The globe-independent. (Hagerstown, Md.) 1943-19??, 1950-12-28
BEHIND
HOME PLATE
BY DOUG STEWART

IL cOulu Oily nave oit WiSh lOl
1851 (from the sports angle) it
would be that the baseball fans of
Hagerstown and Washington County
will continue to support the Hagers-
town Braves next season.
When Gene Raney saved organized
ball for Hagerstown by buying the
Hagerstown franchises last Decem-
Der, he Just made one promise to
the fans-that he would do every
thing in his power to give us a real
ball club. We all know that he kept
that promise up to the hilt-you will
remember last August, when the
team went into temporary tailspin,
Gene spent over ten thousand dol
lars for new ball players to bolster
the team, and you will, of course,
also remember that the Braves fin
ished in second place and put up
real fight in the playoffs.
The outlook for baseball in 1851
is, at present, very uncertain, but
there is no uncertainty about the
fact that Gene Raney will do more
than his part for his ball club and
for the fans.
And we can show our appreciation
of his efforts by supporting the
Braves up to the hilt in 1851.
l thought the two play-oH games
in the professional league a week
ago Sunday provided just about all
the thrills that one could get in a
football game but, exciting as they
were, they were actually tame COM
pared to the worlds championship
game between the Cleveland Browns
and the Los Angeles Rams, played on
a frozen field in Cleveland on Sun
day afternoon.
From the condition of the field
you could have expected very low
scoring game Gas was the case the
Sunday before on the same field
when the Browns beat the Giants 8
to 81. But right from the first play
from scrimmage the game turned
out to be free scoring affair, with
almost every minute packed with
excitement and the game ending on
a highly dramatic note.
When Bob Waterfield, on the first
play from scrimmage Con the Rams
IS yard line), dropped back and
threw a perfect pass to Glenn Davis,
who took it on the 35 and then ran
the remaining IS yards for touch
down, that was just the fore-runner
of things to come.
While there were a number of
records broken, there was, believe,
one new record made that has not
been mentioned - the first three
touchdowns of the game were scored
on successive plays.
The Rams, of course, scored the
first one on that Waterfield-Davis
pass; the Browns tied it up when
they took the Rams kick after the
touchdown and drove straight down
field to tie the score; then Los An
geles took the ball after the Browns
punt following their score, and they
drove down for their second touch
down without relinquishing the ball.
l cannot remember of such a rec
ord being made before, in any game,
either college or professional.
When the almost automatic toe of
Lou Groza got no chance to kick the
extra point after Cleveland's second
touchdown (due to a bad pass from
center) it didn't seem very import
ant but, as the game developed, that
one lone point grew bigger and
bigger-as matter of fact, just 20
seconds before the game ended with
the scoreboard reading Los Angeles
%, Cleveland q, that extra point
looked like a million dollars. But
quarterback Otto Graham (knowing
that Groza'S toe was dynamite any
where inside the opponents 40-yard
line) gambled to get the ball down
into Los Angeles territory. Mixing
his passes and ground plays perfect
ly, and with his ball carriers being
smart enough to roll out of bounds
as they were tackled (thus auto
matically stopping the clock), Ora
ham manoeuvred the ball to the
Rams IL yard line, right in front of
the goal post, and then Groza step
ped back to the Is and calmly booted
it through the uprights for the three
points that won the game and the
worlds championship in professional
football for the Cleveland Browns
PS. And the Browns were the
team that George Marshall, of the
Washington Redskins, said would be
lucky to win one game in the Nation
al Leaguel