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GRIFFIN DAILY NEWS MAGAZINE
Who Was Casey’s Favorite?
He Confides It Was Wietelmann
By MILTON KICHMAN
I'PI Sports Writer
TAMPA, Fl*. (UPI) —There
are some things every man
keeps to himself and that goes
even for a garrulous old man
like Casey Stengel.
When people ask him his
personal favorite ball player oi
all time, for example, he hems
and haws a lot.
Eventually he mentions Joe
Dimaggio and Mickey Mantle
and then gets around to such
athers as Yogi Berra and
Whitey Ford.
Catch Casey with his guard
town though, and he’s likely to
•onside that the particular ball
player he always had the most
reeling for was skinny, straw-
Paired Whitey Wietelmann, who
jlayed shortstop for him with
★ ★★★★★★★
SPORTS
★ ★★★★★★★
between you'n'me
His Worst Scoring Year,
But Wilt Still Rated Best
By MURRAY OLDERMAN
Sports Editor
Newspaper Enterprise Assn.
|n^!
NEW YORK—(NEA) —On
the record, Wilt Chamberlain
of the Philadelphia 76ers is
Just concluding the worst of
lis eight seasons in profes
sional basketball.
He is not, for the first time
in his career, the leading
scorer of the National Basket
ball Association. In fact, his
11,80-67 rate of 24 points per
game doesn’t even equal half
Os his output in 1961-62, when
he set an NBA record of 50.4.
Wilt Chamberlain is merely
playing the BEST basketball
of his life. He is the 1967
winner of the 12th annual
Podoloff Trophy as the most
valuable player in the NBA,
announced recently by News
paper Enterprise Association.
This is the league’s official
award, determined in a poll
of all the players on the 10
teams, conducted by NEA.
Chamberlain drew 80 out of
108 possible first place votes,
and his name appeared on 90
per cent of the ballots. The
players list their first three
preferences in order.
Chamberlain’s Philadelphia
team this season won more
fames than any other in the
istory of the NBA, and Wilt
was the instrument. He led in
the important area of re
bounds, was third in total
assists (a department general
ly dominated by the backcourt
playmakers), and set an NBA
record in field goal accuracy
with a phenomenal 68 per
cent.
The difference lit Wilt this
J’ear, however, is that he has
earned to space his shots
judiciously, to use his team-
and set up their scor
ing, to hustle on defense—in
short, to become the complete
basketball player*
8
the old Boston Braves from 1939
through 1943.
Stengel Is not alone because
most everyone who knows
Wietelmann feels the same way
about him as Casey does.
Whitey, who coaches at first
base for Cincinnati, no longer is
skinny and it’s a little difficult
to tell the precise color of his
hair because it did a to-the-rear
march some time ago.
Bt his heart hasn’t changed
a bit in all of his 48 years.
Biggest Kirk
‘'Whitey’s biggest kick In life
is doing something for some
body,” says Cincinnati manager
Dave Bristol. “What makes him
so unusual is that he never
wants to be repaid. He’s one of
the finest human beings I've
ever met."
Wilt is a repeat winner of
the Podoloff Trophy, since he
was also voted the honor last
year for leading the 76ers to
the regular season Eastern Di
vision title (they were nosed
out by the Celtics in the play
offs). He first won the MVP
award in 1960 as a rookie.
The Surprise of this year’s
voting was the relative down
grading of Rick Barry, the
San Francisco Warriors’ glam
or boy who displaced Wilt as
the scoring champion of the
NBA. Despite his hot pace of
36 points per game, Rick ran
fifth in the voting totals be
hind his own teammate, Nate
Thurmond, and past MVP win
ners Bill Russell and Oscar
Robertson.
Thurmond, who emerged
from under the shadow of
Chamberlain after Wilt was
traded from the Warriors to
the 76ers in a spectacular
deal two years ago, was Wilt’s
only competition for first
place votes. Nate collected 15.
Not a spectacular scorer,
though steady at 18.9 points
per game, he was just be
hind Wilt as an effective re
bounder. He missed a month
late in the season with a bro
ken hand but has returned in
time for the vital playoffs for
the Warriors, who led the
Western Division.
Russell, a five-time winner
of the 12-year-old trophy, is
still held in high esteem by
all the teams in the league.
The importance of the center
as the key man in basketball
was emphasized by the fact
that the top three vote-collec
tors play the pivot.
“Nate Thurmond is my
choice,’’ said Joe Caldwell of
the St. Louis Hawks, “but be
cause of size, Wilt will win it.”
Yep, Chamberlain’s the big
gest—from any angle.
He would do anything to help
then and still does now with the
Reds. One day when he still was
with the Braves, they needed a
batting practice pitcher. Whitey
volunteered.
Ab Wright, a Boston slugger,
ripped a murderous liner
through the box that tore ofl
three-quarters of Whitey’s left
little finger. Most of the finger
is gone but Whitey still keeps
pitching batting practice.
‘No coach in the business
works as hard as he does,” says
Jimmy Bragan, another of
Cincinnati’s coaches. Whitey
comes out to the ball park at
seven in the morning and leaves
seven at night. He didn't want
SWITCH(EP) HITTER
Sport Briefs 1
SEARCH CONTINUES
PHILADELPHIA (UPI) A
special committee may be
named today to choose a new
athletic director at the Universi
ty of Pennsylvania. A university
official said Thursday that no
particular candidates are in
mind for the job.
Jerry Ford left the post
Wednesday after hinting that a
“slush fund” existed to tutor
Penn football players In viola- I
tion of Ivy League rules.
to bother anybody for a lift
from the hotel this morning so
he walked the mile-and-a-half to
the ball park.
You’ve never seen another
guy like him. Someone breaks
the webbing or his glove In the
clubhouse and he’ll always
holler, ‘Hey, Whitey’ another
player will have trouble with a
shoe and he’ll yell for Whitey,
too. No matter what it is,
Whitey always will fix it.”
Cincy second baseman Tom
my Helms reveals Wietelmann
probably doesn’t wish it known
but he puts on the whiskers and
costume and plays Santa Claus
to hundreds of kids in San Diego
every Christmas.
“He’s the perfect Santa Claus
in every way,” Helms says.
They just don’t come any
FISK TO ARMY
CHARLESTON, N.H. (UPI)
—Carlton Fisk, the No. 1 draft
choice of the Boston Red Sox in
a special January draft, report
ed for six-months active duty
with the Army at Ft. Dix, N.J.,
today.
Fisk, 20, will be lost to the
Red Sox organization for the
season. The highly-regarded
catcher was signed by the Red
Sox after one year at the
University of New Hampshire.
Sat. and Son., April 1-2, 1967
better.”
31st Year
This is Wietelmann’s 31st
year in pro ball and when he’s
asked his biggest thrill, he says,
“just being here.” When he’s
asked how long he plans to stay,
he says, “as long as they’ll
have me.”
Casey first fell in love with
Whitey on opening day back in
1939.
Wietelmann was about to play
his first game in the majors
against the Reds in Cincinnati
and he was proud. Prouder yet
was his father, William, Sr.,
who was blind then and died
two years later.
His son was determined to
have him “see” the ball game.
Bennett
Continued from page one
are inherently complicated and,
since discretion is a virtue In
this profession, its ways often
seem mysterious to the aver
age observer. It takes a tough
hide and sense of humor to
practice modern day diplo
macy.
Y"ou are bound to be criticized
some times for things you didn’t
do and once in a while you are
praised for an act for which you
deserve no particular credit. The
truth is often suspect and it tak
es fidelity to basic principles
and a determination to keep
pushing forward no matter what
the weather or the climate of
transitory opinion.