19th Hole: The Readers Take Over

ARNIE'S ALLIES
Sirs:
To me and, I am sure, to tens of thousands of others, the most dramatic and moving part of the closing of the U.S. Open was not the smile of the winner, Lee Trevino, or his engaging welcome to his new role as the hero in this rags-to-riches story. It was not the champion himself or the dream of the golden throne he would perhaps soon enjoy that riveted attention. It was the courage, the smile and the unbending spirit of the man whom ABC so shamefully made a spectacle of in his walk down the road of defeat—Arnold Palmer. SPORTS ILLUSTRATED also contributed to this show of a lack of integrity and loss of judgment in sportsmanship in the article Lee's Fleas Cheer "Super Mex" to Victory (June 24)—beginning with the phrase, "since Arnold Palmer, whoever that is, came along," and continuing with a series of smears throughout the article.

Thanks in a large measure to television and the credibility gap in the news media in general, the character and integrity of my country and yours has descended to its lowest point in my lifetime. And I hate to see a magazine bearing the title that yours does speed the fall.

I am not one of Arnie's Army. I do not play golf. But I do admire that rare man who, in outstanding fashion, is accepted by youth as an example of those qualities of character that now seem to have been condemned to obsolescence. You do yourselves and your country no service by lampooning Arnold Palmer's image.
JOHN R. CAMPBELL JR.
Wellesley Hills, Mass.

Sirs:
I resent Dan Jenkins' remark, " Arnold Palmer, whoever that is." Palmer has afforded sportswriters much colorful and interesting copy for many, many years, and it is really not in the tradition to kick a man and insult him when he is down—temporarily.

Why was he placed in the last grouping at the Open? Palmer was a sportsman and a gentleman to accept such an insult.
FRAN HIGGINS
Ormond Beach, Fla.

Sirs:
I can identify Arnold Palmer for Dan Jenkins (whoever that is). Mr. Palmer is the golfer chiefly responsible for Lee Trevino's $30,000 paycheck in the U.S. Open. I do not credit Arnold for Lee's victory, but I do credit him for the amount of money won. Arnold is the golfer who caught the imagination of every sports-minded person and every money-minded promoter. Without Palmer, Casper, Boros and a very few others, Lee Trevino's victory in the U.S. Open (if the tourney still existed) would be buried in obscurity and would be worth a fat $3,000.

Long live the king!
ROBERT E. GIBNEY
Mobile, Ala.

COMMAND INDECISION
Sirs:
As an ex-Marine who rose to the distinguished rank of corporal, I derive little grief from the difficulties that three-star generals occasionally get into. I do feel, however, that a lot of people are having a great deal of fun castigating General Eckert (SCORECARD and 19TH HOLE, June 24) for reasons that are not wholly sound. It is all well and good to say that Judge Landis would have handled the "weekend of mourning" situation differently, but this is 1968, and it is becoming increasingly clear that the owners do not want a Judge Landis, but a man from the Chandler-Frick-Eckert mold who will be a figurehead and will not interfere with their wishes.

I can't prove this, but I would bet that General Eckert would like to be a strong commissioner, but the baseball owners won't allow him to be one. A man does not attain his position in the armed services without appreciable leadership capability. Therefore, Eckert now finds himself in a job which pays something like $65,000 a year plus expenses, with nothing to do except go to a few ball games and keep his mouth shut. Frankly, this is a situation that I could live with. If the people who have been crucifying him could put themselves in Commissioner Eckert's position, I think that they would do the same thing—nothing. If there are rocks to be thrown, I say throw them at the men who rate them: the owners.
GREGORY Z. THOMAJAN
Boston

PRESS CLIPPINGS
Sirs:
Imagine the Boston writers being petty enough to resent Ted Williams' saying they smelled badly (Hitting Was My Life, June 10, et seq.). I have long thought Boston had the country's most capable group of sportswriters and that Mel Webb was among the most respected.