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Show I r SPOR TUGH T : , Three Mandarins of the Horsehide I By GRANTLAND RICE THE WELL KNOWN GAME of baseball has known three top men who operate back of the scenes. Their names are Ed Barrow, Branch Rickey and Larry MacPhail. .... . ( , T If These are the three mandarins who have arranged the pennant destinies des-tinies of more than one team by their ability in developing, de-veloping, building and rebuilding ball clubs. "I would not attempt to assess this 1950 Army team until it had met a major test without Galiffa running its attack. The average good team gets a Galiffa every 10 or 12 years and while it has him it will be up there with the leaders. I know young Blaik is a first-class football player , and he may fill the spot. This has yet to be proved. "Check back," he said, "on the last two years of Army play and be convinced that, whenever Army was threatened, it was Galiffa who stood in the breach. Better yet, go over the films of Army's major games and see what a magnificent player this big, quiet boy was. He was the type of player that made difficult work appear easy. "My first look at Galiffa was In the rout of Stanford in 1948. Talking to Earl Blaik that night, I remarked that what impressed me most was not his two platoon system but the rare, ability of his T quarterback. Unlike the Luckmans, the Tuckers, the Lujacks and others, this Galiffa would go through the middle or off the ends with the skill of the Nolt-ings Nolt-ings and Davises. Galiffa made history his-tory in the 1948-1949 campaigns as the first great triple threat of the T, a quarterback who could handle the ball, pass the ball and run with the ball." This is all true. In the last Army-Notre Dame game back in 1947, I thought Galiffa was the star of both backfields. Yes, I know Notre Dame had Lu-jack, Lu-jack, Brennan, Sitko and other fine backs but that day Galiffa was the best man on the field. Young Bob Blaik is undoubtedly one of the best of the new crop. He is not only a good man on the physical side, but mentally also. College Vs. Big League We'll say some college has a student who is both a good baseball player and a good football player. At this point, some big-league club wants to grab him. Said club offers him a bonus of $10,000 or $20,000. The ideal move to make would be for the student to get his degree and take a gamble on the bonus a year or so later. But this will never happen until there is an arrangement between the big leagues and the colleges. To the average student in college $1,000 is a chunk of money and $5,-000 $5,-000 is beyond dreaming. So when the leagues offer to put up $10,000 or $20,000 or more you can be pretty sure that the college athlete isn't going to pass it up. I don't believe the colleges can ask the big leagues to overlook their athletes and I don't believe the colleges can a;k some student to play for the fun of it against $i0,-000 $i0,-000 or $20,000. Grantland Rice Ed Barrow came to his fame in Boston and New York. But Ed goes back to the days of Wagner and Lajoie, Babe Ruth, Joe DiMaggio and others. It was Mr. Barrow who probably developed devel-oped or, at least, had a big part in developing the aE-conquering Yankees. Yan-kees. There may be many complaints com-plaints about listing Larry MacPhail Mac-Phail in this group. But don't forget that MacPhail first lifted the lowly Reds to two pennants. MacPhail brought in most of the players who lifted Cincinnati from the cellar to the top. From Cincinnati, MacPhail came to Brooklyn and gave the Dodgers their first flag in more than 20 years. MacPhail was largely responsible re-sponsible for the Dodger renaissance. renais-sance. He brought in more than a few players who figured in later Dodger victories. After this MacPhail Mac-Phail came to the Yankees where he again played one of the leading roles in winning another Yankee pennant with Bucky Harris in charge. So here are three successes in a row that MacPhail engineered or helped to engineer. Rickey's major job is well known. It was Rickey who made the Cardinals. It was Rickey who fathered and developed de-veloped the farm system. It was Rickey who made Brooklyn s power In baseball. The Dodgers will be a power for years to come if someone can be found to take Rickey's place, which is Something Brooklyn can't do. Rickeys are not grown on every bush. Brooklyn has no one who can even approach Branch Rickey's all-around baseball ability. If the Dodgers keep him in charge, it will be all the better bet-ter for the team. The situation is no place for amateurs, as Brooklyn will soon find out. Army's Unbeaten Mark What chance has Red Blaik's Army platoon to whip both Michigan Michi-gan and Stanford and finish the 1950 season unbeaten with a record of 29 consecutive victories? I put this query up to one of the country's coun-try's keenest coaches. This is his reply: |