19TH HOLE: THE READERS TAKE OVER
SEVEN-YEAR SWITCH
Sirs:
I could not help viewing with a bit of whimsey the following from Ray Cave's piece (The Fresh Face of Sport, Aug. 21): "Seven years of professional golf saw the end of the domination of Hogan and Snead, the rise of Arnold Palmer and the realization that finesse is no longer enough. Power has become vital." This statement seems hardly appropriate in a year that has seen Gene Littler win the Open and Jerry Barber the PGA. Certainly, neither of these could be thought of as exponents of power.
Actually, golf is little different now from what it always has been. It helps, of course, to get the ball well out from the tee, but the ability to do so is only a help, not a decisive factor.
After all, Hogan and Snead were pretty good hitters, and Arnold Palmer has been as good as anybody on and around the greens, especially when he has been winning.
Let's not spread the news that you have to be a strong man to be a successful golfer. The ball still has to be put into the hole.
ROBERT TYRE JONES JR.
Atlanta
Sirs:
Who would have thought that on SPORTS ILLUSTRATED'S seventh anniversary a glance into the past would have revealed so many changes? The Fresh Face of Sport was probably the most interesting sports feature that I have ever read.
GENE WILLIAMS
Snyder, Texas
LIVELIER SKEPTICS
Sirs:
After reading your explosive last-word exposé on the increasing crime rate among American baseballs (Yes, It's Livelier, Aug. 28), I begin to understand why there are so many skeptics in the world today. About the only thing that article proved is that you are touched in the headline. It may be true that the thing is hopped up, juiced up, rabid, hypertensive. Personally, I couldn't care less.
SARSFIELD MATTHEWS
Rockville Centre, N.Y.
Sirs:
Why isn't there a home run boom in the National League, which uses the same "livelier" ball as the American?
FRANK WORBS
Vanport, Pa.
•There is. The NL record for home runs in a season (1,263, set in 1955) probably will be broken this year.—ED.
TRUE TY
Sirs:
Congratulations for printing Last Inning of an Angry Man (Aug. 21). It removed the stigma of Cobb being a dirty player, and it gave Cobb the true image of being a fair, just and determined player, which he was. Ty Cobb was the greatest of the great!
HERMAN NEUMANN
Memphis
Sirs:
You captioned a picture of Ty Cobb sliding into home: "Cobb denied he was a ruthless base runner, but old photograph shows him leaping spikes high at the catcher." With the catcher blocking the plate, Cobb is doing only what any professional would do under this condition.
REGINALD E. LARSON
Washington, D.C.
Sirs:
Cobb's brand of baseball would bolster sagging attendance at the ball parks today.
FRANK RICE
Portland, Ore.
GARLIC
Sirs:
In your otherwise excellent article on herbs (The Kitchen Secrets of the Little Green Gods, Aug. 21), you have further mistreated that much maligned yet truest-blue benefactor of mankind: garlic. Contrary to Geoffrey Grigson, one of the finest uses to which garlic can be put is to clip the green shoots from the growing clove and cut them into salads or sprinkle over roast or baked sea food.
I would like to offer, for sterner souls, a garlic recipe taught me by my maternal grandfather, and which may account for that gentleman's 86 healthy years. Cut small, round dark bread in half. Scoop out insides and feed same to dog or cat. Rub several cloves of garlic all around outside crust of bread, until thick as country butter. Enjoy with hot tea and whisky, or cold beer, or buttermilk, and good book. It is advisable to stay out of public places like subway trains or movie houses for several days afterward.
JEREMIAH RHOADES
Merrick, N.Y.
DRIFTING AND DUMPING
Sirs:
Your article For Houseboaters the Livin' Is Easy (Aug. 21) was pretty good except for the part that says, "You will never have to make a phone call and say 'Please ask Joe to come around when he has a chance—the Disposall is on the blink.' A hole in the wall or an open window will do just as well." I never thought you would publish a thing like that. Richard Bissell is among the many guilty of litterbugging on our waterways. Beer cans don't help the beauty of a body of water, they only help pollute it.
I say, make water more healthful for swimming and drinking by keeping garbage until you go to shore and by shooting Bissell.
AL TRAYNOR
Rochester
Sirs:
Richard Bissell's story gave us pleasure—and shock when it said Bob Lange's houseboat floats "on $25,000 worth of Styrofoam."
One of our slide-rule men has calculated that $25,000 worth of Styrofoam would float a boat of 456 tons—truly a lofty idea.
PAUL HARSHA
The Dow Chemical Co.
Midland, Mich.