Slants on Sports

So great was the response to the contest in which Benny Leonard was selected as “the Greatest Jewish Prizefighter of All Time,” that your sports scribe is determined to discover whom the Jewish baseball fans of New York consider the “Greatest Jewish Baseball Player.”

This column is written especially for all you rabid baseball boys from the far northern reaches of the Bronnix to the bleak shores of Brooklyn, Brownsville and Bensonhurst. It’s a chance for you to earn yourselves a pair of Annie Oakleys to the World Series in New York by writing a letter of not more than 200 yards on the man you consider to be the “Greatest Jewish Baseball Player.”

Remember, you ordinary bleacher sitters, that you have to enclose a copy of the column’s head, “Slant on Sports,” in your letter. And if the judges deem your letter one of the three best you and the missus or your neighbor’s missus will be sitting in the grandstand of the Polo Grounds watching Phlashy Phil Weintraub strut his stuff.

The Giants are determined to fight it out even if it takes all summer. The Yankees are keeling over and the Tigers still have their snarl. Your sports commentator is convinced that the Giants will struggle through the series with Mickey Cochrane’s lads despite the fact that this corner has received innumerable letters stating that we’re all wet and ought to be run out of New York as a traitor.

But, with all prejudices and arguments in the dugout for the moment, that idea is that you can grab a pair of ducats for the World Series by entering the new baseball contest that starts today in the Jewish Daily Bulletin.

WINNING BALL PLAYER TO RECEIVE GIFT

The baseball player whom the fans judge the greatest of the Jewish bambinos will receive a gift from the Jewish Daily Bulletin at the World Series in recognition of honor bestowed upon him by the Jewish baseball fans of greater New York.

Likewise, the United States Maccabi Association has informed your commentator that the National Sports Advisory Board has agreed to present a certificate of distinction to the player selected by all youse guys and youse gals.

It was only the other day that we were whisked up to the forty-sixth floor of the R.C.A. building and ushered into the new sports emporium that Ford Frick calls his “cubby hole of an office.” There was Ford with his feet on the table, preparing his evening’s broadcast.

“Yes, sir,” fricked Ford, “fate and baseball are great pranksters. For a quarter of a century John McGraw searched the highways and byways of the baseball hinterlands for a Jewish ball player of big league calibre.

“But somehow he couldn’t quite find what he sought. He got Andy Cohen but Andy couldn’t hit half as well as he could please the fans, and he faded out of the picture. McGraw came up with Young Levy—but Levy turned out to be a better fiddle player than a pitcher and he too faded quickly into the shadows.

“Mac tried strategy and guile. He wanted to cater to New York’s huge Jewish population. He wasn’t even above a little trickery. He let it be rumored around that Herzog was Jewish and he never bothered to deny the rumor, either, that Artie Nehf, the great little southpaw, was of Hebraic descent. Neither was, of course—but Mac had his eye on the box office.

TWO AT ONE CLIP

“And now,” continued the head of the National League service bureau, “less than two years after Mac is out of baseball Bill Terry comes up with two Jewish baseball players—both of them fine looking prospects. One is Harry Danning, the slugging catcher, who has been with the club all season. The other is Phil Weintraub, rookie outfielder, who has been recalled from the Southern Association after pounding that old apple for a .400 percentage during two thirds of the season.

“What’s more, both Danning and Weintraub look as though they would stick, and the Bronx and the Ghetto, after waiting patiently through the years, may finally have their chance to cheer.

THERE HAVE BEEN GREAT BALL PLAYERS

“There have been great Jewish players in baseball,” said the Ford as he puffed the smoke from a nickel stogie out the window, “but somehow they never seemed to land in New York. Probably the greatest Jewish player ever in the leagues was Johnny Kling, catcher and “Brains” of the famous old Chicago Cubs of the Frank Chance era. But Johnny was no help to his Jewish compatriots in New York. Instead he was anathema, for New York hated the Cubs with a deep and abiding hatred and Johnny represented the enemy.

“Moe Berg was in the big league for years. It’s a shame he had to be released but I’ll bet a finif on the line saying he’s grabbed up by some team real soon. However, he too always wore an enemy uniform when he came to Broadway and Manhattan. Sammy Bohne of the Cincinnati Reds figured in the same category.

“Of course you know that McGraw tried Solomon and Bentley and I’ve mentioned Levy and Cohen. But Mac still kept his eyes open for a Jewish boy who could play ball.

“And then there’s Henry Greenberg, ace first baseman of the Detroit Tigers. Henry was born and raised within a stone’s throw of the Polo Grounds, was snaked out from under the noses of New York scouts and signed to a contract. Maybe McGraw knew of him but figured he wouldn’t do. Perhaps he never even heard of him. At any rate, Greenberg too left his native Bronx and the cheering multitudes and returns now an avowed enemy to New York and New Yorkers.

“And so it goes,” signed the genial Frick.

“For twenty-five years John McGraw searched the baseball highways and byways looking for a Jewish star—and never found one. Now, in less than two years, Bill Terry has come up with two of them.

As Ford threw his half-inch stogie out the window of his forty-sixth-floor office he turned to the ticker that is one of his prized possessions.

In the meantime we asked, “Whatever became of Johnny Kling? He happened along ‘way before we were able to climb fences into ball parks and he was finished by the time we started getting free passes for the ball games.”

At this moment the ticker began its staccato message.

“Here’s an A.P. flash from Kansas City on Johnny Kling,” said Ford. “There’s a coincidence for you.”

“Johnny Kling, old-time star catcher of the Chicago Cubs now in the baseball, hotel, and real estate business here, is distinctly not in favor of night baseball.

“He owns the Kansas City Blues, who played quite a few night games in the early part of the American Association, just because of the day time competition from the horse racing tracks.

“‘Night baseball should be eliminated,’ says Kling. ‘If a minor league wants to develop a player and get a good price for him from a big league team, he must be sold on the basis of what he does in the day-time games, not under floodlights.'”

“And that,” chirped Frick, “is why he was called the ‘brains’ of the old Chicago Cubs.”

The contest has one month to run. You can submit as many letters as you desire, provided you meet the requirements in each case. Don’t forget, if you write one of the three best letters on “The Greatest Jewish Baseball Player” and enclose the heading of the column, “Slants on Sports,” you will win a pair of free ducats to the World Series.

At the same time your vote will help in choosing the best Hebrew on the diamond and he will be presented with a gift by the Jewish Daily Bulletin at the World Series and a certificate of distinction.

Herman D. Barshay, who won a prize in the last contest, writes as follows:

“Many thanks to you and the Jewish Daily Bulletin for the two ringside tickets to the Fort Hamiltan Wrestling Club, which I was so fortunate in winning. Both my friend and I enjoyed the show immensely.

“I certainly feel that any similar contest that you may sponsor in the future will prove both interesting and worthwhile. I would be only too happy to participate in another contest that might enable me to see a World Series ball game with the compliments of the Bulletin. Nothing would please me more than to watch our own Danning and Weintraub demonstrate to Messrs. Dickey, Ruth & Co how baseball should be played.”

THE SPORTING CALENDAR FORT HAMILTON ARENA TOMORROW NIGHT

The boxing club at the Post announces that Vince Dundee, middleweight champion of the world, has been signed for the ten-round main go at the Fort Hamilton Club tomorrow night. He is matched with Tony Bressica. An excellent supporting card completes the bill.