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Show XXHEN you are adding up the higher spots of 1944 in a sporting sport-ing way, don't overlook the rebound of one Joe Medwick of Mel Ott's Giants. This has taken place in his 15th year of pro baseball, the greater great-er part of it spent with the Cardinals, Cardi-nals, Dodgers and Giants. Apparently well over the hill through 1943, Medwick has suddenly turned to prove that his batting eye is still intact by keeping keep-ing in close pursuit of Dixie Walker and Stan Musial for the batting championship champion-ship of the National league. Joe hasn't the speed and dash that he once carried car-ried to the field, but he can still handle 1 at , . Grantland Rice It was just 10 years ago when Medwick first came to national fame by batting .379 in the Cardinal-Tiger World series and i acting as the leading target for a barrage of Detroit tomatoes, lemons, lem-ons, apples in fact, anything Tiger fans could find to peg in his general direction. The tumult and the shouting shout-ing grew so loud that Judge Landis had Medwick removed from the famous World series battle to prevent pre-vent a riot. Joe was the type that played the game out to the limit and his fiery temper was no great soothing force. But he was a great outfielder who could hit, run, throw and cover his territory when the Gas House Gang was at its peak. He hit .353 in 1935, .351 in 1936 and .374 in 1937, his peak year, when ha was named the National league's most valuable player. Shortly after this he was traded to the Dodgers where the beaning he took in 1940 was no help. In the 1942 campaign Medwick dropped to an even .300, which is still supposed to be a pretty fair mark, so in 1943 he was traded to1 the Giants. Joe wasn't any too hot last season. But while he has been no consistent ball of flame this summer sum-mer on the defensive side, which is a natural matter after 15 years, he has shown that he can still use a baseball bat. Colorful Ball Club My first meeting with Medwick took place at Bradenton, Fla., in the spring of 1935. I went down to put In a week's visit with Dizzy Dean, where I ran across the most colorful tall club I've ever known. . Frank Frisch was the manager then. Dizzy and Paul Dean were the two leading pitchers. Pepper Martin apparently was trying to wreck himself diving into bases through exhibition games. Leo Durocher and Medwick were pals. I dropped by to call on Durocher Duro-cher and Medwick one day and ran across more suits of clothes than Adolph Menjou ever wore. Medwick suggested a golf game next day against two rugged opponents I felt we couldn't beat. In the next day's round at St. Petersburg Medwick had a 70, which included a 7 on a short par 3 hole. His long and his short game were both high class and he has remained one of the better ball playing golfers. golf-ers. As strong as the Cardinals were around that time, Medwick remained re-mained their star for some years, a fine outfielder and one of the best hitters the National league ever knew over a stretch of time. "I suppose one of the reasons I've held up," Medwick says, "is that I've tried to keep in shape, especially especial-ly my legs, before any training sea-sou sea-sou ever started. Too many ball players wait until a training campaign cam-paign opens to get back in condition." condi-tion." Medwick, born in Carteret, N. J., is now 33 years old. While the N.L. batting race has been a hot scramble between Musial and Dixie Walker, with Hopp also in the running, it would be no great shock to see the old timer who has a lifetime batting mark above .325 give all three a ride down the stretch. When the present season opened up no one figured that two such veterans vet-erans would be up there with the brilliant Musial around Labor day. The Cardinal was supposed to be a kick in for his second year in succession. suc-cession. He is one of the best young hitters that baseball has known in years. But the two old-time hitters, Walker and Medwick, refuse to be shaken loose with only a month ol play left. After all, the arms and the leg! may begin to develop kinks but the batting eye is the last to go. Football Material We were wondering where all the good football players were coming from this fall. I asked Chip Robert, I one of the leading factors in south em football for over 20 years. ! "The woods are packed with gooo football players," Chip said. "Yoi ought to know in the South alon how many young fellows, under 18, there are who can pass, run anc ' kick. The same thing is true al over the map. It has largely beer a matter of getting many of then into college. |
