Evening star., 1932-03-11
BY TOM DoERER.

~ 1LOX1, Miss, March IL
K There was that shrewd-
- looking, angular Hoosier,
Edgar Charles (Sam, boys,
Sam Rice, taking his click at the
pumpkin the other morning down
on Biloxi's rye-grass ball orchard.
And there was the background
OF ball players running, playing
pepper and waiting for turns at
the plate.
DO you know" said Clark Grifith,
the gray pilot, that Sam Is about the
Sweetest-looking hitter up there as you
would want to lay an eye upon? He
stands as straight as one of our old
cowboys back home used to stand when
the camera folks came around
And there Is no doubt but what
Sam has about the finest batting
form around the pastime. He might
have been a greater hitter, faster
runner and packed q mightier punch
In other days, but surely he stands
up there down here these mornings
as well as any smart hitter you
might see in long, long while.
Sam stands up there as straight as
an Indian, cuts with a beautiful golf
ing cut at the ball and follows through
with all the rhythm and grace those
goitlng experts say good golfer ought
to have
And when he is hitting, the balls are
NIT sharply and smoothly. His hitting
technique is so different, so well timed
and so graceful in comparison to that
OF the slugging youngsters of today. that
1t Is treat to a real base ball enthusi-
ast to watch him at work.
When you see this ueteran out
fielder lay the tDillo1U across his
shoulder you are seeing something
about Which the books on batting
try to teach. And 1Dhen he folloiUs
through it has been the last iUord in
beautiful cutting.
A ND, maybe, after all, that golfing
IA grace really comes from golf, for
I watched Sam and Griffith out on
the Biloxi course the other afternoon
and his golfing attitude and his batting
stance were kin.
And that they are Is backed up in a
measure by the fact that when Sam
goes into a batting slump during the
on season. he tricks out to the golf
course and spends hours on the tee
hitting dozens of balls. He does not
play a game, but merely clouts those
tiny pellets until he feels he has gained
not his batting eye, but his proper
stance. And do you like that?
Sans plan would scare the shoes
of the average manager. But Wal
ter Johnson, a great believer in golf
at training camp. knows that If Sam
does not know what is good for him
there Is no one else around the
plantation who does.
Here is Sam down here among the
sea gulls and the date palms prepping
those sturdy legs and those piercing
eyes for his eighteenth year of slapping
the leather. And there has got to be
tough opposition from any kid to dis
lodge this old-timer from his perch as
a utility player and pinch-hitter. And
1t would take a real smart one to beat
him for year of constant action. Last
year Sam got into l20 games, and that's
more than hatful to hit for $40.
Sam is 40 years of age. That's lot
Of years for pair of legs to be packing
about base bail plot on hot afternoons
And there are few doing 1t at such an
age, toos But Sam has guarded those
legs by careful living, plenty of golf,
bowling and walking There is not a
man In hase bali who takes better care
Of his health than this veteran who,
Mike Martin, the smart trainer, will
tell you, Is good for some more years. e