19th HOLE: THE READERS TAKE OVER
MOLTING IN PHILLY
Sirs:
To your most able correspondent James Murray: at least 1,000 huzzas. His article American League? Phooey! (SI, June 11) was long overdue, because everyone knew the truth of his statements about the Ruthian and Robinsonian revolutions...everyone, that is, except the owners of my city's "Fizz Kids." With heads in sand, they display only the brilliant tail feathers of Roberts and Ashburn...and even they are beginning to molt.
ARTHUR J. JACKSON
Philadelphia
THE WELCOME MAT
Sirs:
The accent is on home runs now, and the majority of fans would rather see hitting than a pitching duel. The National League is playing to more fans now, because of this fact. The closeness of the National League race will also stir up fan interest. I like the race in the senior league and am glad to see the perennial door mats, Pittsburgh and Cincinnati, making a good account of themselves. However, I don't think Mr. Murray has any right to say, "American League? Phooey!"
CHRISTOPHER MAGEE JR.
Venice, Fla.
REVEILLE
Sirs:
...I watched Babe Ruth's career throughout and have watched with interest the change from a pitcher's game to a sluggers game in the American League and often wondered when the National League would wake up and follow suit. You have pinpointed that nicely in citing the signing of Jackie Robinson by Branch Rickey. I merely knew that it had to come about and started placing my two bits' worth on the National League....
Thank you for such a well-written and analytic article. Perhaps coming from an authority like you some of the diehards will wake up and take a look see.
W. D. KNAPP
Indianapolis
WE'LL SEE
Sirs:
After reading Mr. Murray's story I have only one thing to say. Phooey on the National League.... [In the All-Star Game] this July we'll see what a team of Chinese home run hitters like Brooklyn...does in a real baseball park like Griffith Stadium....
BRIAN ELLIS
Tampa
SEPTEMBER SONG
Sirs:
Congratulations on a truly magnificent article on Mickey Mantle (SI, June 18). It is high time that Mantle received all the credit he so richly deserves.... I sincerely believe by the end of this present season he will have proved himself the most outstanding ballplayer in organized baseball. From a prejudiced standpoint, I suggest that you reserve a "large" amount of space in your Sept. 20 issue. I sincerely feel that on that day Mickey Charles Mantle will hit his 60th home run, and by the end of the season his total will add up to a phenomenal 63 home runs.
DAVID KRATTER
Riverdale, N.Y.
•Since Mickey Charles Mantle hit numbers 22, 23 and 24 on the 3 successive days after SI's article Mr. Kratter seems to be getting good reception on his crystal ball.—ED.
MR. CAPER'S SWEET GOOFINESS
Sirs:
I have been following Ajay's MR. CAPER from the first week he appeared. I think he is great.
Let's enter him in the Olympics—I know he'll finish first in every event, by a nose.
JIMMY MCMAHAN
New York
Sirs:
The sweet goofiness of MR. CAPER is priceless comment on fellows like myself.
HUGH GRAHAM
Freeland, Md.
Sirs:
MR. CAPER'S creator deserves a vote of thanks for making this character less like something you wouldn't want to meet in a dark alley. But he'll have to go further if Caper is ever going to date the blonde in the swimming pool ad facing him (19TH HOLE, May 14).
LEO PINE
Brooklyn
SWEDISH OLYMPICS
Sirs:
I was delighted to read Swedish Overture (SI, June 11) which was an extremely interesting preview of the Olympic equestrian events which were held in Stockholm. It gave a fine account of the events and the pictures were wonderful.
KENNETH L. WILSON
President
U.S. Olympic Committee
Chicago
U.S. OLYMPIC EFFORT
Sirs:
Regarding the American Olympic horsemen in Sweden, Alice Higgins has done a grand job, and the pictures are superb.
SI has certainly been doing a commendable job in covering the U.S. Olympic effort.
COLONEL DONALD F. HULL
Fort George G. Meade, Md.
...EXCEPT THE UNITED STATES
Sirs:
When I had command of the U.S.S. Pittsburgh on a cruise to the Mediterranean and Indian Ocean in 1954, I organized a soccer team to play the hosts wherever we went. Only three people had ever played a game and very few had even seen one, but we got some nice blue-and-gold uniforms and a soccer ball and announced we had a team. We played the Saudi Arabian All-Stars, Karachi All-Stars, Royal Ceylon Navy, Ethiopian Army, U. of Barcelona and the Italian Naval Academy. We lost every game, but the boys had a lot of fun, clamored for more games and made a lot of friends round the world.
So I say soccer is the international language of sports (HOTBOX, June 4). You can get a game anywhere in the world—except in the United States!
P. D. GALLERY
Key West, Fla.
U.S. OLYMPIC TEAM FUND
Sirs:
Our ship has a subscription to SI, and each issue is enjoyed by all hands.
Since you are encouraging contributions to the U.S. Olympic Fund, the men of our ship are contributing $30 to help pay the U.S. team's way to the Olympics.
L. C. KLINGAMAN, Commanding Officer
U.S.S. Radford (DDE-446)
San Francisco
•Thanks from SI and the Olympic Fund to the men of the U.S.S. Radford and thanks also to the following contributors: John Danis, Portland, Ore.; Stephen Sheldon, Columbia, Mo.; Clem Dowd, Los Angeles; Harry B. Tipton, M.D., Lander, Wyo.; Don Gibbon, Houston; Patricia Lawless, Milwaukee; Frances Janssen, South Bend; Paul Martinsen, Seattle; Norman Abbott, Sault Sainte Marie, Mich.; Gilbert Gates, San Francisco; R. W. Thompson, Verdi, Nev.; William Conway, Wellsville, N.Y.; Lenape Bowmen, Port Jervis, N.Y.; Liberty Archery Club, Liberty, N.Y.; High-Tor Bowmen, New City, N.Y.; Lucky 13 Archery Club, Spring Valley, N.Y.; Torn Mountain Archers, Suffern, N.Y.; Flying Arrow Archers, Nyack, N.Y.; Kingston Archers, Kingston, N.Y.; Dutchess Bowmen, Poughkeepsie, N.Y.; Storm King Archers, Cornwall, N.Y.; Mohonk Bowmen, Milton, N.Y.; Roy Mann, Alexander B. Musichuk, Jim Andrea, Mack Cook, Juanita Cumpson, Neil Cumpson, Dave Dally, Nancy Higgins, Gordon Huber, Joe Kitson, Kay Kitson, Kit Lees, Simon T. Sheppard, all of Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio; Nick Orlando, Joe Patrick, Pat Patterson, Emmett Ballard, Bob Hale, Joe Connell, Rollin McKeehan, Leo W. Grant Jr., Shorty Hetzler, Howard Woodside, Van D. Hicks, R. G. Williams, Mrs. Fred Ford, John Purdy, Paul Dolvin, Doc Overstreet, Joe Pitts, Bobbie Smith, Robert L. Dew, Bob Brackney, Robert Stacy, Max Seyfried, Howard Doyle, Bill Thomas, Hall Rucker, Betty Lyle, John Swarthout, Roscoe Stephens, Charlie Gleason, Sky Barker, Tom Dunigan, Bill Killebrew, Bill Simpson, Ellen Browning, Walter Reeves, Steve Thornton, Betty Graham, Lenore Carmichael, George Prewitt, Charlie Epps, Roland Prince, Jimmy Allen, Jim Smollon, Dewey Robinson, Bobby Blanton, Judith Tumavicus, Ann Tumavicus, Marabeth Tumavicus, John Joslin, Jerry Goldberg, Paul Trent, Luther Agee, John Perry, Bob Kemper, Fred Wagenvoord, Sam Thrower, Bill Ladniak, Coach Ira Green, Coach Buford Bible, Bill Bailey, Coach Ben Martin, Milt Dickens, Phil Collette, Buzz Muckenthaler, Gene Connor, Capt. M. E. Hann, Reece Wallace, Mel Angel, Gerald Walker, Coach Sam Jones, Bill Davis, J. M. Young, C. W. Hughes, Coach Bud McCall, Pete Lobetti, J. F. Pritchard, Coach Lee Eble, Paul Owens, Barton Simcox, Bob Strunk, Shep Lauter, Frank Snyder Jr., DeWitt Roberts, Tom Mullinix, Coach Conley Akin, Coach Pete Craig, Jack Addison, Margaret Gotshall, Bill Gant, B. J. McNeely, D. L. Clark, Anthony Grefig, Coach Jim Reasonover, Quinn Pritchett, John Wood, C. C. Fowlkes, Butter Davis, P. G. Hatmaker, Frank (Red) Bailes, Joseph J. Zarzecki, Dr. Alvin Weinberg, Bob Stanley, Walter Ochsner, Jackie Murphy, Carl Yearwood, Richard D. Smyser, Alan D. Conger, A. A. Abbatiello, Howard Harris, Robert Layman, Ray Sparks, Joe Tolbert, James Webb, Red Carroll, Sam Hansen, Gene Wells, Howard Barclay, Clif C. Brill, David Smith, Ochal Cheak, Marjorie M. Hurst, Mrs. Wallace W. Latham, Mrs. Sam DeCamp, Oscar McNeil, all of Oak Ridge, Tenn.—ED.
THE PROPER THING
Sirs:
The Biggest Elephant Ever Killed by Man (SI, June 4) is certainly one of your best stories this year. One thing does disturb me though. Did our heroic big-game hunter track down the other wounded elephant? I would think this would be only proper.
PAUL E. JENISTA
Cicero, Ill.
•Fényk√∂vi also shot and killed the smaller of the two elephants to prevent its charging his party.—ED.
ANCIENT HISTORY
Sirs:
I wish to congratulate José" Fényk√∂vi for the most exciting true life story I have ever read. I have one question though. How old was the big elephant? He must have been pretty old to have been shot before with a muzzle-loading flintlock.
NILES JACKSON
Pound Ridge, N.Y.
•In Fényk√∂vi's estimation the elephant was at least 100 years old.—ED.
NOT THE SPORTING THING
Sirs:
...May I suggest the editor-in-chief himself buy an elephant gun and do a little hunting in his own masthead to find the misguided soul who considered this article to have any relevance to sports or to sportsmanship?
BRADFORD F. HERZOG
Milton, Mass.
•Though always in season, inhabitants of a magazine masthead (Editorialis mastheadicus) are considered sitting ducks by true sportsmen.—ED.
PERSONAL PREFERENCE
Sirs:
I should have preferred to read that the biggest elephant was spared and was still roaming his animal kingdom. Quite a "target."
BILL HOLT
Laguna Beach, Calif.
UNWORTHY
Sirs:
Admirable is the man who stalks a tiger with a high-powered rifle, a jaguar with a spear or who fights a bull, horn against steel.
But the killer of the biggest elephant had the relative security of a Sherman tank or bazooka squad against a partially crippled, near-sighted animal.
Permit me to say that the article was not worthy of your excellent publication.
ROBERT B. JOHNSTON
Tampa, Fla.
THE IMMORAL PACIFIC COAST CONFERENCE?
Sirs:
Contrary to the impression in your EVENTS & DISCOVERIES piece, "Adele of Troy" (SI, June 4), there was no secret California football fund in 1953. When I first ran for elective office, I mailed a brochure to some 40,000 constituents stating that I was a member of the Southern California Educational Foundation. I have never felt there was any reason to be secretive about the foundation....
I never maintained I was a trustee of the foundation. I have never been an officer and never claimed to be. I cannot even recall talking to Mrs. Erenberg, the woman quoted, as literally hundreds of people called me to find out who I was when I was running the first time. But certainly I never called her at any time.
I also never have informed anyone that the foundation was an "on campus" organization. To anyone who asked I said that the foundation was composed primarily of USC alumni whose purpose was to help students through school. The foundation is not restricted to athletics or to USC....
The Pacific Coast Conference must have had knowledge for at least several years of the operation of booster clubs throughout the Pacific Coast. Representatives of the various groups appeared before the conference and specifically indicated that it was impossible for any student to live in a metropolitan area for $75 a month unless complete dormitory facilities were available. The conference in refusing to adjust the permissive monthly income to athletes deliberately laid the groundwork for the current situation. Is there morality in establishing and enforcing regulations which insist on less than minimum food, lodging and clothing?
JOSEPH C. SHELL
State Assemblyman
Sacramento, Calif.
THE CARE AND FEEDING OF TINY THINGS
Sirs:
In our country it's neighborhood boys (see cut)—not tomcats—that bring in the wild hares (OUTDOOR WEEK, June 4).
We live on the edge of the woods, and thus, for the past five years or so, have raised a procession of tiny furry and feathered things lacking parental care for one reason or another. And all, with the exception of a new-born field mouse so raw you could see its viscera through its transparent pink skin, with success, on the basic principle that if you keep them warm and keep their bellies full they'll make out. And we let them all go, when the time came.
For the young hares, we fashioned a succession of large cardboard-box mazes, changing "houses" every few days for obvious reasons. Boxes were taped together and all covered but one, allowing room for exercise and opportunity to hide-very necessary with young wild things. Through the open box, we reached them for frequent feedings and were able to replenish the hot water in their private heating system: a gallon cider jug wrapped in old flannel sheeting and shirts.
Nice point with baby wildlings: they grow up fast, need your care desperately for just a short period of time.
In three weeks they could jump out of anything, including four-foot-high packing cases, and I was spending my days and nights loping around the house after them with a trout net. We never attempted to tame them, considering that any favor they felt toward humanity would be an eventual handicap. When they'd reached obvious rabbit adolescence, we took them to a kind of hare-heaven—an abandoned farm thick with clover—where we turned them loose.
MRS. JOSEPH CONNELLY
Bellingham, Wash.
•The foster parents of OUTDOOR WEEK'S rabbits report that their charges too grew up fast and as of this week are back in the hare-heaven of Mamaroneck's woods.—ED.
PHOTO
MR. CAPER'S BLONDE
THREE ILLUSTRATIONS
©AJAY
MR. CAPER
PHOTO
JOEL CONNELLY & BEAST
