SPORTS SUPPLEMENT LL lflir E tt SECTION FOUR ANN ARBOR, MICHIGAN. SATURDAY, AUGUST 16, 1941 Wolverine Eight Top Starters Lost To Wolverine' Nine Next Season, Seek Successor To Harmon s Crisler Succeeds Yost As Director Of Athletics All Positions Will Suffer From Draft, Grduation; Replacements Are Low Loss Of Wakefield Will Be Keenly Felt By GENE GRIBBROEK Michigan's baseball team will be the defending champion in next spring's title chase, but it will take a young miracle by Coach Ray Fisher to do it successfully.vFor the club that won ten of twelve games last season and ran away with the crown is gone. If Fisher whips together a real contender by the time the Confer- ence race starts, he will have re- placed no less than eight of the top men on last year's squad. Three- fourths of his brilliant infield was lost by graduation, three of his starting hurlers graduated and the other is rumored to be heading for the Army, and his most dangerous hitter accepted a nice bonus and joined the pro ranks. Wakefield Loss Hurts That last one really hurts. Big Dick Wakefield blossomed out as a sophomore to become the best stick- er the Big Ten has seen in many years. He was a little too good, though, and now he has some $45,000 in his kick and works for the Detroit Tigers organization. He would have been a great help out in right field for the next two years, if a line drive didn't kill him first. But Fisher, who loves a good pitcher, is probably just as upset about what happened to his hurling staff. He did a masterful job with some shaky prospects last spring, and turned out a honey. His four starters won 24 out of, 32 games for a .750 percentage. But they're all gone, too. Mickey Stoddard, righthander, and southpaws Mase Gould and Neil Muir all finally produced after three years of coming on, but they only gave him one season. Cliff Wise, the right-handed sophomore sensation who shared the chief starting as- signments with Stoddard, will spend next spring in the armed forces. Les Veigel, relief hurler, also gradu- ated. Infield Loses Three The infield took almost as bad a beating, with everybody graduating except the third baseman, Bud Chamberlain. Captain Bill Steppon, a flash around second base, signed with Springfield of the Eastern League; shortstop Mike Sofiak, Step- pon's partner for four years around the keystone sack, is with Lansing of the Michigan State League, and first baseman George Ruehle is in the Army. This leaves catcher George Harms, captain-elect Chamberlain, and out- fielders Don Holman and Davey Ne- son as a nucleus for the title de- fenders." There's a lot of quality here, but there 'aren't enough of them. The catching department is well taken care of. Harms is one of the best receivers Fisher ever had, and hit for .330 last season. Warren Jes- sop will again provide capable re- serve strength here.dChamberlain has become a very good third base- man, and he and Harms should lead the club at the plate. In Holman and Nelson, Fisher has two gardeners who sparkle defensively and can de- liver acceptably at bat. Pitchers Are Problem With this set-up, the mound corps will again be Fisher's big headache. He has two right-handed reserve pitchers returning, Gus Sharemet and Paul Goldsmith. Sharemet showed a lot of speed and a wealth of stuff last spring, and if he can acquire control will probably be the number one starter. Goldsmith has two things to worry about-and in- jured throwing arm and the draft. The rest of the staff, though, will have to come from the freshman squad. Of the frosh, Irvkng Boim, Harry Caswell and Bill R1awleigh, all ..cr-h 'hntarc a -amn4r . non Graduation Claims Three Star Mermen Sad news lies in wait for Michigan swimming fans. The Wolverine tank crew, Big Ten and National Inter- collegiate titleholders, won't be the same water powerhouse next year. Coach Matt Mann's natators will go into action this coming campaign minus the services of many of their outstanding stars of the past three years. Graduation and the army will take their toll of the greatest collegiate swimming aggregation in Maize and Blue history,.1 Foremost among the Wolverine stars lost through graduation stands Charley Barker, selected by coaches the nation over as the best swimmer in the country. Big Ten 50 and 100 yard champ and National Collegiate 50 yard titlist, Barker's loss will be keenly felt. Last year Barker swam the fastest 50 yard race .in the land, covering the distance in the phenom- enal time of 23 seconds flat. Another titleholder who will be lost to the team by the graduation axe will be Jim Welsh, holder of the Western Conference 220 and 440 and the National Collegiate 220 crowns. He is regarded as one of the nation's best distance men. And the man who 1s second only to the greatest of them all, Adolf Kief- er, will no longer fill a Wolverine suit. For Frannie Heydt, backstroke ace who holds the Big Ten and Na- tional Collegeiate 150-yard back- (Continued on Page 4) 1- P.blAustern PO0TPI IN BUT A FEW short months the sto be forgotten. Only the musty littl remember the names and deeds of last themselves will soon forget their hour their successes and failures. But wh about the real Frank Merriwells and, 1940-41 Wolverines, last year's greate and Richard C. Wakefield. -F Tom Harmon: the greatest nan football. He's more than just an all est athlete who ever dug his cleats gridiron. He's a legend to the thous come football heros and his records university athletes for years to corn We didn't hear much about Harm 1938. Everybody was talking about I field runner from Kiski Prep-and tha camp was t who s ed toe 4.~of tr sopho point great 44 .piled Qi called junio verine throu son e , :