19th HOLE: THE READERS TAKE OVER
McDONOUGH'S MAGIC SHOVEL
Sirs:
Having read the interesting references to my favorite country (Mr. McDonough's Magic Shovel, SI, July 22 & 29), which I have visited on a number of occasions, where I soldiered north of Dublin and was about Dublin nine months in 1918, I have some, perhaps unusual, interest.
I should like to ask Mr. McDonough if he is serious about developing a manufacturing organization in Ireland; and if this will serve both the British-controlled section in the north and the southern section under their own separate government.
We have dear friends in Ireland, particularly Dublin way, and we have scratched our heads a number of times regarding what we could make over there and if we could operate on a profitable basis. Getting these lads to work even with Guinness Stout never worried me, although it may be a problem, and Mr. McDonough's being in the shovel business should put him right in the driver's seat because digging peat is a prime business. But it wouldn't take long, if I read this article correctly, to make enough shovels to go around.
F. M. YOUNG
President
Young Radiator Co.
Racine, Wis.
•Mr. McDonough assures us that he is "serious enough to look hard" at the possibilities of commercial development. "I'm going over there again this fall," he says, "and I'm going to continue to look."—ED.
Sirs:
I am not sure that I entirely approve of the plan to industrialize Ireland as Mr. McDonough's Magic Shovel suggests. Let us preserve one beautiful spot in the world where work is still something to be taken in moderation, where tempers are cool and conversation is a flourishing art and the only tranquilizer required to meet the stresses and strains of life is that bottled by Mr. Guinness.
I do approve of the cinder running track, however, and enclose a small token donation which I hope you will be good enough to forward to Mr. Billy Morton.
MRS. JAMES PATRICK BLAKE
Kansas City, Mo.
Sirs:
I have just celebrated my 90th birthday, and I am happy to see that some Irish-Americans are going to get a chance to do something for Ireland. I congratulate you for your stories and Mr. McDonough for his enterprise. The enclosed contribution is for Dublin's cinder track.
TIMOTHY McCARTHY
St. Louis
Sirs:
The appearance of the second installment of Mr. McDonough's Magic Shovel started a warm and spirited discussion of Ireland's problems here among the guests at the Coronado Inn. Since none of us own a shovel factory we thought the least we could do is pass the hat for the enclosed contribution to the building of Ireland's first cinder track.
ED EDMUNDS
West Harwich, Mass.
•SPORTS ILLUSTRATED forwards all contributions to Mr. Billy Morton.—ED.
THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING McCARTHY
Sirs:
That was a very good piece by Horace Sutton on the Hamptons (SI, July 29). I enjoyed it doubly because I was vacationing in East Hampton at the time it came out. But he should have been more intrigued about why Restaurateur Herb McCarthy of Bowden Square wears, as Sutton puts it, "a starched white coat." It is not a white coat but a busboy's jacket!
Being a McCarthy, Herb thinks his bus-boy's jacket immediately conveys to the customers that he is a very humble man and wants to be regarded as just one of the help. In fact, he is mistaken as such mainly by the other help who, in the dim light, think he is one of them.
Being a McCarthy, Herb feels he looks more superior and that people automatically take him for the proprietor. All Irishers have many complexes but Irisher publicans have them in multiple doses!
JOHN McCARTHY
Rye, N.Y.
BASEBALL: COOL HEADS IN BROOKLYN
Sirs:
It should surprise no one that any first-class American city would try to get our Dodgers. Mayor Wagner and Borough President Cashmore realize this and have shown imagination and effective leadership in meeting the conflicting problems that must be solved if the team is to be kept.
I hope the team can be kept in Brooklyn, and I believe that this is no idle hope. I don't know, and I doubt that anybody else knows or will know, what the chances are until the engineering studies now nearly ready have been submitted for the examination of the Sports Center Authority and the Mayor's Committee.
Meantime, speaking only as president of the Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce, I would like to point out that this is no time for acrimony or name calling, but for standing firmly together, perhaps in readiness for a last-ditch fight to keep the Dodgers here.
CHESTER A. ALLEN
President
Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce
Brooklyn, N.Y.
GOLF: DONE IT AGAIN!
Sirs:
In the November 1, 1954 issue of SPORTS ILLUSTRATED there was a small picture of Mr. Roy E. Campbell of Seattle and a short article telling about his shooting a 68 at the age of 69 at the Seattle Golf Club.
This leads up to the fact that Mr. Campbell has done it again. On July 20 he had his 72nd birthday, and on July 26 he shot a 72 on the same course.
ROBERT L. PALMER
Seattle
THAT'S HORSE RACING
Sirs:
Your announcement that Jockey Rae Johnstone has retired from the French track (Exit the Crocodile, SI, July 22) will cause a sigh from many an American who was living in Paris after World War II. He was our national hero, and the sight of him cantering down the backstretch 16 lengths off the pace made many a 100-franc bettor gnash his teeth. But when the mob saw him come into the stretch and the cry "Johnstone √† l'extérieur" was raised, you would marvel to see the little man riding like a fiend and looking more like a man on a high-wheeled bicycle than a jockey, for he rode sitting straight up—none of that Arcaro streamlined-crouch nonsense.
When I was planning to come back to the States in the fall of 1948 all of my family had preceded me except my 15-year-old son. I said, "I think I'll take you to the races this afternoon at Longchamp because when we get to the States they don't let children into the track." So I went to the Guaranty Trust Company and drew out my balance, 65,000 francs.
Johnstone was riding a 10-to-1 shot in the big race, and I put the 65,000 francs on his nose. He rode one of his typical races, and hit the wire just the same time as a couple of other horses. We had to wait for the picture to see who won and whether I was going to have 650,000 francs in the bank for a future trip to Paris; but he didn't win, and I've never been back. It was a matter of an inch or two. "That," I said to my son, "is horse racing."
W. McK. CHAPMAN
New York
DOGS: BEAGLES AND BUNNIES
Sirs:
It has become increasingly clear to me that your magazine has devoted more and more space to fashions.
But only five weeks ago my beagle had five puppies, and I'd like to see an article which will tell me the best way to prepare them for the fall rabbit season. I know they will not be balls of fire this season, but unless they get a good start they may never amount to much.
How many articles on beagling have you published?
WILLIAM R. CONNELL
Grand Rapids
•SPORTS ILLUSTRATED, never one to slight any hound, beagle or fashion, suggests that Reader Connell look at the previous articles specifically on hunting and show beagles (SI, Jan. 3, 1955, May 23, 1955) and keep an eye open for a forthcoming article (with color photographs) on hunting. Meanwhile, American Beagling by Glenn G. Black or The Art of Beagling by Captain J. Otto Paget should help to get the pups off to a good start.—ED.
ANIMAL MOODS: KNOW THYSELF
Sirs:
We are puzzled about the identity of the picture on the July 15 cover (see right).
Our nongolfers say it is a golfer, our nonbowlers say it is a bowler, our nonfishermen say it is a fisherman, and others think it might be a Michigan State football player.
Will you kindly enlighten us?
F. S. WYATT
Oakland, Calif.
•The agile hands of a fly-tier, the quiet despair of a golfing widow, the hairy chest of a football player, the body English of a bowler obviously characterize "it" as a Papio cynocephalus sphinx.—ED.
Sirs:
The personality pictured on the July 15 cover needed no caption to be readily identifiable. Having spent the past year in the Chicago-Milwaukee area, I immediately recognized a typical Braves fan, fall 1956, on getting the final National League pennant results.
NORMAN G. LEAPER
Wichita, Kans.
Sirs:
I have to admit your July 15 cover was very heartwarming, but what the h—is it doing on a magazine which claims to be a reporter of sports?
All is not lost, however. The cover has had such far-reaching effects that no less than six people have stopped me on the street and told me, "Hey, I see you finally made the cover of SPORTS ILLUSTRATED."
MORT KAMINS
Los Angeles
SERVICE: NEXT QUESTION
Sirs:
Would you please tell me how to make a turtle trap for our dam or where I can buy one?
PAT LOUGHNEY
Bedford, Pa.
•Certainly. You may obtain an ASPCA-approved humane Have-A-Heart Trap for normal turtles (No. 5, 9 by 18 by 36 inches, $18.60) or for extra-large turtles (No. 5a, slightly larger, $28.80), from the All-cock Manufacturing Co. of Ossining, N.Y.—ED.
BASEBALL: ROOKIE BAIT
Sirs:
You usually have a full-page cartoon, and I've thought of one that is timely.
Baseball scouts from the Cincinnati Reds are trying to sign a kid, who is a much-wanted boy, to a contract. In the background there are scouts from other teams waiting to talk to the boy. But the Reds think they have an ace in the hole when they tell him: "Sign with us and we'll put you in the All-Star Game your first year."
WALTER C. BUCHANAN
Manhattan, Kans.
•Like this?—ED.
ILLUSTRATION
"Sign with us and we'll put you in the All-Star Game your first year."
PHOTO
