10. 1952
THE MICHIGAN DAILY
-
BLUE NOTES
By John Hillyer
The Master Returns
,RANK LANE is back in the American League. That, it seems, is the
understatement of the century.
Once again, members of the Chicago White Sox are in the position
of not knowing whether they'll be with the team when they awaken
V next morning. Only this time it's simply because Lane is back in the
AL, not as general manager of their club, but a strong voice in deter-
mining what kind of a team they'll field, nevertheless.
Lane moved to the position of GM of the Cleveland Indians, after
a brief fling in the National League with St. Louis, and the moment
he stepped off the plane at Cleveland, he served notice that his old
enemy at Chicago, Vice President Charles Comiskey, had better watch
himself. Lane, as has been proved this week, wasn't merely bragging
when he made this challenge.
Wednesday he sent aging (38) pitcher Early Wynn and question-
mark (.247 last season) infielder-outfielder Al Smith to the Sox for
outfielder Minnie Minoso, a flashy performer who hit .310 and knocked
in 103 runs last year, and an established star, and Fred Hatfield, a
fairly solid utility infielder who would add bench strength to any club
who has him. Minoso alone is probably worth more than the two new
Chicagoans.
F Old Sox Never Fade .. .
COMISKEY, caught off guard by Lane and obviously still reeling
from a ghastly deal made less than 24 hours previously with Balti-
more and Paul Richards, another Chisox alumnus, must be talking
to himself about all of this by now. He's had a chance to read about
it'in the newspapers. ,
He maneuvered the Orioles out of Ray Moore, a pitcher who can
beat Detroit, Billy- Goodman, a utility infielder at best, and Tito
F'rancona, an outfielder who has yet to prove he can hit. All he gave
up in return were center-fielder Larry Doby, one of the most valuable
chunks of trade bait in the league and one of the Chicagoans' few
sources of power, and Jack Harshman, a left-handed pitcher with
plenty of stuff who had an off year in '57.
It seems Lane's very presence in the American League circles has
caused Comiskey to choke up with fear. Comiskey, heir-apparent of
the White Sox, became jealous when.Lane enjoyed such success with
his club, and 'made conditions so unpleasant for Lane that he was
forced to "resign." Since then, Lane has been burning to get even
with the upstart Comiskey, who has yet to prove that he has any
executive abilities, and saw in the Cleveland opening his chance.
He's now well on his way, we'd say.
Lane's presence, in fact, his n Fce again turned the American
League into a bartering blockAjust as it was when he was in it before.
He believes in shifting personnel, and he's quite good at convincing
his colleagues that this is the proper course to take when the winter
months start getting dull. What they never seem to realize is that he
also believes in getting the best of any deal he makes, and almost with-
out exception succeeds.
Ironically, he succeeded in the case of the recent Minoso deal,
just as he succeeded back in 1951 when, as White Sox brain depart-
ment, he swindled this same Cleveland team out of this same Minoso.
Minnie, at the time, was practically unknown in baseball circles-un-
known, that is, to everyone except Lane, who makes it a habit to know
about players.
Only the Beginning
JE'S .STILL HUNTING, though-in fact, he's barely started. He's
angry over the recent Detroit deal, which saw the Tigers grab Billy
Martin from Kansas City in a pretty one-sided transaction. Lane is
looking for a second baseman, and Martin certainly would have filled
the bill. He may get him yet.
Lane has also renewed his feud of long standing with the New
York Yankees, his perennial nemeses. Lane has accused the Yanks
and Kansas City of a partnership, an example of which supposedly
was the Yanks' talking the A's into making the Martin deal with
Detroit so Cleveland" couldn't get him. There may or may not be any-
thing to it, but when Lane starts making noises like this, it usually
means he's out for blood.
For the first time in some years, it appears as though the Yankees
are going to be facing a real problem when Lane finally gets through
(and when that will be, no one can say). He knows what he's still
lacking, and will spare little in his course to get it.
Meanwhile, the White Sox and their unfortunate manager, Al
Lopez, must now be pondering the question: "Who's going to drive
in our base-runners next year?" One thing is certain-this is no longer
the problem of Frantic Frankie Lane.
s
ATHANAS STARS:
Rifle Team Posts Win
Icers
Defense
Sparked by Wattl
By MEL ROSEN
The young and promising Wol-
verine hockey squad began its sea-
son at the Michigan Coliseum last
weekend, splitting a two-game
series with McGill University.
The Redmen have already play-
ed five games, defeated the Wol-
verines, 3-2, Friday. Coach Ren-
frew stated, "the boys just couldn't
put the puck in the net." Saturday,
Michigan came back strong to shut
out McGill, 4-0. The excellent goal-
tending of Ross Childs was sup-
ported by the statistics which re-
RON KRAMER
... ends rookie year
PRO FOOTBALL:
Western Division Lead
By BRUCE BENNETT
Associate Sports Editor
The Los Angeles Rams, the
Green Bay Packers and the Chi-
cago Bears hhven't had successful
seasons in professional football
circles this fall by the ordinary
measuring stick-the won-lost col-
umn-but much can be forgiven by
victories come Sunday by one, two,
or all three of these teams.
A startling turn of events Sun-
day plunged the Western division
of the pro circuit into one of the,
maddest title scrambles in the
league's history. The Detroit Lions,
the San Francisco 49ers, and the
Baltimore Colts currently sport
identical 7-4 records to share the
top rung in the division.
A massive defensive line and a
lob pass by a rookie quarterback in
the last seconds of a game provided
the excitement-enough to have
Commissioner Bert Bell flipping
Crisler Denies
Rumor
University Athletic Director
H.} 0. Crisler denied reports in
today's Detroit Free Press that
he had been offered the post of
Commissioner of the Pacific
Coast Conference.
"I don't know the source of
the story; it's all news to me,"
Crisler told The Daily last
night.
Athletic Director at Michigan
since 1948, Crisler said he had
not been contacted by officials
of the PCC. Victor O. Schmidt,
present Commissioner of the
PCC has submitted his resigna-
tion, effective June 30.
"I'm pretty happy where I
am, I'm not 'asking to leave,"
Crisler commented.
coins and drawing up alternative
schedules for December (even Jan-
uary) Sundays.
Detroit's stubborn defensive unit
stalled the running game of the
Eastern division king, the Cleve-
land Browns, for a 20-7 victory,
while rookie passer John Brodie
heaved a scoring toss to Hugh
McElhenny in the waning seconds
at San Francisco to provide the
margin for the 49ers 17-13 con-
quest of the Colts.
Can Gain Prestige
This is where the Rams, Packers
and Bears come in. They'll deal the
cards Sunday ,when they meet the
Colts, 49ers, and Lions, respec-
tively, to decide the division cham-
pionship. Each of the three also-
rans can gain much prestige with a'
victory this weekend, to say noth-
ing of salvaging some measure of
success from heretof ore dismal
campaigns.
Of the contenders, the team with
the best chance for success this
weekend, on paper, is San Fran-
cisco. They play the Packers, minus
Ron Kramer, sidelined for the
season Sunday with a broken leg,
on their home field. The Green Bay
eleven has won only three times
this year and has had more points
scored upon them (284) than any
other pro team.
Lions Faltered
The Lions faltered in an earlier
game with the Bears, actually only
two games behind the leaders, and
this time they must face them in
Chicago minus Bobby Layne, their
playboy, but nevertheless star
quarterback. The Colts may get
lost in the huge Los Angeles Coli-
seum. The Rams, also just two
games behind, have a reputation
of winning the "big ones."
vealed that he stopped 31 shots
compared to the opposing goalie's
21.
Although the games do not count
in the WIHL standings, they
nevertheless revealed an- aggres-
sive squad to the hockey public.
The defensive work of the Wolver-
ines was particularly strong for
this early stage of the season when
high scoring games are the gen-
eral rule. Coach Renfrew com-
mented on the excellent back-
checking of his forwards which
made the work of his inexperienced
defensemen much easier.
Defense Surprising
The defensive play of the Wol-
verines was surprising considering
the fact that Barrie Hayton is the
only experiencedl defenseman re-
turning. Showinig great promise
was Bobby Watt, a sophomore
from Barrie, Ontario, who scored
a goal in Saturday night's victory.
Watt played four years of hockey
at St. Mike's in Toronto before
comingto Michigan. As a youth,
he played hockey in upper Ontario
where he lived most of his life.
"Although we had no artificial ice
we used to play hockey from Sep-
tember until March," Watt stated.
Action Wide Open
Watt finds WIHL action much
more wide open than the St. Mike
version. "In Canadian college
hockey you cannot pass from your
own blue line over the red line,"
he commented. In contrast to this,
WIHL rules stipulate that you can
pass the- puck anywhere from be-
hind your blue line up to the op-
ponent's blue line.
Watt, after his first two games
of Michigan hockey, was surprised
by the outstanding spirit exhibited
by Wolverine fans.
The team is in excellent physical
shape for next weekend's games
with North Dakota. Captain Neil
McDonald and Ed Switzer are both
sick with flu but are expected to
recover in time to see plenty of
action.
I-M Seores
VOLLEYBALL
RESIDENCE HALLS
Huber 4, Reeves 3
Winchell 4, Greene 3
Chicago 4, Van Tyne 2
Hinsdale 4, Hayden 2
I
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715 N. University
Michigan's Rifle Club won a tri-
angular match from Indiana and
Wisconsin by posting a 2919 score
at the ROTC rifle range last Sat-
urday.
The second place Hoosiers were
a long way back at 2721, while
the Badgers rounded out the trio
with score of 2696. Sharpshooter
of the meet was Michigan's cap-
tain, Tom Athanas, whose score of
578 led his closest rival, another
Wolverines, Bill Woodruff, by seven
points.
If
i
A pair of Michigan gunners; Pete
Eckrich and Bob Fear tied for
third at 559, while Indiana's Bob
Tuttle tied Michigan's Jim Lanham
for fifth at 352 to give the Wol-
verines' five-man team five out of
the top six positions.
Wisconsin's highest finisher was
John Campbell who earned seventh
place with a 551 total.
The next meet for the Rifle Club
will be on January 11 when they
go to Champaign to face Illinois,
the Big Ten Champion.
n
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FRIDAY
DECEMBER 13. 1957
I