The Bismarck tribune., 1928-08-14
Sam Rice and Max Carey Are
Exceptions to Long Rule But
Cobb, Speaker, Big Bill TIL
den, Charlie Paddock, and
Countless Others Are Vic.
Tins
BY HENRY L. FARRELL
(NEA Service Sports Writer1

When the le4S 60, the althlcte
goes with them. When the body
has a pair Of sound limbs to respond
to the command of the fighting
spirit, the race or the game can be
won. When the legs are gone, the
gamest fighting heart that beats
cannot carry on.
This is one of the oldest axioms
Of athletics and the most proved one
but it ever is fresh topic Of dis
cussion for there are always new
examples to quote and sad songs to
sing about the passage of great
stars.
Cobb, Speaker affected
Ty Cobb and Iris Speaker have
been going for a number of years.
Now they are definitely gone be-
cause their legs will carry them no
farther. They are quitting base
ball at the end Of the current sea-
son. Cobb can catch ball when he
gets to it and he can throw with
old-time skill So can Speaker.
Cobb can hit the ball as often as he
could in his best days and so can
Speaker, but they can't get the
extra step that means a safe hit or
the winning run 50 many times.
Jack Dempsey can punch just as
hard as he could way back in 1919
when he reduced the face of the
mammoth Jess Willard to a pulp and
won the worlds heavyweight cham
pionship. But his legs are gene and
he cant hit a target that he can't
reach. Dempsey's greatest asset as
fighting man was his grca. speed
Of hand and foot. His arms are
still quick but his legs cannot re-
spond to the motor.
Bill Tilden has been slipping for
several years but fighting On with
the hope that he cou.l adjust his
game to overcome the handicap Of
lost speed. Tilden is today the
greatest three-set player in the world
but his legs refuse to carry him
through a hard five-set match and
his career as the worlds greatest
tennis player is definitely a. al end.
Runners Hone Cracked
Three Of Americas greatest run
ners cracked up almost on the same
day in the Olympic games at Am
sterdam. When their legs gave way
under them under the severe test
Charley Paddock, Joie Ray and
Lloyd Hahn announced they were
through.
Paddock and Ray had put their
legs through as severe \ test as a
set Of human running apparatus
ever was submitted. For 4 .!um-
Der Of years the warning was
sounded with sore muscles and
pulled tendons and the crack finally
came when they put the extra call
on their tired limbs in the big test.
AL Simmons. the brilliant oft
fielder Of the Philadelphia Athletics,
is threatened right in tie prime OF
his career WI bad legs. lie was
out Of the :.ane for rlorth " more
this season :s1id j. 1as only Dcca"za
he was 81 Try gently needed IN t,c
team that he was able to bear the
suffering Of daily play on . pair Of
revolving legs.
Baseball Loses Too
Tommy Thevenow, brilliant short
stop Of the St. Louis Cardinals sew
eral years ago, was cut down at
the start Of most promising career
by . broken leg. Accidents, Of
course, cannot Be controlled but they
prove that once he legs start Roine
from any cause they take their bur.
den with them IN the same direction
Thefs always have to be excep.
tions, Of course, and there are tive
good exceptions in baseball, San
Rice and Max Carey, two Of the rea
veterans Of the major leagues. Fol
years Rice and Carey were thl