Evening star., 1938-11-05
Faster Competitive
Pace Heavily Felt
In All Fields
Heroes Rise, Swoy, Fall
Swiftly as Modern
Tempo Increases .
BY GRANTLAND RICE,

Special Correspond dent OF The Star.
BALTIMORE, Nov. 5.-As the
years roll along the tempo OF sport
increases, and it becomes more difn-
cult for any competitor-in any
fleld-to remain at the top. Speed,
stressed more and more in every
sport, has extended to the chang
ing of the scene and the set-up.
Heroes rise-sway-and crash.
With the crowd it's Here he
comes, and there he goes-and what
was his name, anyway"
There are exceptions, of course.
The Yankees-Ralph Guldahl-Don
Budge-Greyhound. Over the span
of the summer the Yankees tight
ened their grip on baseball-not
merely on the American League
but on the whole major league show,
dominating it more completely than
any team, including the Yankees
of 1927, ever did. Guldahl per-
formed the really remarkable feat
of winning the open golf cham
pionship two years in a row. In
tennis no one came even close to
Bulge. Greyhound added to his
claim to being the greatest trotter
that ever lived.
Fame on Turf Short-Lived.
But these, as I have said, are
the exceptions. The Giants, with
two pennants in row, were shoot
ing at the third when they came
apart at the seams.
War Admiral wonder son of the
wonder horse. must be doing a lit
tie wondering himself these days
wondering what it is all about. Two
terrific blows were dealt to the pres
tige of the Man O. War colt. In the
Massachusetts, Handicap at Suffolk
Downs in June he finished out of
the money for the first time in his
career. And at Pimlico on Tuesday
of this week Seabiscuit got the
jump on him at the start, fought
off his challenge in the back stretch
and ran him into the ground as
they thundered toward the wire.
The 3-year- -olds that bloomed in
the early spring wilted fast. 1njur-
les or the cough wrecked them-or
some outsider, rushing up from
nowhere, blew them down. Stage
hand-The -Lawrin-Dauber
Fighting Fox. Remember them?
Firing Heavy on Boxing Front.
The firing was particularly heavy
along the boxing front. Max Schmel-
ing was the most conspicuous
victim. Having won by a knock
out from Joe Louis two years ago,
he was we'll liked by many Of the
experts to knock Joe out again and
regain the heavyweight champion
ship. But in the greatest one-round
show a champion ever gave. Louis
handed Schmeling a frightful beat
ing and wound him up completely
so far as his ambition to regain the
heavyweight title was concerned.
Henry Armstrong accounted, in
person, for two title-holders, first
battering Barney Ross and then
Lou Ambers. This was not unex-
pected. Neither Ross nor Ambers
figured to halt the march of the
dynamic little Negro. But it proved
that, when there is a fellow like
Armstrong on the loose, no cham
pion anywhere near his weight is
safe from his hammering fists.
Two middleweight champions fell.
Freddy Steele, rated at the time he
won his little as the best middle
weight to come along in years, went
into a breath taking tailspin. Stop
ped by Fred Apostoli in an over-the-
weight match in New York, he was
knocked out by the virtually un-
known AL Hostak in Seattle the
next time he entered the ring.
The various boxing commissions
still were arguing about the validity
of Hostak's claim to the title when
the young man put an end to the
arguments by taking a bad beating
from Solly Krieger, much battered
and presumably washed up veteran
from Brooklyn.
Copyright, 1889