Show speaking of sports 1938 may see comeback of sports flops by GEORGE A BARCLAY W BILE lloyds of london give you any odds on ia there is a good chance that 1938 cai pr ay be the year of the big come acks in sports a sort of retribution time when the lads who stumbled last year or the year before will pick up their feet and overtake those who passed lem em in the stretch take a fast inventory and find that most of the lads on the comeback trail are making a fairly good showing up to the present for instance max baer whipped tommy parr farr decisively and an X W 4 dizzy dean bounces that he will regain the heavyweight championship of the world which he lost to jim braddock the cubs after a dismal august fold up in the past two campaigns inform you that they are going to win the national league pennant with the same club that did the fadeout in the home stretch they may be right schoolboy rowe vows he will pitch the detroit tigers to the american league pennant if he can get some help from the rest of the pitching staff dizzy dean says he will show branch rickey that he is still the greatest pitcher in baseball max declares he will regain the heavyweight title now held by joe louis if youve been following dizzy this spring you will note that he has made a i real start above all he be is serious for perhaps the first time in his life and regardless of his quirks 80 per cent of the managers in either league would like to have him on the payroll hes about as ady with a baseball as anybody ya the big time and if he really settles down to business he can be the most valuable pitcher in the national league As for the cubs they really may make it this time tony lazzeri who has played against the giants in the last two world series will tell you that the cubs nave have a better team today man tor for man than bill terrys outfit and he can see no reason why they come through with max baer as with dizzy dean the thing that will really count in the comeback effort is taking his game seriously from au all reports he has cut out the night clubs and the clowning baer can punch ll 11 a max can really punch and take it his is best chance at regaining the championship is via max if should knock joe louis out then baer might be able to club the german into a count ol of ten once more because he can beat anyone he be thinks he can whip and he Is fully convinced that mg is his bis meat A lot of fight tans fans are convinced that can repeat his former win over joe louis by means of that right cross and pretty C max max baer good logic since the best way to gauge the future is by means of the past these fans will back their beliefs to the extent of even money As far as louis is concerned he looked any too impressive lately to be sure he has only had to dispose of setups set ups like nathan mann and harry barry thomas and maybe he taken these tune up bouts any too seriously but when he gets in the ring with again he will have to show considerably more than lie did in their 1936 engagement if he wants to remain boss of the heavyweight division cage game brakes B basketballs basketballs ASKET BALLS racehorse speed that some authorities regarded as detrimental to the athletes health will be slowed down a bit next season by two brakes applied recently by the rules committee 0 of f the he national association of basketball coaches meeting in chicago the coaches increased the permissible number of timeouts for the college game to five and pro provided v aided for optional use of four ten minute periods instead of the usual twenty minute halves for high school games a new rule on ties will make the first artime overtime a sudden death period for the first score made will decide the game this will eliminate possibly harmful long drawn out overtime games while no extra timeouts were added to the high school game officials were instructed to take an official timeout in the second and fourth quarters provided no time has been called during the first four minutes of play by either team among additional rule changes approved for the college game were optional use of a four foot instead of a two foot out of bounds margin behind the face of backboards buckboards back boards and the barring of substitutions after a goal is made until the ball is back in play the outer half of the foul circle was exempted from present provi of the three second rule in the case of a player who does not have possession of the ball the change eliminates last years penalty for lingering in the area by players without the ball the rule remains unchanged in regard to players having the ball he threw Thre wEm em fast HO was the speediest ediest pitcher ayou you ever watched throw a baseball was it smoky joe wood bob feller or fireball mungo or was it lefty grove bazzy vance or ed walsh all these lads have or had plenty of swift but take it from al schacht the baseball clown who is really serious in this instance he still spotted a pitcher rookie or veteran who can throw a baseball as fast as walter johnson used to for years al has been making the rounds every spring working out with different teams and he has been watching the young pitchers searching for the easy flowing mo X k A walter johnson tion that made johnson his bis idol he has just about decided that hell never find it schacht who was a teammate team mate ot of johnson for years on the washington club gets vehement on the subject he asks why do people keep talking about who was the greatest pitcher when anybody with any sense knows there was never one even close to walter ask any man who ever tried to hit that fast ball of his bis when I 1 look at some ot of these guys they call fast ball pitchers these days it hands me a laugh why MY johnson threw a ball harder when he was loafing along behind a one run lead than anybody else ever h has as here and there THE consensus of opinion Is that Sl ingin sammy baugh recently transferred to columbus by the st louis cardinals will eventually stick to football training camp verdict was that hell never be a big league hitter a difficulty which has beset other gridiron immortals like jim thorpe who tried baseball but sammy should worry hes c ertain certain of at least a year from the washington red skins for throwing forward passes in the fall joe louis whose horatio alger career led from an alabama cotton field to the worlds beav heavyweight dweight championship has earned almost in the prize ring since 1934 new yorks three major league ball clubs the yankees giants and brooklyn dodgers will advertise the 1939 worlds fair with blue and orange emblems attached to the sleeve of each players uniform when goose goslin signed a contract with washington it marked the third time the former detroit outfielder has been a member of the S senators S 0 western newspaper union |