Scorecard

So far they have been given the keys to several cities, even in the heart of Texas cattle country, where Peele announced, "People are literally addicted to the poisons found in meat." Peele and Hassell begin each day at eight by downing three tablets apiece of bee pollen and then do 350 push-ups, 50 to 100 sit-ups and up to half an hour of stretching exercises for the legs and lower back. Before starting on the road, they have one or two cups of ginseng tea and vitamin C and E supplements. After running half the day's distance by noon, they lunch on fruit or carrot juice and alfalfa and/or wheat sprouts. The sprouts are grown en route in trays inside a camper driven by Peele's wife, Nancy.

After finishing the day's run at six, they chow down with a salad of sprouts, raw spinach, carrots and cauliflower. They already consider their run a success for vegetarianism. Most people, says Hassell, expect vegetarians to be "pale and sickly. I think we've proved them wrong."

THE HOLE IDEA

A couple of weeks ago we told you about John Bennett of East Peoria, Ill., who invented a baseball bat with a 19-degree bend in the handle. Now we present another inventor who has gone batty, Joe Martino of Brooklyn, who has patented the Prac-Bat, which has a big hole in it.

The hole, seven by 3� inches, is in the meat or "sweet" part of the bat. A batter who swings at the ball and misses as it goes through the hole knows that his swing is on target and that had he been using a regular bat he would have made solid contact with the ball.

A good-field, no-hit ballplayer in the Army, Martino dreamed of being a .400 hitter and making the majors. He never did get near .400, or the majors, but he did dream up the Prac-Bat six years ago as a tool to improved hitting. Neighborhood kids have gone wild over it. The Prac-Bat corrects the hitter who tends to roll or twist his wrists too soon, because then the ball can't enter the hole. Similarly, the Prac-Bat corrects a tendency either to uppercut or to chop down at the ball.

Martino is now trying to find a manufacturer in this country who will mass-produce a lightweight, high-density plastic Prac-Bat that either kids or adults can use with a tennis ball. A major Japanese sporting-goods firm is looking over the bat now, but Martino says, "It's a shame if I'm forced to go to a company in the Orient."

EXIT TROGNITZ

Tough guy Willie Trognitz, signed for a 10-game trial by the Cincinnati Stingers of the WHA after he was banned for life by the International League for messing up an opponent with his stick (SI, Nov. 28), has been dropped. Trognitz dressed for the 10 games, played in seven and picked up 37 minutes in penalties, 25 in one outing against Quebec, but he did not play up to expectations.

The Stingers did offer Trognitz another 10-game trial at $150 per game, but he refused. "What's $150?" he asked. "I got guys making $150,000 hiding behind my back."