FiiDAY MAJC1H 25, 1949
T'VE MICHIGAN DAILY
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TALKING SHOP
with Bud Weidenthal
associate sports editor
Heusner Captures 1500 in NCAA Swin
WHEN DICK WAKEFIELD left the University of Michigan in his
sophomore year to play baseball with the Detroit Tigers under a
$52,000 bonus contract he was pegged as one of the most promising
rookies cif all time.
Now, seven years later the same Wakefield is fighting for his
very existence in baseball.
AT BEST THE SLUGGING Chicagoan has been a disappointment
to the Tiger management and to Detroiters in general who held great
hopes for him . . . famed for his supposed natural ability to hit a
long ball, he has faltered badly in the $ig timeand become the subject
of much criticism.
At Michigan Wakefield was a tremendous success. As a sopho-
more he hit at a terrific clip and packed tremendous power
on his 6 foot 2 inch frame . .. it was said at the time that no
one was safe in the distant center field tennis courts when the
Wolverine ace was at bat .. .
Despite his tremendous size he is one of the fastest men in the
game, and is a better than average fielder. In 1944, a typical wartime
baseball year, he did bat .355 for the Bengals, but this was the excep-
tion when it should have been the rule ...
Everyone, including Dick himself, is aware of his trouble
he's just too easy going, too happy-go-lucky to work properly at
his trade . . . and to put in the tedious hours that go with smoothing
out the inevitable flaws that come with the bigiump from college
to the big time.
HE'S STILL A COLLEGE BOY at heart, and it appears that he
never has taken baseball seriously. He received his bachelor degree
at Michigan in February after attending the University for 8 years.
He was a well-known campus character and liked by everyone who
knew him . . . perhaps he is too likeable, too amiable.
A typical "good-time Charley" Wakefield is famed for his
big black cigars and large automobiles that he drove around
campus. He has that "well, you only live once attitude." The 232
pounds that he carried with him to Lakeland last month is "proof
positive" of his philosophy of life .. .
Steve O'Neill was quite patient with his hard-to-manage protege
and gave him every encouragement and little punishment for his
strange antics . . . Wakefield took a tremendous beating from the
fans and Detroit papers. There are many who claim that this partially
was the cause of his failure.. *
BUT THE CINDERELLA boy's pumpkin is in for a rough ride
now that fiery Red Rolfe is in the driver's seat for the Tigers. .
the red-headed ex-Yankee has indicated publicly that Dick has got
to produce or he's through.
"If he wants to make this ball club, he'll have to make it the
hard way by proving to me that he's a better ball player than
Pat Mullin. He won't win that job on his reputation."
This is the big year for Dick and he knows it-only too well . .
his future in baseball is at stake. It appears that there'll be no second
chance as far as Rolfe is concerned . . . this may be the impetus he
has long needed-only time will tell . . . There's a lot of hard work
and long hours between now and then ...
Whether young Mr. Wakefield has the stuff that will put him
out in the outfield for the Tigers on opening day, even his best;
friends won't venture. to guess. Personally we like the guy and hope
he makes the grade.
Oosterbaan Expects 175 Men
To Report for Spring Practice
New Stars
Old Timers
In IGymnTest
Wolverine gymnasts will play
host to some of the finest colle-
giate tumblers in the business
when representatives of most of
the Big Nine schools flock to Ann
Arbor tomorrow for the Confer-
ence Meet.
The first Western Conference
Gymnastics Meet ever to be held
at Michigan will feature NCAA
Champions, AAU crown wearers,
and Big Nine titlists, but no title
is secure with the amount of new
talent competing.
MINNESOTA, defending cham-
pions, can point to Howard Swan-
son Don Hedstrom, Jim Peterson
Wings Lose
In Overtime
DETROIT - (A') - Rookie
Gerry Plamondon scored his
third goal of the game after
2:59 of overtime play to give
the Montreal Canadiens a 4-3
victory over the Detroit Red
Wings before 13,718 fans here
last night. The triumph evened
the Detroit-Montreal Stanley
Cup semi-final series at one
game each.
and Herb Loken, as four reasons
for repeating last year's feat.
Three of the "Big Four" are
former Conference champions
with the fourth, Herb Loken,
ready and able to unseat stal-
warts in almost any event.
Swanson, Hedstrom,aand Peter-
son won the Big Nine titles on
the parallel bars, flying rings,
and tumbling events respectively
with Peterson walking off with
"All-Around" honors.
Along with NCAA crown hold-
ers, Joe Calvetti, high bar, and
Gay Hughes, trampoline, Illinois
will feature their sophomore won-
ders, Frank Dolan, John Sharp,
and Holly Echols.
BOB SCHOENDUBE, Wolverine
AAU and Conference 'tramp
champ' will be on hand to defend
his right totihese titles.
Great things are expcted
from "daily double" Pete Bar-
thell, who had a bad day if he
didn't win at least two events
in dual competition this season.
Teammate Ed Buchanan has
also shown much promise on
the trampoline and is expected
to place high in the final stand-
ings.
The experts are picking Bruce
Sidlinger, of Iowa, to take the
trampoline event in spite of the
tough competition.
All senior~ athletic managers
are requested to report to the
'M' Club Room of Yost Field
House at 4 p.m. today for pic-
tures. Please wear coats and
ties.
Michigan Fails To Score
As Meet Gets Under Way
(Special to The Daily) uled to be a different story as U
CHAPEL HILL. N.C.-Blazing huge affair swings into a full pr(
Bill Heusner, Northwestern's great gram of events. Six championshil
distance star successfully defend- will be clecided tonight includir
ed his 1500-meters title as the 26th the 50-yd. free style, the 150-y
annual National Collegiate Ath- backstrcke: the 200-yd. brea
letic Association swimming meet srk;tc20y.fe tl;i
got undler away here last night. stroke: thle 220-yd. free style: to
gl n board diving and the 400-yd. fr
Michigan's defending champions style relay.
failed to score. f '
Daily-Pete Mann
CAN THEY DO IT?-Michigan's defending NCA I champions opened defense of their collegiate
crown at North Carolina last night as a distinct u iderdog. Pictured above is the squad which carries
Wolverine hopes for a repeat victory. Front row (left to right) Matt Mann III, Bernie Kahn, co-cap-
tain Bob Sohl, Tommy Coates, George Eyster. Top row (left to right), John McCarthy, Charlie
Moss, Bill Kogen, Ralph Trimborn, Dave Tittle, co-captain Dick Weinberg. Free styler Gus Stager
rounds out the twelve-man Michigan squad.
FISHER'S COMIN' OUT PARTY:
' Nine Plans Intra-Squad Tilt Today
IEUSNER stroked the distance
grind in 19:04.8, only five seconds
short of Jack Medica's NCAA rec-
ord, to stave off a strong bid from
Stanford's Ralph Sala who fin-
ished in 19:16.1 to shave more
than a half minute off his last
year's fifth place time.
Forbes Norris, Harvard's
Olympic distance man took
third, Emil Estoclet of Yale was
fourth and Roger Watts of Iowa
State took the last place.
Thus, at the end of the first day
of the three-day meet Northwest-
ern leads with six points followed
by Stanford with four, Harvard
with three, Yale with two and
Iowa State with one.
Meanwhile, the three powers of
the meet, Iowa, Ohio State and
Michigan, scheduled to battle it
out for the title, were all score-
less.
TODAY, HOWEVER, is sched-
,I anUors B sob Anclel-son, .Joe
Verdeur of La Salle, Bill Smith
of Ohio State and Bruce Har-
lan of Ohio State will be on
hand to defend their respective
Candidates for spring foot-
ball practice which opens Mon-
day are asked to draw their
equipment from Henry Hatch
at the field house this week.
Equipment may be drawn after
2 p.m., eitherFriday or Satur-
day.
titles in the 50, breaststroke,
220 and diving and all but An-
derson are favored to repeat.
In a business meeting preceding
last night's lid-lifter, Wolverine
swimming coach, Matt Mann, was
named first vice president of th
College Swimming Coaches Asso
ciation of America. He had previ
ously been second vicepresident.
Jack Torney of the University o
Washington was named president
Provided the balmy spring
weather that has been in and out
of Ann Arbor all week holds up,
Wolverine baseball coach Ray
Fisher announced plans to move
outside today and try to get an
intra-squad game going.
The Michigan nine will be the
first of the spring sports to move
from the confines of the Yost
Field House to the actual prac-
r
t
ment of several of his ball play-
ers, commenting particularly on
Leo Koceski and big Lefty Mor-
"While Koceski is not a pol-
ished hitter, he has made great
strides from the way he reported
for the first day of practice,"
Fisher said. He added that Mor-
rill has made quite a bit of prog-
ress both over last season and his
early year workouts.
The Wolverines went throtigh
anoaher lengthyy practice session
in the cages yesterday afternoon,
with both the hitters and- the
pitchers getting their share of the
work.
Freshman wrestling award
winners are asked to report to
the equipment room in the,
Field House to bermeasured for
sweaters.
tice field. :The Wolveine out-
fielders have been working out-
doors for the past few days.
getting in needed fielding and
throwing practice.
WITH THE SEASON'S opener
only nine days away, the Maize
and Blue could use a lot of out-
side work to get themselves in
proper shape for theGeorgetown
tilt, as the transition from indoor
practice to actual game conditions
is a tough one to make.
Fisher praised the improve-
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Eddleman Best in Conference
CHAMPAIGN, Ill.-(J)-Captain Dwight Eddleman, of the Uni-
versity of Illinois Western Conference basketball championship team,
has been elected most valuable player in the Big Nine.
The Illini are in Seattle, Wash., where they meet Oregon State
Saturday for third place in the NCAA finals.
Eddleman, Centralia, Ill., high school graduate, finished the 22
games of Illinois" regular 1948-49 season with 301 points, four less
than the Illinois record set by Andy Phillip in 1943.
~~. . . . O '
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Over 175 men are expected to
.report for Michigan's spring foot-
ball practice which gets under way
next Monday.
Coach-of-the-Year Bennie Oos-'
terbaan is returning tomorrow
Grant lected
Puck Captain
Wally Grant, speedy Wolverine
right wing was elected by his
teammates as Michigan's hockey
captain for the 1949-50 season.
At the same time, Wally Gacek
was given the "most valuable
player" award by a vote of the
squad.
Coach Vic Heyliger announced
that seventeen members of the
1948-49 team were awarded Major
letters.
from a trip to the Pacific Coast
where he combined speaking en-
gagements for various alumni
groups with a well-earned winter
vacation.
He will confer with his assistant
coaches, Jack Blott, line coach;
George Ceithaml, backfield; and
Bill Orwig, ends; to complete plans
for the practice drills which will
last until May 14.
The plans at present list five
sessions for next week and, after
a spring vacation layoff, six prac-
tices a week until the middle of
May.
The first week the players will
concentrate mostly on movies of
last year's games, and chalk talks.
However, if the weather is good,
Oosterbaan intends to take his
charges outside to get some of
the kinks loosened up before the
concentrated drills begin after va-
cation.
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