Evening star., 1950-11-07

burgh. The fol-
Grantland Rice lowing after
noon at Ebbets Field, Musial may
be on base every time you turn
around. But Pittsburgh's his
jinx, right next to his home.
Harry Brecheen has won 80
times in his 10 games with the
Chicago Cubs. All he has to do
is throw his glove on the field and
the Cubs are down. Same was
true of Art Nehf, the left-hander,
who could always beat the Pi-
rates. Through four seasons
Nehf defeated Pittsburgh 13 times
in a row before they broke the
spell in 1922. Nehf was the main
factor in depriving the Pirates of
the pennant in 1921. They had a
lead of 71a games going into New
York in mid-August, but the
Giants took them five straight
Nehf won two of them-and the
Giants went on from there.
Jackie Robinson can hit more
consistently than any other player
in the National League-the aver
ages show this is true. But, while
he whaled Harry Gumbert (of
Cincinnati and Pittsburgh for a
.522 average, he made only one
hit against Red Barrett Of Boston
and st. Louis, in % times at bat.
Lopat Jinx to Cleveland.
Ed Lopat of the Yankees (and
White Sox) has defeated the In
dians Is times in about 80 games
he's pitched against Cleveland.
Rip Sewell of Pittsburgh had a
jinx on the Chicago Cubs so monu-
mental the Cubs gave up when
he walked to the mound. Rip won
SO games from Chicago, beat them
more than any other pitcher, even
Brecheen. Ed RouSh. one of
the all-time Cincinnati greats,
couldn't do a thing with his bat
at Wrigley Field. 1t was his
genuine jinx. Pete Donahue,
also of the Reds, could beat the
Phillies any day in the week.
Tex Carleton was known as the
Boston-tamer.s Lefty Grove could
beat the Red Sox by sneezing, but
then Grove was tough for anybody.
Hughie Critz of the Giants could
always hit Dizzy Dean even when
nobody else could. Dean once said
he could click anybody in the
world, except that Critz."
Fred Fitzsinmons beat the Pi-
rates Il straight in the 1930s and
Carl Hubbell usually could beat
Pittsburgh. too. But~Ha Schu-
macl1er, Whoscould make with al
wand against the Cincinnati Reds,
never had any luck against the
Pirates. And Ted Williams,
who can hit anything anywhere
any time. can't at Yankee Stadium
-. Sch1nitz of the Cubs can wig A
wag the Dodgers. They rarely
beat him. And the whole
American League has trouble in
the World Series when it's up
against the st. Louis Cardinals.
National Open Jinxes Snead.
Sammy Snead has never won the
National Open-his jinx. Sammy
can be shooting IS and As and
then comes the Open and they
become IS and 6s-or IS if it
happens to be the last two holes
of the tournament.
Michigan could beat any foot
ball team in the world-and did
from the beginning of the 1901
season to the last game of the
1905 season. And who knocked
Michigan off? Her old nemesis.
Chicago, by 2 to 0. The VOL
verines' present jinX is Army.
Until this season Notre Dame
could lick any football team-ex-
cept Carnegie Tech. The little
Scotsmen from Pennsylvania up
set Rockne, 19 to 0, in 1926, spoil,
ing an undefeated season near its
close. Yale could lick Dart
mouth in the bowl at New Haven
just by scheduling the game
that jinx went on for 80 years. |
Although many considered little
Bill Johnston the greatest tennis
player to come to the American
courts, there was a guy named
Big Bill Tilden who could and
cid defeat Little Bill so many
years in succession for the Ma
tional singles title that it must be
some sort of record in sports. |
Every team seems to have a
hoodoo. Ask Boston College how
a second-rate Holy Cross team
could upset an Eagles undefeated
season by so points. And you
won't get an answer.
(Released by North American Newspaper
Alliance, Inc)