19th HOLE: THE READERS TAKE OVER

RETIRED TO CROSLEY FIELD
Sirs:
Note:—publication (SI, Nov. 1) of F.P.A.'s lines on Tinker to Evers to Chance prompted the following versified rejoinder from a retired English professor who is an ardent supporter of the Cincinnati Redlegs:

DOUBLE-PLAY THREESOME 1954
Red-stockinged trio that base runners fear,
Temple, McMillan and Klu;
Heading the list in a pace-setting year,
Temple, McMillan and Klu.
When their spectacular relays appear,
Mike salesmen fail to remember their beer—
Frenzied fans spring to their feet as they cheer
Temple, McMillan and Klu.
CLYDE W. PARK
Cincinnati

A LITTLE
Sirs:
Although admittedly cheating a little, I am rising to the challenge issued in SI's Nov. 1st issue:
McMillan to Temple to Kluszewski,
40 times in one year got out twoski,
No olden-time crew
Ever dared hope to do
So much to so many with so fewski.
HUGH M. BURR
Elmhurst, N.Y.

SMALL CONSOLATION
Sirs:
The following, herewith, in response to your challenge in SI's Nov. 1 edition on "Tinker to Evers to Oops":
On that trio of Redlegs
You can risk a shilling,
When it comes to making
The 6-4-3 twin-killing.
What makes Reds' foes
Double too blueski?
Why, McMillan to Temple
To Teddy Kluszewski.
(At least they're from Ohio.)
S. S. FRIEDMAN
Cleveland

GOOD NEWSKI
Sirs:
In reply to F.P.A.'s legend:
Last year with forty sure-fire double killings,
McMillan to Temple to Kluszewski.
The Redlegs were fifth when the league posted billings,
McMillan and Temple and Kluszewki.
But with the DP the Reds loseki,
So next year they'll make newski—
The double play they are ditching,
And who will be pitching???
McMillan and Temple and Kluszewski.
JIM TROXELL
Cincinnati

EXCUSE IT
Sirs:
Taking up the challenge offered in SI's SOUNDTRACK, I herewith offer my contribution:

NEW BASEBALL'S SAD LEXICON
This is the worst of all climaxes:
"Mac to Temple to Klu."
A trio of Reds and surer than taxes
Are Mac and Temple and Klu.
Mechanically stealing those drives with saves;
Hitting homers, too.
They stymied the drive of those wonderful Braves:
Mac and Temple and Klu.

Well, at any rate, I've been wanting a good excuse to write and tell you what an outstanding contribution SI has been making to the world of sport. Orchids on your complete coverage, your fearless stands (article on boxing was simply!!!!), and your beautiful layout. Always proud to see SI in my mailbox. Keep it up!
JOHN MOOD
Dallas

TODAY'S OPPORTUNITIES
Sirs:
As a subscriber to your new and interesting magazine, I feel I have the right to criticize an article in SI, Nov. 1, belittling the Tinker to Evers to Chance double-play combination.

As an old baseball fan and a friend of the late Johnny Evers, I wish to point out the impact the lively ball has had on baseball. Managers of today are forced to play an entirely different game than the manager of Chance's time. Back in those days the old dead ball resulted in scores of 1 to 0, 2 to 1, etc. Today, with the lively ball, the scores are more apt to read 10 to 8, 14 to 4, etc. Thus, today's teams have many more opportunities to make double plays....
ART KILMARTIN
Albany, N.Y.

SAD, SAD LEXICON
Sirs:
In SOUNDTRACK you made mention of F.P.A.'s widely forgotten Baseball's Sad Lexicon. But alas!! how prophetical.

That fabled infield of the old Cubs consisted of four ballplayers—Harry Steinfeldt, the third baseman; small Johnny Evers, playing second base; at shortstop, Joe Tinker; and big Frank Chance, as the first baseman.

That Cub quartette lived glorious baseball years even though, individually, each player was beset by eccentricities. Harry Steinfeldt, the third baseman, was morose and always kept to himself. Big, husky Frank Chance, the greatest first baseman of his time, always seemed to fear impending doom. While Joe Tinker and Johnny Evers, although for years they played baseball side by side, never spoke a word to each other when off the field.

But while fame had blessed those four players of the Cub infield, tough luck and tragedy dogged them. Harry Steinfeldt was the first to be hit by the curious jinx. In 1914, Harry suddenly became paralyzed. When he finally died after a year of torture, he was only 37.

The next victim of the jinx was Frank Chance. Towards the end of his playing career he was beaned. He was never the same man again. For years after, he suffered great pain and anguish from headaches—and then he became a victim of the dread disease of tuberculosis and died.

Johnny Evers, the brilliant second baseman, could not escape the jinx. When the peppery little infielder left baseball he had a fortune of close to a quarter of a million dollars, but he soon lost it all. Then he suffered a stroke which paralyzed his right arm and leg and cost him partial loss of his voice. For years Evers remained a helpless invalid, sentenced to a wheelchair, until death finally released him.

And Joe Tinker, the double-play shortstop, also fell victim to the doom. When he left baseball he seemed headed for fortune and happiness, he ran his baseball earnings into a fortune of half a million dollars. But suddenly his savings were swept away. Added to his financial troubles, Joe suffered domestic tragedies. His first wife died and so did his second. He had many serious illnesses, and he lost a leg. Years of misery finally came to an end for one-legged Joe Tinker, who on his 65th birthday decided it was time to join his teammates in Valhalla.

What was this strange fate that pursued all the four players who made baseball history? Out of four men, all died after years of torture, pain and misery. Sad lexicon, indeed.

What a void your publication has filled in the hearts and minds of sports-minded people. Keep up the great work.
JAMES J. McCULLOUGH
Atlantic City, N.J.

SPAGHETTI LEGS
Sirs:
Congratulations on your interest in marathon running. Your subscriber has competed in two Boston A. A. Marathon Races back in 1933 and 1934, finishing both of these events in a little over four hours! The first time I got away with the race in pretty good shape. In my second attempt, however, I was crawling around on all fours about eight miles from the finish and can fully appreciate the agony which afflicted both Peters and Dorando in the two races which SI has so interestingly covered.

I just had to finish that 1934 B.A.A. Marathon. It was getting late, and there wasn't anyone around who gave a hoot about giving me any assistance! It is indeed a very weird feeling when you know that you should keep moving but are completely unable to control those legs of spaghetti!
JOHN C. RICE, JR.
Boston

THE MAPLE LEAF ON HIS JERSEY
Sirs:
I have been an enthusiastic reader of SI since its inception and in order to keep the record for good reporting clear, would like to point out an error in your last issue.

The article Marathon Craze has a picture of a group of contestants at Madison Square Garden, showing Shrubb of England, Dorando of Italy, Ives of France and Longboat, Hayes and Maloney as Americans. While this may be theoretically correct, insofar as continental location is concerned, it should be pointed out that Tom Longboat was a Canadian and can be seen wearing the Maple Leaf emblem on his jersey. As a former Canadian who watched him run many times, and saw him beat Shrubb in the same Madison Square Garden, I think you should retract this false classification.
ROY B. NORDHEIMER
Chicago

•Cug-wa-gee, called Tom Longboat, was a Canadian Iroquois Indian who became one of the greatest distance runners of all time without ever taking his training too seriously. At one time he set a Boston Marathon record, defeated both Shrubb and Dorando, and out-raced a horse and buggy over a 12-mile course. Unlike Jim Thorpe, Tom never dropped into obscurity, died a well-remembered hero in 1949 on Ottawa's Onondaga Reservation.—ED.

TOO GREEN FOR CRIMSON
Sirs:
That very good shot of Bo McMillin eluding the two Harvard players for the t.d. which gave little Centre College the 6-0 victory over the Crimson calls to mind the subsequent dramatic football finale of Erwin Gehrke of Harvard, one of the players depicted in this photo as missing his man!

Gehrke returned to Harvard, after having stayed out of college for a year, in the fall of 1924. In the Harvard-Yale game, which was played at New Haven that year, Gehrke appeared on the scene on crutches. Despite a badly battered leg, he shed the crutches, started for Harvard at halfback, and carried the ball innumerable times for innumerable first downs. Before the half had ended, he had kicked two field goals with a water-soaked ball in the driving rain! To be sure, a highly efficient Yale team beat Harvard that year 19-6, but all the Eli scoring was made during the second half—after Gehrke had been removed from the game because of further injuries.

Crimson rooters, who remember this game, like to think of it in terms of Gehrke 6, Yale 0, for that is the way things really were when this fellow was forced to leave this contest. May I suggest that Gehrke was only a sophomore and very green when the 1921 Harvard-Centre picture was taken!
JOHN C. RICE, JR.
Boston

•Runner Rice had a busy week. See page 80.—ED.

RIVAL PIONEERS
Sirs:
Mr. J. Edgar Hoover's contribution to the HOTBOX (SI, Oct. 25) includes this statement: "Walter Camp selected his first mythical team in 1889..." referring to the first All-American football team. Mr. Hoover has apparently accepted what may be called the "Camp Legend" and is not aware of the following facts:

1) The selections for 1889 and 1890 were first published in Week's Sport, a periodical conducted by Caspar Whitney No credit line of authorship is given.

2) Under Caspar Whitney's credit line, teams for 1891-1896 first appeared in Harper's Weekly. In the issue of Dec. 12, 1891, the Week's Sport selections for 1889 and 1896 were repeated—with no mention of Camp as author or collaborator.

3) Beginning with the 1894 issue, the Official Football Guide, which was edited by Walter Camp, listed the 1889-1896 teams with authorship credit being specifically given to Caspar Whitney.

4) The first team known to have carried a Walter Camp credit line was a team (with second and third teams) for 1897 which appeared in Whitney's "Amateur Sport" department of Harper's while Whitney was on a world sports tour.

5) Whitney's last selection for Harper's were teams for 1898 and 1899.

6) Camp made selections for Collier's Weekly, beginning with teams (first, second and third) for 1898 and annually thereafter, including teams for 1924—except that he selected no teams of college players for 1917.

7) In the Collier's issue of Jan. 14, 1899 Camp listed the 1889-1896 teams. In the issue of Jan. 28, 1899 Camp said: "In giving the list of All-American teams for a number of years in a recent issue it was my intention to state that the selections were those of Mr. Caspar Whitney in Harper's Weekly."
CLARENCE G. McDAVITT
Newtonville, Mass.

•Both Walter Camp and Editor Whitney pioneered in the selection of annual All-America teams, but generally avoided crediting the other for his share in the work. Reader McDavitt, himself an authority on early All-America teams, is correct in stating that Camp gave Whitney (whom he succeeded as editor of the Official Football Guide) credit for the '89-96 selections. But Camp also claimed in the 1899 Guide that the idea of annual All-America selections was his own.—ED.

WHAT TRADITIONS?
Sirs:
"WHEN THE PROS COME MARCHING IN" PROVIDES ANOTHER LINK IN OUR TIME-HONORED CONTENTION THAT "THE PEOPLE WILL DETERMINE WHAT THEY WANT TO SEE" REGARDLESS OF DICTATES HANDED DOWN BY UNIVERSITY MEN IMBUED WITH ACADEMIC TRADITIONS.
NICK KERBAWY
General Manager, Detroit Lions
Detroit, Mich

I HAVE PLAYED THE GAME
Sirs:
I was impressed with the article on the U.S.S.R.'s plan to win the 1956 Olympic Games at Melbourne. As I read through the article I could not help recalling a lesser Olympics—the Second Asian Games held in Manila, Philippines. There a Japanese team came that was a replica of your Russian juggernaut. One line in the article is most apt, i.e., "Nothing is being left to chance."

Control of Japanese athletics is also cabinet status. They practiced, dead-set, with almost monotonous regularity. Their officials, including newspapermen, cameramen, radio announcers, almost outnumbered their athletic delegates. And as decidedly as the Russians did, they won. They have something over the Russians, though. When they lose, they weep, and openly.

So, come 1956, look both ways now. It may be the hammer and sickle on the left—but then to the right or in between—it may be the Rising Sun.

I am a Filipino. Between us and the Japs there is not much love today. But what I have written is not grudgingly done. I have played the game too often and too long to know the democracy of the playing field.
SEVERINO S. SARMENTA, M.D.
Peoria, Ill.

MRS. MECKLEY'S ORDEAL
Sirs:
I would like to thank you for the story about me (SI, Nov. 8) written by Mr. Lockett. I want to congratulate you on a wonderful sports magazine and to tell you how eagerly I await each issue. But I feel I must tell you how very unhappy and disappointed I was to see the picture you printed of me—it was awful! (Please take a look at it.) Dozens of people have called and said, "How very terrible"—"It could be anyone or anything." What a going-over I'm getting....

Truly, I was ashamed of it, and I'm wondering why or how any person could have allowed such a terrible picture to go into such a lovely magazine....

Thank you for your kind attention and I still love your magazine and shall keep my friends buying same. I have heard so many nice things about it from so many people.
BETTY MECKLEY
Washington, D.C.

•Better?—ED.

VICE-PRESIDENT MARSHALL UP-DATED
Sirs:
It is a pleasure to read a sports magazine which deals in nothing but the truth and not a lot of hokum. I feel I must go along with that old saying: "What this country needs is a good five-cent cigar." But change it to read: "...a good weekly sports magazine." I feel that you gentlemen have found this in SI. For my money, it is the best on the market today.

As I live in Canada and thrive especially on that wonderful game of hockey, I am looking forward to seeing many articles on the same. Such as one of the New York Rangers, who are making a game attempt to build themselves into a good contender this season.

My hat is also off to your wonderful columnists, especially Jerome Weidman, who is always good for a few laughs.
W. H. HOLLAND
Rockcliffe, Ont.

•For Reader Holland and other Canadian hockey fans, SI, Dec. 6 will run a color story on Montreal's famed Canadiens, including fabulous Maurice Richard.—ED.

APPARENTLY
Sirs:
Please refer to HOTBOX in SI, Oct. 11 where June Byers gives an emphatically negative answer to Jemail's question, "Do sports tend to make women less feminine?" adding: "...each day I wear diamonds valued at $30,000 because they always look so new." Then read enclosed clipping (see cut) from Kansas City Star. Apparently your readers are not all sports.
DAN ROBERTSON
Kansas City

PLEASE SEND
Sirs:
Please send the address of where I might purchase the Capezio short jockey boots and the other items of the article Nuts, Bolts & Coveralls.

Also I would like to know if these are sold anywhere in Los Angeles.

Thank you very much.

We are enjoying SI more than we thought possible. My husband reads every word each week.
MRS. VIVIEN W. WILSON
Los Angeles

•All are available in L.A. Boots at I. Magnin; coveralls at Jane Ford Showroom, and for the jewelry see J. W. Robinson.—ED.

REVIVAL
Sirs:
SI can chalk up a first: revival of a song played around 20 years ago!

The chance mention of "My Yellow Jacket Girl" by Martin Kane (SI, Oct. 11 and Nov. 1) started the ball rolling. Georgia Tech, now a co-ed institution, is going to start playing it again. And queries of where to buy the song are already coming my way.
Thanks to you.
NICHOLAS E. CHOTAS, Asst. Prof.
UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA
Gainesville, Fla.

WRONG LOUSE
Sirs:
In your Nov. 1st issue the excerpt about the Cinderella horse was mighty interesting.

However, I'd like to know one thing: what the hell ever happened to that louse-of-a-dairy-farmer? SI gives no inkling as to whether or not the A.S.P.C.A. did anything about his cruelties to that wonderful horse. Did this dastard go unpunished?
MARK HANNA
New York

•According to Veterinarian O'Day, who bought the Angel from the farmer, the negligent party was the horse's original owner, who abandoned him. No charges were ever filed.—ED.

CUCU'S BIG DAY
Sirs:
Atticus, columnist for the London Sunday Times, comes up with some interesting information regarding the defection of the two Rumanian jockeys which was omitted from SI's Nov. 1 report on an Iron Curtain Race Day when he writes:

"The main event of the first afternoon at the International Race Meeting at the Hoppegarten in East Berlin, Sept. 29-30, was the Stalingrad Stakes.

"At the briefing of the jockeys before the race, it was explained quite clearly that the Russians were to win and there was, therefore, horror in the judges' box when Cucu, on a Rumanian horse, clocked in an easy first.

"Worse was to come. The orchestra had the Soviet anthem set up on their music stands and there was an embarrassing delay before scores of the Rumanian national anthem could be distributed. But saboteurs had been at work, and what finally emerged were the rousing strains of the old anthem of the Rumanian royal family.

"The trainer of the winning horse was hauled up before the race committee and officially rebuked. Next came Cucu, who stoutly maintained that he had practically pulled his horse's head off and that if there was any political deviation it was the horse's and not his.

"But the hubbub continued and, fearing the worst, Cucu, with another famous Rumanian jockey, Jon Pal, waited till after the last race and then fled to West Berlin."
MELVILLE E. STONE
New York

AL'S LITTLE BOY
Sirs:
We are subscribers to SI and think the magazine covers sports quite adequately—your photography is exceptional.

I happened to notice my husband's photograph above the child's bed in SI, Oct. 28—it is such a clever scene that I would love to have a larger copy to frame for my own little boy's room. Would it be possible for you to have a print made up for me?
MRS. AL ROSEN
Dothan, Ala.

•A print of Kansas City's remarkably successful supplicant (see cut) goes to the Rosen family, with SI's best wishes to slugging Third Baseman Al.—ED.

WHERE?
Sirs:
You advertise your magazine in a full page in the Cleveland Plain Dealer.

But where can a person get one in this city without going downtown.

I went to about five places and could not buy one.

All I could get out of the people selling magazines was that "they came in yesterday. I guess they are all sold out."

I would like to see one.
ROBERT J. DEVANZO
Cleveland

•Call MA 1-5850.—ED.

COMING UP
Sirs:
Have enjoyed practically all issues of this magazine, especially those that have included articles and pictures on football (both college and pro) and on all kinds of race cars, but there is one thing that I am waiting for and that is basketball.

I would like to see SI cover the basketball picture, like you have baseball and football. Can never find out all the information I would like on the pro players in the N.B.A.

We travel 80 miles on Sunday night to see the Nats play in Syracuse. We must be fans or crazy??
CARLTON E. BRIERTON
Black River, N.Y.

•SI, Dec. 13 features preseason roundup of college basketball.—ED.

DEAR DIARY
Sirs:
Mr. Austin Wehrwein, in your coverage of the Ohio State vs. Wisconsin game at Columbus, states: "This defeat was the worst State ever visited upon the Badgers."

Well, my diary isn't handy, but in 1948 or 1949, I sat in the stadium at Camp Randall and watched Ohio State beat Wisconsin 21-0. Or am I wrong?
WILLIAM GAULT
Pacific Palisades, Calif.

•SI, belatedly consulting its own diary, finds Reader Gault correct; the year was '49.—ED.

NOT ONE LINE
Sirs:
I note in your most recent issue of SI you printed a picture of the Japanese billiard star participating in a recent tournament in South America. However, I was disappointed in not finding one line about the new World Champion Three-Cushion Billiard Player who won that particular tournament, Mr. Harold Worst, who resides in Grand Rapids, Michigan. It seems to me he should rate some pictures and a story. Do you agree?
K. Z. HOWLAND
Grand Rapids, Mich.

•Twenty-five-year-old Harold Worst, picked by the great Willie Hoppe himself (SI, Nov. 15) to defend the championship, gratified his mentor by becoming on Oct. 25 in Buenos Aires, the youngest World Three-Cushion Billiards Champion. Hoppe became convinced of Worst's abilities several years ago, took him on an exhibition tour with him. The winner on points: Harold Worst.—ED.

THE HANDLING IS EXCELLENT
Sirs:
I enjoyed the article (Nashua's Sire and Mr. Fitz) in SI very much and think it was beautifully handled. I am surprised to read in it that Nasrullah is presently second to Hyperion, as it was my understanding that he was in front, and the last issue of Horse and Hound so carries him. However, I imagine something has developed in the interim and that you have checked on it. I thought the handling not only of the horse, but of Mr. Fitz was excellent, and I congratulate you and the magazine on the way it was done. As a matter of fact, the material on horse racing in this week all seemed very good.
A. B. HANCOCK JR.
Manager, Claiborne Farm
Paris, Ky.

•The two great sires alternate in heading the English Winning Sires list. The latest figures give Hyperion's set a ¬£2,500 edge over Nasrullah.—ED.

THE PERFECT GAME
Sirs:
Re: your special contributor for football—Herman Hickman—the one-platooner.

I take exception to the statement—"The fans like the one-platoon football best!!" I am a fan and I don't like it! In the last two years there have been no such games played as those played by the 1947 Michigan two-platoon team—conference and Rose Bowl champions.

The most perfect game ever played by any one team was that 35-0 game Michigan State took from Notre Dame, the great two-platoon team of MSC, national champions of 1952. There were no errors committed that day by either the defense or the offense.

The little men who make the rules have tried to equalize football for all by legislation. It would have been much simpler to have ruled that only 33 players home or traveling squads can be dressed for any one game; and that a school may dress different men next week, but only 33 at any one time. This is the usual size of pro squads.

Your magazine is doing well in its first two months. In writing this I am assuming that it is good to stand for something. I sincerely believe there has been no remedy to college football in these two seasons of legislation. Every college is worse off than before. The pros are gaining in popularity by leaps and bounds.
LOUIS G. HALL
Adrian, Mich.

•Says our Mr. Hickman: From Michigan State's viewpoint the 35-0 defeat of Notre Dame might have been the perfect game but I am sure that Notre Dame did not have the same feeling. College football is only important because it's a game for the participants to enjoy—no one should be forced to be just an offensive center.—ED.

IKE'S HUMOR
Sirs:
You guys certainly have readers in high places. Take, for instance, this SOUNDTRACK item, Oct. 25:

"Johnny: What is an atheist, Pop?

"Pop: An atheist is a man who doesn't care who wins the Notre Dame-S.M.U. game."

Now take Ruth Montgomery's Washington column in the New York Daily News, Nov. 6:

"Even though President Eisenhower could see the political handwriting on the wall, he managed to keep his sense of humor during the closing days of the campaign.

"Early this week, after an appraising look at the long faces about him, he asked solemnly: 'Boys, do you know the definition of an atheist?'

"His party workers snapped to attention. Obviously the boss had some important message on Communism.

"Then, relaxing easily, Ike grinned: 'An atheist is a guy who watches a Notre Dame-S.M.U. football game and doesn't care who wins.' "

Congratulations.
LACHLAN HARRIS
New York

ILLUSTRATION

1

ILLUSTRATION

2

PHOTO

GEHRKE KICKS OFF

ILLUSTRATION

3

ILLUSTRATION

4

PHOTO

MRS. MECKLEY

PHOTO

BYERS (TOP, AT WORK)

PHOTO

CLEVER LITTLE BOY

...and maybe I shouldn't be asking but...

PHOTO

OLD AND NEW MASTERS

BIG ROAD HOLDUP

Woman Wrestler, Her Husband, and Friend Robbed of $21,470 in Cash and Diamonds.

THE MAN IS BEATEN UP
Four Men Armed With Pistols, All Except One Masked, Use Red Light and Siren.

(By The Star's Own Service.)

Stewartsville. Mo., Oct. 23.—Muscles yielded to revolvers and pistols early today when a woman wrestler, her manager and husband and a friend were robbed of jewelry and money valued at $21,470 on a sideroad near here.

The victims were June Byers who had contested in a match at St. Joseph. Mo., last night, and Billy Wolfe, manager and husband of June, Byers, and Betty Floyd, who was traveling with them.