Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1916-12-26
AS the elevens appear in Golfers issue of December 30
AGE LIMIT IN BASEBALL AND
GOLF IS WE'LL ABOVE THAT OF
FOOTBALL, TENNIS AND BOXING
BY GRANTLAND RICE

nAsEBAIL now has It's stars above forty
u and golf has It's champions around
forty-fve. But the age limit In these two
sports runs well above that OF football ten
mis- or boxing,
Tennis had Brookes, wilding and Larned
above thirty, but today there is no leading
contender left around this age, or, rather
above IL.
Football has no place for n player above
thirty. even II one could stand the smash OF
the game above that nge. n there was any
amount OF professional football there un-
doubtcdly would be stars from twenty-oight
to thirty-three. but II Is beyond reasoning TO
figure out football star at forty.
There have been a few ring marvels, with
Fltzsimmons as n leading example, who
have reached great heights after thirty-five,
but these are few and farther still between.
Tho boxer who travels beyond thirty is
within short space Of the vanishing point.
Even the Durable Dane began to wane
swiftly at this point
There have been any number OF baseball
stars. fairly healthy average who were
stars beyond thirty and number of others
who were stlll stars beyond thirty-fve.
Among this latter list might be included
Wagner Lajoe, Young, Anson, Plank,
Brown, who. between thirty-five and forty,
did somo OF their best work.
The Real Vets
Larry Lajole came into baseball about
four playing months before Hans Wagner
started The big Frenchman today is the
games champion vet. The rumor is again
abroad that he has about completed his
sojourn beneath the big tent, In which case
the eminent Teuton will come to the throne,
After all. the entire GermanFrench war
isn't being waged on European soil, And
even though both should last another year,
they would stlll be back of strictly native
talent against the record held by one Adrian
O. Anson, who stuck around for more than
twenty-five years before no refused TO let
baseball cut into his afternoons any longer,
OF all games. golf has the greatest range.
John Ball won two championships twenty
four years apart-somethinG that could
never have happened In any other game. AZ
the recent golf championship the youngest
entry was fourteen--the oldest sixty-one-
a gap OF forty-seven years, Certainly no
other game could produce any such broad
range. This In one measure accounts for
the popularity OF golf. IL Is the one game OF
them all that a player can st,ll hold after
he has passed fifty depending. as It does.
more on muscular and mental control than
upon physical strength.
The Swift Boys
Now some correspondent wants TO know
the name OF the fastest runner In baseball
Cobb rs the best base runner, but that
doesn't necessarily mean tns fastest man.
In the American League 81. Louis has
two fast men In Bert ShOtten and George
Sisler. But Fritz Masel, who Is a student
OF the running game, says that Frank Gill
hooley can beat any man In baseball over
a lOO-yard dash. The fastest aprinter In the
National League Is Dave Robertson, Just
how Robertson, Gilhooley, shotten and Sis
Ter would finish in lOo-yard affair Is
something that no one knows, the test never
having been made
New Years Resolutions
Those who are planning their New Year
resolutions in advance and who have stesled
their mentalities or such for a decided
lnal mode OF living for 1917
Briefly those who have decided 10 adopt
a new standard might well consider the fol-
lowing suggestlons'
l. The Fan-to always In future say
"Attaboy" as the home base runner slides
safely back to hrst
q The Golfer--to explain IN detail after
a round Just how he euld have saved at
least ive strokes BY sinking puts he could
have kicked in III he hadn't been Careless
q The Boxer--to abandon the old system
Of modesty and demand fair remuneration
for his art
A. Winter League Manager-to announee
with boldness the great Improvement IN his
club with the original declaration added
That the team that beats US out win fnish
up there or thereahouts."
Football Coachea-to abandon ops
timlsm and publicly proclaim the crippled