19TH HOLE: The readers take over
DERBY DAY WINNER
Sirs:
Recently Kentucky Club tobacco had a name-the-horse contest. Please advise the results of said contest.
H. T. LORD
Berkeley Heights, N.J.
•Winner was Mrs. Madeleine Dorn, wife of a jewelry-store proprietor, shown below at Churchill Downs with her prize colt, Hastytransit, ridden for publicity's sake by oldtime Jockey Willie Knapp, winner of the 1918 Derby. Last week, back home in Pasadena after blowing the $1,000 cash prize to get herself and her husband to the Derby and to buy some new clothes for the occasion (the tobacco people gave her tickets to Churchill Downs and stood the hotel bill for four days), Mrs. Dorn said she had a lot of fun in Louisville but she hasn't laid eyes on Hastytransit since Derby Day. "I imagine he will be shipped home after the Preakness by Reggie Cornell, Hasty's trainer and Silky's trainer. Did you know that Silky was bred right down the street from where we live?"
While flying to Kentucky Mrs. Dorn did a lot of thinking. "I made up my mind to be very sensible and to take the first offer. But then I saw him and fell in love with him—he's very friendly, just like a puppy dog. I turned down $10,000 for him which a man from Tennessee offered."
Not a racing enthusiast and one who rarely bets, Mrs. Dorn submitted the name Hastytransit with true feminine logic. "Hasty was in the father's name somewhere," she explained, "and transit, well that's because we just moved here last fall."—ED.
A SHARP BEAD
Sirs:
SPORTS ILLUSTRATED's articles on "Boxing's Dirty Business," "Hungarian Olympic Athletes," "Big Ten Football," "Evils in Basketball" have been outstanding and every one has had an enormous influence for good in its particular sphere.
But what about baseball and the wrong done to the people of New York by the withdrawal of the National League?
Will you, as the most articulate voice and cogent force of sports in these United States, undertake in your editorial pages to campaign for a return of National League baseball to the world's greatest city.
Millions will be grateful.
EDWARD F. MILES
Roslyn, N.Y.
•When rumors were rampant last summer about a possible National League exodus, SPORTS ILLUSTRATED took its stand, stated (SI, July 22, '57) "...one can only view with alarm the prospects of all National League representation being withdrawn from New York," declared that if the Giants and Dodgers intended to move they should say so openly and give New York the chance to find another N.L. representative. Since then this magazine has drawn a sharp bead on capricious practices of major league management.—ED.
BIG LEAGUE SECRETS: RITES OF SPRING
Sirs:
At a fat and fading 35, never thought I'd have more than an academic interest in your Big League Secrets series.
But with the coming of spring and the stirring of hormones, our advertising agency mustered 15 middle-aged men and joined our local 12-inch softball league. After 10 years, I'm a second baseman again—wheezing, puffing, unsure which base to throw to or even how to tag a runner out....
Suddenly everything has fallen into place, thanks to SPORTS ILLUSTRATED and Gil McDougald (SI, May 5). His piece on the double play, the tag, the rundown hit me like Frank Lane discovering a 20-game winner. It was tremendous.
"There! Forced him at second! How about that? O.K., Gil?"
DICK BAKER
Appleton, Wis.
PITCHERS: INVOLUNTARY SERVITUDE
Sirs:
Would it be possible for you to make a survey among a number of major league pitchers concerning their high school careers? I believe it would be interesting to find out whether they were outstanding players even then or if their talents matured later. It would also be interesting to know whether they started out as pitchers or were later converted to it.
JIMMY BUSHALA
Corpus Christi, Texas
•A sampling of Yankee pitchers seems to indicate that major league pitchers were outstanding players even in high school but generally at other positions. It often takes the practiced eye of a scout, coach or manager to spot a potential pitcher. Whitey Ford, when a 17-year-old first baseman, wrote a letter to the Yankees asking for a tryout. Scout Paul Krichell looked him over, decided Whitey was a natural pitcher and sent him for long seasoning with several farm teams. A St. Louis Browns scout spotted Don Larsen pitching a high school game, and he too was sent to the minors to mature. Larsen also was an outfielder for his high school team and once played outfield in seven straight games with the St. Louis Browns. Tom Sturdivant, who has won 32 games over the past two years, spent four years as a third baseman in the Yankee farm system before his conversion to pitching. Bobby Shantz, who had played center field since he was eight years old, did not start to pitch until after he left high school. However, Bob Turley was a good enough pitcher to be invited to a Yankee tryout camp.—ED.
BOOKS: MORE OF SAME
Sirs:
The list of books recommended to Mrs. Betty Buckley (19TH HOLE, May 5) contained many admirable titles but, in my opinion, especially noticeable was the omission of hunting.
One of the greatest sportsmen who ever put pen to paper was Jim Corbett. Four of his books—Man-eaters of Kumaon, The Man-eating Leopard of Rudraprayag, The Temple Tiger and More Man-eaters of Kumaon, and Jungle Lore—contain the most vivid pictures of the jungle and its inhabitants I have ever read.
Perhaps India is too remote. Then try Robert Ruark's The Old Man and the Boy for a delightful, sometimes tender picture of a boy growing up and learning to love the outdoors and the ways of a sportsman.
Both Mr. and Mrs. Buckley might enjoy Snyder's Book of Big Game Hunting; Taylor's Pondoro and Whelen's Hunting Big Game are worth many hours.
HOWARD J. SMITH JR.
Glen Rock, N.J.
Sirs:
Mrs. Buckley should get A Treasury of Fishing Stories by Charles Goodspeed. Although out of print, it would be the best fishing book. Maybe Goodspeed's bookstore in Boston could get it for her. Any of Roderick Haig-Brown's books are to my mind perfect; A River Never Sleeps is extra good. Any Luck? by E. V. Connett or Fishing with a Worm by Bliss Perry are especially good.
HENRY JEWETT GREENE
Winter Park, Fla.
GOLF: THE RIGHT START
Sirs:
Our 15-year-old son wishes to start golfing next month, and we would appreciate your advice on several points as we want him to get a good start.
He is left-handed—should he have clubs for a left-hander or, as some tell us, should he learn right-handed and switch later if he feels the necessity?
Will you please name the minimum number of clubs he should have in order to start?
Should he take professional lessons in order to get off on the right foot?
E. I. ENGSTAD
Nelson, British Columbia
•If the Engstads' youngster is a natural left-hander he should not be asked to make a switch. Nowadays there is no difficulty in getting left-handed clubs. It was not so for old-time lefties, such as Ben Hogan, who had to change handedness because there were few well-designed left-handed clubs. A beginner needs a driver, a three-wood, a putter and three-, five-, seven- and nine-irons. This should be an inexpensive set, as he will outgrow them, learn to prefer other sets or just plain not like the game. A few lessons as a starter are certainly highly desirable.—ED.
DOGS: HOME FOR HI-JINKS
Sirs:
The president of a Long Island theater group, Threshold Theatre, has called to my attention your article on papillons (SI, April 28).
I'm writing to tell you that I enjoyed the story and pictures and that I now own the papillon who played the lead in The Pink Poltergeist.
I saw the play and tried to buy the dog, Hi-Jinks, from Mrs. Pierrepont, but she did not want to sell her. Later, when Mr. and Mrs. Keyes took over the kennels, I bought her from them.
Like Mrs. Pierrepont I owned a papillon as a child. My father bought it for me in France, and I enjoyed it for many years.
Jinks now makes her home with me but took time out in January to win nine best-of-breed awards on the Florida circuit.
HELEN G. BIDDLE
Old Westbury, L.I.
PHOTO
WINNER DORN & HASTYTRANSIT
