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Show I SPORTL1GHT , Who Can Equal the Older Stars? I By GRANTLAND RICE 1 TIME MARCHES ALONG to a rataplan of knocks and raps. The loud noises and the squawks usually come from a group of gray-haired gray-haired veterans panning the present generation. It may be a groun of Today you have 30 or 40 men on each side throwing from 30 to 40 passes. So again how can you compare com-pare old time football stars with the modern bunch, who either never make a tackle or else never run with the ball? It might be well for all concerned con-cerned to remember this in the words of Bernard Gimbel "In every sport that can be measured measur-ed or timed records are improving im-proving year by year. The game Is getting better and better." Every sport should be well advanced ad-vanced today over bygone yesterdays. yester-days. There are many more players. play-ers. These players are getting' better bet-ter bulk training and smarter coaching in general. There is no Cobb or Ruth around today and we'll likely never have i' " i 3 old-time ballplayers attacking the mediocrity me-diocrity of the present-day crop. It may come from a bunch of old-time golfers or old-time fighters giving the world proof that those hanging arnnnrl tnrla-o are Grantland Rice largely bums. The same is true of football where the platoon system has been composed nf half-nlavers. according to the veterans of older wars. Those who can run or pass can't block or tackle and those who can tackle can't run or pass. Only recently Ty Cobb and Rogers Hornsby, baseball's two greatest hitters Cobb, the greatest Hornsby, the game's greatest righthand hitter decided de-cided there were no modern players who belonged among the first 20 of other years. I don't believe this will quite stand up. I'd say an outfield composed of Musial, DiMaggio and Williams would have been awarded many sprigs of laurel or olive over 20 or 30 or 40 years ago. This trio would have been a great outfield back in the peak years of Cobb and Ruth. One main trouble which arises in all comparisons is the change that has come to all games. For example, baseball has changed in many ways since the days of Cobb, Ruth and Hornsby. Or in the big days of Honus Wagner. Those were the days of the dead or much deader ball the days of the steal not the days of the home run. Speed and quickness ruled over sheer power. Nine home runs would lead a league in one season. But it would take 70 or 80 or 90 stolen bases to lead a league. Baseball from 1900 to 1920 was an entirely different game from baseball in 1920 on to 1950. A big part of the game's old science had given way to the home-run home-run hitters. another pair like this. But there have been some pretty fair ballplayers ball-players Musial, Williams, DiMaggio, DiMag-gio, Rizzuto, Slaughter, Reese, Robinson, Rob-inson, Terry Moore, Johnny Mize, Marty Marion, Yogi Berra, etc. Bill Dickey ranks Berra up with the best catchers he ever saw, and Arkansas Bill knows about all there is to know about catching. When it comes to comparisons, old and modern play are entirely too far apart to start any definite ranking. The Case of the Cubs Just across some 18 or 20 miles of water beyond Los Angeles there is a very beautiful island. Its name is Catalina the training spot for owner Wrigley's Chicago Cubs. On this island with its hills and ravines you can go wild goat hunting, hunt-ing, quail shooting or play golf. Or you can watch Frank Frisch and his Cubs getting ready to keep out of last place, if possible. It is generally understood that Branch Rickey has no idea of permitting per-mitting the Pirates to linger much longer around the cramped confines con-fines of the cellar. Smart baseball men are betting he will have his Pirates in the first division in two years. But the Cubs, in spite of Frank Frisch's driving ability, don't seem to be going anywhere in the general direction of any higher plateau. But the Cubs have the most comfortable com-fortable and best-kept park in either Same Everywhere Football is also an entirely different differ-ent game from what it used to be. The first big change came in with the forward pass in 1906. The pass began to dominate the attack around 1915. Now it is a big part of football. The two platoon system changed football completely. The game of 1900 even the game of 1920 had passed out. Football is no longer a team game. It is practically prac-tically one college meeting another college. big league and so big crowds wander wan-der out to the West Side. Frank Frisch is a first class manager and a terrific worker but for some odd reason it takes good ballplayers to win ball games, of which the Cubs have only a few. Last season the Cubs broke briskly from the barrier and acted for a few rounds like a first division outfit. But not for long. Mr. Frisch was a worn and weary leader when he returned to his flower beds in New Rochelle at the season's end. |
