told old me ino that they rate the mental or emo lional side of golf at 70 per cent the physical side at 30 per lent bent many years ago on a knoll at oakmont one of the great courses when not apol spoiled led by plow share traps and ice greens gree no I 1 happened to be be standing with bill fownes an able critic of 0 what it takes to win a bi big tournament there were nine our survivors left with only nine holes to play in this particular national open they were oil all in a seething mass blowing Blot ving up on last hole this should be ba a great scramble I 1 said to fownes 1 I dont think so fownes said there are only two men from the nine left who can concentrate 18 holes they arc aie tommy armour and harry cooper they ran 12 the others blow blew up completely ely if sammy snead had only had the ability to concentrate on his play as jones hagen and nelson have done one lie would hove have beema been a sensa t alon lon ive seen sammy in hla his prime throw throw away a U S open and in cash in a los angeles angelea open by taking two on two final holes where a ten handicap player would have had two Vs 58 the ne brain was still the tha major factor after all it was tho the brain or many brains that developed the atomic bomb dralus brains in sport have nothing to do with any intellectual trend fine lawyers able writers smart bank er ers leading physicians can be extremely dumb on the competitive side of sport downs clowns or illiterates such as rube waddell and joe jacksom Jack tion can be and have been smart baseball people rube waddell was waa completely dumb until you bonded banded him a glove and a baseball then he became baseball smart joe jackson could neither read nor write but he was a different human being when you handed him a bat the big black bat hla his brave song songor sangor song sang or sent him to the outfield with a glove only otte one eliy to malta make I 1 asked larry cajole once if he had ever pulled a boner in a ball game how can you pull a boner he said theres there always only one place to throw a ball always only one play to make fred V red merkle of the giants was known as Donch Done cad head merkle but intellectually he was for far and away the smartest member of mcgraws mcgrawsr McG raws old squad and this included christy mathewson Mal hewson merkle was a keen student of kant plato pragmatic and un pragmatic philosophers but his competitive reflexes were slow and out of line smart competitors in sport can bo be very dumb people in other lines of living they can be among the um best just consider the millions prize fighters Og litera have made only to finish broke and hungry and forgotten in their poverty there are arc those who are only equipped to make a living out of professional sport they are taking the hard way for one simple reason the time they have Is short on a general average they are tad fad ing out at 30 they are about through at 35 they are gone at 40 then at what to is supposed to be the prime of life they are through only a few smart ones have mapped out an extended trail on beyond what the public wants attendance figures prove again that baseballs big public is more interested in a close scramble in keener closer competition than it is in lo 10 looking king at stars the quality of baseball played has been a rather deep dip from other years but the quality of competition has been tar for higher through the arst hall half of the race no manager and no quivering tan an in the stands ever know knew a ball game w way over until the last mannas man i was out olin I 1 |