Imperial Valley press., 1937-12-15
TODAY'S
SPORTS PARADE
By HENRY McLEMORE

L1VERMORE, Calf, Dec. 15
UP)-Max Baer, beaten into OBJ
Scurity by Joe Louis iron fists, has
been resurrected by the soft touch
of baby's chubby hand.
His baby-who was born week
ago and still nestles close to its
mother in a hospital room.
I talked to Baer today and he
is no longer the staggering, loud
mouthed, loud checked animal of
fellow who once held the worlds
heavyweight boxing title.
He noticed that I noticed the diff
ference in him before we had talk
ed five minutes.
you think I'm different, don't
you?" he said, bit solemnly. "Well,
I am. I've been different ever
since knew the kid was coming.
Then when he did get here and I
had look at him, so damned
little and funny, I got different as
hell. I knew he had my name,
and that I was his old man, and
promised myself right then that
he'd know me as the best fightin'
man in the world, and not as a
clown"
If this kind of talk from Max,
"The Butterfly Boy" amuses you,
I don't blame you. Unless I had
seen him with my own eyes and
heard him with my own ears, it
would have amused me, too. But
the Baer that I talked to today
wasn't the clustering, gay caballero
who took New York apart and ex-
amined its seams, or strolled up and
down Piccadilly wisecracking with
every Bobby and hosting one with
every pub keeper.
This was a Baer suddenly grown
up. A Baer, who, at %, has sud-
denly found that life has its re-
sponsibilities and that even a
heavyweight champion, with a face
that the girls go for and a body
that attracts sculptors, must pick
up and carry just a few of them.
What caused this startling revela-
tion to appear before the hitherto
reckless and needless California boy,
I don't know. Perhaps it was be-
cause his wife bore him son.
Perhaps it was because his father
is desperately i'll and his mother
none too well.
I'm gonna fight again, and I'm
have got the men I want to fight
L fa ink- oil
in my mind and I've got things in
order. I'd like to fight Braddock
who licked me when my hands
were SO bad it hurt to lace on the
gloves. Then I wanta fight Tommy
Farr, who beat me when I'd been
out of the ring so long I didn't
know what I was doing. And ther
I wanta fight Louis. I wanta fight
him most Of all, because they said
was yellow the night that he licked
me. know / wasn't yellow that
night. but that kid over in ths
hospital with his mother doesn't
know i wasn't yellow. But he's
going TO.
I'm gonna fight few fights fol
him now. From here on out Tn
not gonna be fat and full of night
clubs, and all that other junk. I'm
down to 2l3 pounds and it won'i
be long until III weight what
should-about 208 or 210 Then
want 'em to bring on those fight.
ers."
Max wasn't talking this way be.
cause he needs money and pub.
licity. The wolf will never how
at his door If he never fights again
He can make better than $1,000 6
week refereeing fights and wrest.
ling matches and in four or five
years an annuity will start paying
him thousand dollars a month
That's not hay anywhere, and ou
here it's positively clover.
Baer figures there are only two
fighters in the world today thal
stand between him and a recovery
Of the heavyweight title. They arr
Louis and Schmeling. He figures