- Publish date:
PEOPLE
"I think that baseball would be inviting a major lawsuit. When John Galbreath [who owns the Pirates] and Mrs. Payson [who owns the Mets] give up their racehorses, I'll give up mine." With these words the Dodgers' Don Drysdale won his first game of the season. Taking a called third strike was the office of Baseball Commissioner William Eckert, which had questioned the propriety of Drysdale owning three Thoroughbreds—one of them, Don S., won a race two weeks ago at Santa Anita. At that time the commissioner's aide declared that Drysdale's racing interests would be investigated. He pointed out that in 1960 Al Kaline had been asked to dispose of his Thoroughbreds. But a few days later, after Drysdale's brush-back pitch, the commissioner's office announced, "There is no rule in the book that forbids players from owning racehorses. No action will be taken."
The papers of Britain's controversial 94-year-old philosopher, Bertrand Russell, are being sorted by archivists in London prior to being offered for sale in May. Among the 100,000 letters (one for every 30 hours Russell has lived) is a description of mountaineering in the Alps when he was 17. "I climbed two mountains, Piz Corvatsch and Piz Palü," Russell wrote. "On both occasions there was a snowstorm. On the first occasion I had mountain sickness. The second occasion was quite exciting, as one of our guides fell over a precipice, and had to be hauled up by a rope. I was impressed by his sangfroid, as he swore as he fell over."
According to Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc., an attempt is being made to ape Tarzan (SI, Jan. 2). The company that produces the Tarzan movies has filed suit in Los Angeles against Actor Mike Henry, the former Los Angeles Ram linebacker who was the 14th Tarzan. The corporation charges that Henry and Screen Gems, Inc. are planning a new TV show called Taygar, King of the Jungle, which would debase and ridicule the character of Tarzan. In addition to seeking a restraining order to prevent the TV series from appearing, the plaintiff asks $250,000 in damages.
In Soviet Sport a member of Russia's world champion figure skating pairs team has revealed the secret of Peggy Fleming's success. "I can judge her quality from one episode," says Oleg Protopopov. "A year ago in Davos I watched her sitting in front of a mirror doing her hair. Her mother, who was with her, kept saying, 'Peggy, they are waiting for us in the car.' This continued for 30 minutes, but Peggy did not turn around once. Only after she finished did she look at her mother—and then once again in the mirror. It is impossible for such a sports figure to lose her poise. And that is the most important quality in a figure skater."
New Orleans District Attorney Jim Garrison, whose every move is being watched as he conducts his bizarre investigation into the Kennedy assassination, has a reputation for making few false moves at the chessboard. He has two chess sets in his office and three more at home, and is considered one of the city's best players. "Chess teaches you a lesson in morality," Garrison says. "If you are greedy, you lose. If you reach snap judgments about your opponent, you lose."
Ray Bolger, the 63-year-old song-and-dance man, has a theory that football players should practice breathing and ballet exercises. "These exercises build long muscles," Bolger explains, "instead of bunched muscles. Many injuries are caused by having the muscles bunched instead of stretched." He also believes that players would move faster and have quicker reactions if they took deep breaths before starting down the field. "In my discussions with the Chicago Bears and the Los Angeles Rams," Bolger says, "I learned they breathe quickly instead of slowly. They pant."
"The days of the flying wedge and the single wing are long gone," huffed a Madison Avenue ad agency release, "and so are the gridsters who could make it on sheer weight and muscle." What this was adding up to was some statistics that showed bridge was the favorite card game of pro football players. Last week in Fort Worth, as if to illustrate the point, 225-pound Sherrill Headrick, the Kansas City Chiefs' middle linebacker, entered his first major bridge tournament and scored one of the upsets of the year when he and his partner defeated 110 other teams to win the title and 17.81 Master points. Meanwhile, the image of college football was being upheld by UCLA Coach Tommy Prothro. A bridge addict 20 years ago, he returned to formal competition by playing in a sectional championship at Santa Monica on a team with international bridge star Lew Mathe and finishing near the top. "He plays quite well," said Mathe. "I've played with a lot of celebrities who turned out to be something less than advertised, but Tommy Prothro exceeded my fondest expectations."
The battle of the book has only just begun in Britain—the book, that is, in which Author Arthur La Bern says he will reveal that Queen Victoria's gillie was an even more sporting associate than the demands of good angling required. The work, entitled The Queen's Esquire, tells of the Queen's relationship with John Brown (below, left), and the liberties she allowed him—he was permitted to smoke in her presence, was often rude, surly and smelled of whiskey (she carried a gold bell to attract his attention when he was drunk). The Queen had many photographs and busts of John Brown made, which she placed around in Balmoral Castle, and when he died his personal diaries were officially impounded and immediately destroyed. Says the publisher of the new book, "I don't believe in censoring my authors. I would not wish to hurt or embarrass the present royal family, but it's a question of historic fact."
PHOTO
