Show One Has What It Takes By GRANTLAND RICE RICE- I send you my sons som and my favorite favorite fa Iii- ones one The Th sons that I love the best I send them to you OU when I know they are due And ready to tackle the test I send you my sons but sons but it isn't a il gift Its It's merely a il loan loan for for when They have served out their day of promotion and pay pays They come to my arms again For they all come back to their Mother However the die is cast They gather the tho cheers of oj the radiant years But Bul the Bush BlISh is their home homo at al last From a Home Town Clearwater Fla A A nice pleas pleas- looking ant-looking fellow that I had n never neverseen neverseen ver seen before came up and said hello Do you know why Im I'm here he asked Maybe the sun I said Or Or oranges or baseball N No 0 he said I came down here just jut to see a fellow 4 named Jim Konstanty Konstanty Konstanty Kon- Kon stanty get ready for another year Jimis Jim Jimis Jimis is from my home borne hometown hometown town where he runs a sporting g g o 0 o 0 d s store Id I'd like to say A j Grantland Rice that he hes he's s a big credit to any town or city or to any game He Is something more than thana a pitcher who could work in 74 games practically games practically a g game a a. m e every other day all season long Jim is something more than a fellow with a rubber arm Hes He's a gentleman and a great human being In watching Jim Konstanty work workout workout workout out the most impressive feature of his pitching is the ease and smoothness smoothness smoothness smooth smooth- ness of ot his form There is no sign of ot extra effort efort in sight John McGraw McGraw Mc- Mc Graw once said that Bugs Raymond had the finest pitching motion he ever saw Ill I'll settle for Walter Johnson or Grover Alexander And Dizzy Dean wasn't far away But Konstanty has his share sharo of smoothness or rhythm or ease Checking back we recalled that Jim Konstanty had bad also been the first relief pitcher to reach the pinnacle of being voted the National Leagues League's Most 1 Valuable Valuable Valuable ble Player He was good goodenough goodenough goodenough enough to beat the great Stan out of this hallowed baseball spot After acting as a relief relie pitcher all year he was still good enough to annoy the Yankees as a starting starting starting start start- ing pitcher in the last world series It is interesting to know that one of his towns town's citizens came down to see him work work not not only because he was a star pitcher but largely because he be was a right guy Konstanty is no rookie The records records records rec rec- show that he was born in the sterling village of ot Strykersville New York some 34 years ago That age makes him doubly valuable inthe inthe in inthe the game today since many rookies are in the draft age Phillies of f 1951 95 f fA A year ago at this date Eddie Sawyer didn't think the Phillies would finish third He thought his bis youth needed more seasoning They finished first barely beating the Dodgers on the last day But if it Curt Simmons hadn't been called away for army duty Sawyer would have galloped in by five or six six games In this uncertain year of ot 1951 Sawyer has no Curt Simmons around He still has Konstanty He has Robin Roberts one of ot the best pitchers in either league He has bas Bubba Church Ken Heintzelman and others But Eddie will miss Simmons who was about due for a 20 or maybe a game 23 season in inthe inthe inthe the list of ot winners The loss of ot Simmons to the Phillies Phillies Phillies Phil Phil- lies Art Houtteman to the Tigers and Whitey Ford to the Yankees are the hardest blows the draft has delivered so far They were all stars all important to their clubs Eddie Sawyer being a Phi Beta Kappa which means he knows more than a few answers is a pretty conservative fellow He is not given to high enthusiasms or to low de de- de- de He walks a level road road road- which is the highway of ot the wise He is smart enough to look at the Giants and Dodgers Dodgers or or the Dodgers and Giants Giants and and know that at this point they both have better ball clubs than he has They are the manpower teams But the Dodgers last year had a a. a i much better ball club and he beat them them them-in in spite of ot Curt Simmons' Simmons absence absence absence ab ab- ab- ab sence down the stretch Sawyer has the toughest job in baseball this season He must take a 1950 pennant winner and chase two clubs that seem to have much greater strength Football Outlook With her past year 30 record Notre Dame can stand a season or two below the top There will be a big scattering of ot stars this season from many teams Michigan loses Ortman Dufek and Koceski This was 80 per cent of ot other her ball club Plus Wahl Ohio State loses a flock and so does California which is getting a trifle fed up with Rose Bowl assignments Red Sanders Sanders Sanders San San- ders returns a good nucleus at UCLA and will definitely be theman the theman theman man to w watch on the West Coast Coaches at Texas Oklahoma Oklahoma Oklahoma Okla Okla- homa and needn't worry |