The Washington times., 1938-02-05

70 6ranSI1eIQ.
AA1 But somehow
Buck O'Nein or other, with.
out benefit Of poetry. Wagner
reached the peak. He was elected
by acclamation to the Hall Of
Fame at Cooperstown, N. Y.
Kindliness is ever an attri.
butte Of greatness, and the vet
eran Pirate never outgrew his
friends of another day. It was a
casual question that discovered
that quality in Wagner. We dis
cussed his duties as commits
Sioner Of sandlot baseball for a
while, and I asked:
DO you remember Frank
DobSon?"
II should say So" cried Wag.
ner, his ample features splitting
into q wide grin. "He was a
young first baSeman with the
Pirates. Dobson was q fine ball
player, but he had bad luck.
You see, he came along in one
of our pennant winning years,
when we had Kitty Bransfield
on first base. Well, he couldn't
get Kitty off that bag. Nobody
could.
80 he went back to the
minor leagues. That doesn't
mean Dobson was a busher.
No, indeed. He was q sweet
player. The Pirates kept a
string on him and wouldn't
turn him loose. He never really
had q chance to win the place
his ability warranted.
Breaks of Baseball
"such things happen too
often in baseball" Wagner con-
tinued. Take the case of Hank
Greenberg. Suppose he had
signed with the New York Yam
KEGS. He couldn't get Gehrig
off first base. Suppose he had
signed with the Giants. He
would have sat on the bench
looking at Terry.
Nothing SapS the ability Of a
ball player as much as sitting
on the bench. "A good player
with the right spirit suffers
looking at a game. He wants to
be in there doing his bit for
the team.
Take the case Of Sammy
Byrd, who recently quit baseball
to become a golf professional" }"
Wagner said. "He wasted what
might have been a great career
watching Ruth, Combs and Meu.
sci win pennants for tn Q
Yankees. The Yankees let him
die Of dry rot rather than trade
him. When Byrd finally got
his chance, he had nothing left.
Suppose some kid broke in
with washington this spring.
He couldn't hope to get Lewis
off third base. I saw Buddy
play one game, and that day he
was going we'll. They all have
those days, but the records show
that Lewis is all right.
What is Frank Dohson doing
now?" asked Wagner.
"He is head football coach at
University of Maryland" we re-
Piled. "He has become one Of
the great coaches Of the coun-
try, and football enthusiasts
around here are afraid that one
Of these days Frank will get an
offer too good to refuse"
II am not surprised" replied
HonuS. Ability always wins.
Dobson deserves the best. One
Of these days when I'm in Balti-
more or Washington, I'll just
drop in to see Frank. We will
have . lot to talk about"
Sceneshifter in Form
With War Admiral burning
the turf in sensational trials
for the $4,000 Widener Handi.
cap to be run at Hialeah Park
on March 5, SceneShifter; Earle
Sande horse which spent some
hectic minutes chasing the son
Of Man o. War home last
season, is held in high esteem
for the 100000 Santa Anita
Handicap, to be run on h e
same day. Sceneshifter h S
trained famously and is expected
to win prominent rating in the
handicap division this year:
Pompoon, which chased t h e
Admiral home in the Kentucky
Derby, is rated highly, but the
Santa Anita is over the mile-and-
a-duarter distance, and Pompoon
has never quite convinced turf
ent IuSiasts that he cared for
the distance. Charley Howard's
SeabiScUit, upon whose behalf
challenges were hurled at War
Admiral, has his partisanS. Cal.
i.ornianS think that the heavy
money in the Santa Anita will
be split among these three.
Somewhere along the line
war Admiral. Seabiscuit, Pom.
poon and Sceneshifter will meet
next summer, and the winner
probably will be recognized as
champion Of the handicap divi-
sion. Until he is beaten, this