MARCH 15, 1952
THE MICHIGAN DAILY
PAGE
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41
THE MORNING LINE
By TED PAPES
Daily Sports Editor
Illinois
Takes I. of C.
Two Mile
Relay
i
Y
i
TYRUS RAYMOND COBB, the biggest name in baseball history, has
come to the rescue of American baseball writers.
All over the Grapefruit Circuit this week, the scribes have ,been
digging up and down the baselines looking for 'angle' stories on
the major league teams in training.
«"The usual line of routine, optimistic reports have been spilling
out over the teletypes for ever-hopeful baseball fans, but it remained
-for Cobb to manufacture a big propaganda number and toss it into
the laps of sportswriters, helping them to fill their pages with some
Spring diamond lore.
The Georgia Peach came out of retirement long enough to enter
a ten page feature story in Life magazine this week entitled "They
Don't Play Baseball Any More." In it he rips the current version
of the great game apart and takes special pains to extol the play
of the Cobb era.
Ballplayers Turning Soft?
ON THE FACE OF THINGS it would appear that he and equally
legendary 'Honus Wagner have found a fine opportunity for slap-
ping r ^ other on the back at the expense of latter day players.
(Wa' oncurred with Cobb in an Associated Press report yester-
.- ihe only baseball heroes our generation knows, Joe DiMaggio,
'ed Williams, etc., are described as men with unrealized talents
who cannot be ranked with the old time sluggers because they have
been molley-coddled.
We'll have to agree that the Yankee Clipper lived a short life in
baseball and probably his lack of hard training helped to shorten his
magnificent career. And Cobb is right that many of our' ballplayers
are part-time athletes with off-season' occupations which allow them
to get out of shape.
But times have changed since Cobb and his rough-and-ready
colleagues were tearing up infields with reckless abandon. Today's
stars are educated men who know that their baseball talents are
not a permanent asset. They cultivate occupations off the field as
insurance against their becoming bums after their legs give out.
Modern life for them is more than just eating, sleeping and
playing baseball as Cobb seems to imply was the case in his day.
He even criticizes the players for going home to their families and
friends after the game instead of sitting around all evening as a
team and mqaning over the day's misfortunes.
And somehow I just can't convince myself that the old timers
could steal "over 100 bases" in a season against catchers like Yogi
Berra and Roy Campanella as Cobb claims. Not only that, he says our
Minoso and Robinson couldn't pilfer as many sacks against the oldster
backstops.-
Cobb' 'Sicientific' Game
IN ONE BREATH COBB says that science has been eliminated from
the game, and in the next he criticizes managerial strategy which
he maintains "loses more games than it wins." Then he goes on to
Aescribe some of the old time 'science.'
Wilt Winner
In Mile Run
AtCleveland
Special to The Daily
CLEVELAND -- The University
of Illinois' two mile relay team
came from behind to edge the
Wolverines quartet in the Cleve-
land Arena here last night.
Both anchor men were touched
off together, but Illinois anchor
man Henry Cryer nipped Wolver-
ine sophomore John Ross by a
stride. For Georgetown, which ran
third, it was the first defeat in
17 consecutive starts.
* * *
THE TIMES in all events were
generally slow due to the small
size of the track. The Arena's
board track runs twelve laps to
the mile.
George Lynch, Michigan
transfer student runing unat-
tached, finished second in the
1,000-ard run to Georgetown's
Carl Joyce in another thrilling
race. The winning time was
2:16.2.
Mal Whitfield, Olympic half
mile champ, again demonstrated
his mastery over Wolverine Jack
Carroll. Whitfield, the only man
ever to beat Carroll, was clocked
in 1:11.7 for 600 yards.
HARRISON DILLARD, Olympic
sprinter, romped to victory in the
45 yard high hurdles. He was fol-
lowed across the tape by Illinois'
Joel McNulty and Michigan's Van
Bruner in that order.
In the absence of Don Gehr-
man, Fred Wilt, speedy FBI
man, paced the mile run field.
Meet officials are protesting
Gehrmann's absence to the Am-
ateur Athletic Union. The slim
miler pleaded that his wife was
sick and refused to participate
in the meet.
Bill Mack, former Michigan
State star, was passed by Wilt in
the final lap and lost by five yards.
Wilt's time was a respectable
4:10.8.
In the pole vault both Don Laz
and Bob Richards cleared the bar
at 15 feet and a fraction, but the
event was awarded to Laz on the
basis of fewer jumps.
Curtis Stone of the New York
Athletic Club led the two mile field
with the fine time of 9:04.1. He
was followed by George Capozzoli
of Georgetown and Bob Kelly of
Loyola.
Willie Williams of IIinois took
the 45 yard dash' in the good time
of 4.8.
Daily Classifieds
Bring Quic Results
REPEAT PERFORMANCE?-George Chin left) and Pat Cooney,
were two of the leading scorers in Michigan's 9-3 victory over St.
Lawrence, Chin scored a goal and two assists, making him top
point-getter on the puck squad, and Cooney netted two goals!
Indiana lops Big Ten Scoring;
Skala Chief M' Point Maker
T igers H and
IBosox Sixth
Loss in Row
By The Associated Press
SARASOTA, FLA.-The Boston
Red Sox suffered their sixth
straight defeat in the grapefruit
league yesterday as the Detroit
Tigers counted clusters of three,
runs in the sixth and seventh
innings for a 7-5 victory.
Boston outhit the Tigers, 13 to
12, but all the Sox hits were singles
while the visitors smacked doubles
against loser Bill Wight and
Rookie Al Curtis, each a victim
of Detroit's big innings.
PHOENIX, ARIZ. - The New
York Giants, receiving top-notch
pitching from 23-game winner
Larry Jansen and bullpen ace
High School Mermen
Battle in State Meet
The finals of the Michigan
High School Class 'A" Swim-
ming Championship will be held
tonight in the Intramural Pool.
Twenty-one schools from all
parts of the state are entered
in the meet, including defend-
ing champion Battle Creek.
In the diving preliminaries
last night six men qualified for
the finals, with Herb Schmidt
of Saginaw Arthur Hills turn-
ing in the best score, 179.9.
George Spencer, won their second
straight game yesterday, turning,
back Rogers Hornsby's St. Louis]
Browns, 6-1, in the opener of aI
three-game weekend series.
* *, *
ST. PETERSBURG,"FLA.--The
St. Louis Cardinals and the Wash-
ington Senators played 51/2 in-
nings to a 6-6 tie.t
Rain interrupted play in the
third and fifth innings and thei
third shower made the field' un-1
playable after Washington's sixth
inning.
* * *
By JOHN JENKS
George Jacobi just doesn't rate
in Lady Luck's eyes.
If a list of Michigan's tough
luck athletes is ever published, the
Wolverine cinder performer will
probably rank high in the first five
of the unfortunates.
* * *
IT ALL STARTED in the spring
of last year. Jacobi, then a junior,
had turned in the second fastest
half mile in the country going into
the Big Ten outdoor finals at
Evanston, Illinois
In the first 880 yard heat
Jacobi was leading the pack
when he received his first bad
break-his shoelacesnapped, off
came his shoe, and he finished
out of the money.
The misfortune' was one in a
series of blows at Michigan's
chances titlewise, as the Maize and
Blue sunk from a contender to
the number four spot.
BECAUSE HE is a slow condi-
tioner, -Jacobi started his training
program early this year, his last
season of eligibility. From middle
fall on he worked out regularly to
prepare for the indoor meets.
Just as he began t to hit top
form Lady Luck stepped in and
cut hin down. As the lead man
on the mile relay team, Jacobi
was again setting the pace in
the Ohio State meet when he
pulled a leg muscle rounding a,
turn and had to drop out of the
race.
When the conference meet
rolled around the following week,
the muscle was still pulled and
he wasmunable to make the trip
to Champaign.
* * *
JACOBI HAILS from Winnetka,
Illinois, and is a senior in the
School of Business Administration,
majoring in marketing. Besides
graduating in June, his chief con-
cern is his track career.
With the outdoor season fasti
approaching, Jacobi hopes that+
he can stay clear of misfortune3
and make his last track term ai
successful one.
LUCKLESS GEORGE:
Misfortune, Injury Trip
Jacobi in Track Career
By DICK LEWIS
Michigan failed to place a single
scorer in the Western Conference's
top ten cagers, while fourth-place
Indiana took major scoring hon-
ors.
Nearest to the top of the scor-
ing parade was Captain Jim Skala,
who clicked for 169 points and a
13th place finish. Center Milt
Mead followed in 19th position
with 144 markers in the 14 league
starts.
WITH FRESHMAN center Don
Schlundt and forward Bob Leon-
ard ranking fourth and eighth in
point-getting, Indiana scored 1035
points for a new league standard.
Michigan ranked last in team
scoring with 787 scores.
The Hoosiers were also tops in
free throws, netting 281 for an-
other circuit, mark, and they
led in field goal percentage with
a shooting average of .349.
Coach Ernie McCoy's five also
ranked last in this department
as it meshed only .284 of its
shots from the floor.
Conference champion' Illinois
salvaged one record with 300 field
goals; three better than Iowa's
season mark. Again the Wolver-
ines were at the bottom of the
heap as they found the range for
287 two-pointers and missed 725'
others.
IN THE DEFENSIVE ratings,
Michigan moved up into the fifth
slot, behind Minnesota, Michigan
State, Wisconsin and Illinois. The
Gophers allowed 792 points to
their opponents for a 56 point
average, while the Maize and Blue
gave up 891.
Iowa had the best free throw
shooting average (.677) and
again Michigan faded to the
bottom spot in this department
with a .592 percentage. The
Hawkeyes also committed the
fewest number of personal fouls,
a total of 275, which was 34 less
than Michigan's second-low to-
tal.
The Illini won their title with
only one individual scorer in the
top ten, and only three among the
top twenty.
SEASON'S . SCORING records
fell in all directions, but surpris-
ingly enough one-game records
weathered the all-out assault.
Chuck Darling, Iowa's ace
pivot operator who rewrote the
individual scoring record book,
tied a one-game record with 16
free throws.
Indiana and Northwestern with
96 and 85 points respectively, com-
bined for a new two-team high of
181 points, and in the same con-
test the Hoosiers sank 38 free
throws for another standard.
.In contrast, practically every
season's scoring mark was erased.
Darling accounted for individual
high point total (364), high game
average (26.0), most field goals
(132), most free throws (100), and
a three-year career record of 716
points.
GEORGE JACOBI
Union Matches
Reach Finals
Champions in the Union all-
campus pool, billiards, ping pong
and bowling tournaments will be
decided beginning this afternoon
at 1:30 at the Michigan Union
during the Union's annual Open
House.
Lawrence Gray, national three
cushion collegiate champ is seed-
ed first in both the pool and bil-
liard finals. He will take on Moe
Wasserman in the pool semis, and
Mill Pryor in the billiard semi-
finals.
Ed Wolven meets Tom Fabian
in the other scheduled pool match,
while Frank LaRoche tackles Karl
Staubach in the second billiard
contest.
Indian student Suhrud Mehta
will meet Al Magnus and Al Leary
in the ping pong esemi-finals.
Six kegglers will compete for
individual bowling honors as John
O'Keefe, Chuck Barnhard, Don
Linden, Dick Goodwillie, Ken Rob-
inson, and Doug Lawrence tangle
at the Union alleys.
His scientists used such equipment as emery paper, belt
buckles and nutmeg graters to roughen the ball and mystify
opposing batters with weird gyrations of pitches served up by
crafty hurlers. Of course the 'spit ball' became a stock in trade
and separated the men from the boys.
1
1
One ingenious pitcher went so far 's ,to pound a tiny BB shot
into the seam of a baseball, and because he knew where the weight
was, he could control his tosses and bewilder the hitters. But when
the unsuspecting mound opponent took over on the hill he was
unable to find the plate because 'science' was blocking his success.
Maybe it's just as well that these shenanigans are over. We'll
have to:do without Henry Fords so I guess we can get along without
another Cobb-like hero. One consolation is the fact that we don't
ride in Model 'A's any longer.
I'll take the streamlined game played above board before dynamic
crowds in big, colorful ball parks, thanks. You can have your science,
Mr. Cobb.
11' ___________________________ _____________________________.ri
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