New Britain herald., 1928-08-11
BY HENRY l.. FARRELL

When the legs 60, the athlete
goes with them. When the body
has a pair of sound limbs to re-
spond to the command of the fight
ing spirit. the race or the game can
be won. When the legs are gone.
the samest fighting heart that beats
cannot carry on.
This In one of the oldest axioms
Of athletics and the most proved
one but it ever is fresh topic of
discussion for there arc always new
examples to quote and sad songs to
sing about the passage OF great
stars.
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 baseball
at the end OF the current season.
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 so many times.
Jack Dempsey can punch Just as
hard as he could way back in 1919
when he reduced the face OF the
mammouth Jess Willard to a pulp
and won the worlds heavyweight
championship. But his legs are
gone and he can't hit target that
he can't reach. Dempsey's great
est asset as fighting man was his
great speed of hand and foot. His
arms are still quick but his legs
cannot respond to the motor.
Bill Tilden has been slipping for
several years but fighting on with
the hope that he could 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 hve-set match
and his career as the worlds great
est tennis player Is definitely at an
end.
Three of Americas greatest rum
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 we're
through.
Paddock and Ray had put their
legs through as severe a test as a
set of human running apparatus
ever was submitted. For a number
Of years the warning was sounded
with sore muscles and pulled ten
dons and the crack finally came
when they put the extra call on their
tired limbs in the big test.
AL Simmons, the brilliant out
fielder Of the Philadelphia Ath-
letics, is threatened right in the
prime of his career with bad legs.
He was out Of the game for a
month or more this season and II
was only because he was SO urgently
needed on the team that he was able
to bear the suffering Of daily play
on pair of revolving legs.
Tommy Thevenow, brilliant short
stop Of the st. Louis Cardinals sew
eral years ago. was cut down at the
start Of a most promising career by
a broken leg. Accidents, of course,
cannot be controlled but they prove
that once the legs start going from
any cause they take their burden
with them in the same direction.
There always have TO be excep-
lions, OF course. and there are two
good exceptions in baseball. Fam
Rice and Max Carey. two Of the
real veterans Of the major leagues
For years Rice and Carey were the
fastest men in baseball and although
they have slowed W sttep or two
they are still two Of the most feared
base runners in baseball.
They have no fancy theories to
explain the unusual life Of their
limbs in business that usually
kills them off quickly. I'VE just
took care Of them" they say.
NJ an KIC-p n ~ AgSGErIrn Abs