2 THE' SUNDAY STAR. WASHINGTON. t). C.. PECEMBER 26, 192ft-SPORTS SECTION. Acquisition ofRanking Tennis Stars Is Feature of Year in Professional Sports FAIL OUTSTANDING FIGURES IN PROFESSIONAL SHORTS IN YEAR NOW NEARING END BLUDGEONS GIVE YANKS PAID RACKETERS * "I J AS BIG DRAWING CARD AMERICAN LEAGUE TITLE In she American League race of and the pitchers turned out to b* an Commercialised Foot Ball Has an Even 1326 the New York Yankee* won be- good a# they should l>e, Judging by cause they had n smashing drive that their make-up. Suc- carried them along iif first place from Cleveland was helped « ]nt by th" Smaller Amount of Financial May 1 to the end Os Ih# schedule. good pitching of I’hlo and the good This is ona of the hardest of *ll things batting of Burns. to Th* Athletics proved early thst . do in hase ball. Th# team in front cess—Horse Racing Prosperous that can remain in from practically they were not dependable. Tne old without interruption l* the target of players from whom Connie Mack had all the other clubs in the league. expected moat failed to com# through cause of amateur sport re Angeles open, and Bill Mehlhorn won The Yankees were knocked back to Lamar was not strong enough for t.b« reived a jolt and the profes- the $2,506 open golf tournament at second place on the week end of team and Oallnway lagged frightfully branch of athletics was Long Beach, Calif. Macdonald Smith April only Cochrane did not begin to hat as h» sional 24. and that was the time before, correspondingly flattered in won the Dallas open and Johnny Fgr- they were lower thgn first place on had batted the year and first THE1926 when the greatest woman sell the Central Florida open. Mehl- any week end of the year. base never was handled as well a* lawn tennis player in the world and a horn won the South Central open at At times the New York team was it had h#*n in 1925. few of the leading American lawn Hot Springs, Ark. Compston won the so far ahead that the owners of other Old-Timers Sink Griffs. tennis specialists accepted offers from Florida West Coast open medal play clubs on* American League feared a Washington tried an experiment in C. C. Pyle to play tennis for money. tourney. F'arrell wort the Florida sided race that would extinguish in- Americans who to open. won South Flor- pitching with top many old-timer* Os the decided Mehihurn the terest. That did not happen, because The fooling Joe their genius for the ida open. Walter Hagen took the get settled every around with Bush commercialize the Athletics would cost team enough in the each game. Vincent Richards stood out as F'lorida West Coast open. then, the now' and and Washington would part, year identified with the little group of The North .and South open at Pine- of the to coat it th© pen occasionally stage a hurst of the speed nant. It would have been vastly bet woiild leaders. Tilden, Lacoste, Cochet. hurst was won by Bobby Cruickshank. w'ith which the players had been Johnston. His Bobby Jones the national ter for Washington if it never had Boikrtra and won open equipped when they w'on pennants. Williamthe ranks will and British and Walter Hagen traded Zachary and Ballou for Joe defection from amateur open Bush, be found to have been no slight blow' repeated for the third time in Cleveland (4te in Fight. although the trade was made to-eunateur tennis, in that interest in the Professional Golfers’ Association figuring that experiencad pitching wan Toward the latter part of the season what Washington should depend upon tourneys will be affected by the loss match. settled into a steady con- of one of the few players who could Claveland to help it to win again. But the pitch of tender against New York, because the ers who were enlisted for their ex take the court with even chances Cleveland pitcher* began to pitch beating any star in the wetrld. bet- perience had more experience than MAT GAME IN’ and hotter. But Cleveland wa* arms, Miss Mary K. Browne, another of ter they had of success left in their pros, a former national CONFUSION too late in entering warmly into the and the experiment was the worst the new is fight, and the team had been so badly Bucky Harria women's champion, hut she passed that ever attempted if peak of her several years worsted by Chicago early-in the race ha is the one guilty of trying it. Ihe game Wrestling, unlike the flourishing quite thay usually although ranking top that it never overcame the set- Detroit and Chicago, as ago. still in the prize ring, is in a state of confusion. do, She was a vivid personality on back. slid all over the American Laagsie fijgbt. There are claims and counter claims The Yankees lost their aeries with map. /Every now and then both of the courts, and when the United with respect to the championship title Association Philadelphia, the Athletics winning them aeemed to b« close enough to States Lawn Tennis sent a which cannot by any process of ellm 13 games of 22. This becguae the to England and was make the race more interesting and team of woman stars instion be accurately settled. But Naw' York could not win from would falter. When year Miss Browne was team than both Eddie France his Joe Stecher generally is regarded as Lefty Drove. The Yankees won from Collins hurt again, and found selected as the captain. was having the best claim to the title. The all other teams except Cleveland, that that he was unable to play, the The other star amateur to listen to leading wrestlers w-ho face the new the siren voice of the professional team breaking even with them. White Sox were In had luck, aa they to year are Stecher, Strangler Lewis. Joe percentage by which manager promoter was Howard Kinsey. The the had been in 1125 when the (Tootsi Mondt and the East Indian, Yankeea won their pennant was .611, was forced to retire. These players, with Suzanne Len- Garawenko. The champions in the defeats. attraction, been with 31 victories and 63 It St.. Louis and Boston ware hopeless gien as the chief have other classes are less clearly defined was a better record than made touring the country, and reports of that ly nut. Boston had no playara and B*. than even in the heavyweight division.. by St. Louis in tha National League. Louis no manager. Staler had lost con the success of the venture have been Johnny Meyers, however, stands out In cities crowds It was not the loweet record made in trel of his players, and while ha stuck conflicting. some in the middleweight class. League, out places the American as Detroit won it out to the end of the season he have turned and in other not, comparatively small gatherings have a pennant with .618. It was how- might, aa well have saved himself that ever. a .600 victory, and the Yankeea trouble because he could not bring his reflected lack of interest in the pro- be game. cannot called a great team on the team through. fessional POLO CREDITED strength of their triumph, they did It probable, though, that when as It was a good season for the Amer i 6 not win from great teams. lean League financially and in regard the barn storming is finished the. pro- in moter’s end will have amounted to WITH BIG YEAR Cleveland, the Spring season, had to attendance. The sueetss of the been rated as likely to finish about New York club helped considerably. enough to pay expenses, with perhaps if it a profit for him. In any event, it is sixth had good luck. It finished The crowds at Yankee Stadium were by Polo had its greatest season, with second. It loomed in the Spring as a large when the weather was good, and certain that professional tennis has before country and two crack British fours and the great team that might turn the league bot- the season was over thay no means set the on Are side up if it together mounted from largo to huge. present indications make it doubt- Argentina outfit playing on Amer- tom aver got ful that great interest w ill ever arise. ican fields in several important tourneys. Had the Argentines cleaned up In PRO FOOT BALL DIS* their prime objective and won the CARDS PRESSED TO COP ' national senior title it is probable APPOINTS that the famous American big four, international cup winners, would have pitted them, but NATIONAL LEAGUE RACE ball did not live been against Professional foot as it turned out the South Amer- up to expectations. the Considering icans in the final were beaten by the number of•gridiron stars of various Hurricanes, composed of Sanford, The for National League ful enough for the National Leaguer*. colleges who were lured onto the race the mer- this . more The Cube immediately would that if Pedley and Strawbridge, Americans, championship year was Chicago start- cenary grjdjyon. It seem British player. closely contested than that in the ed to enlarge their stand at the end •ver game was to get over it and Roark, a the The United States Army team wnn American League and developed of the schedule. Bt. Louis was more tikwild have been this year.