19th Hole: The Readers Take Over

Sir:
I was said to be over the hill at 27. I was signed by the Houston Astros when I was 19 years old and played in the minors for four years before being released. Three years and a knee operation later I had a tryout in Florida with the Minnesota Twins. After pitching three perfect innings in an intrasquad game, I was spotted by one of my old coaches from Houston. He said, "What are you trying to do, old man?" I had led the Twins to believe I was 24, not 27. The next day I was kicked out of camp.

So wherever you are, Rocky Perone, all of us who are "over the hill" wish you all the luck in the world. I wish I were in your spikes!
DANIEL T. LEBRIGHT
Milford, Del.

Sir:
Come on! How could Richard Pohle fool then San Diego Padres Scout Jim Marshall or anyone else with that ridiculous rug?
MIKE MCCULLOH
Cornwell Heights, Pa.

Sir:
Rocky Perone, George Plimpton, ad nauseam. You keep on printing stories about has-beens trying to come back, or about those who never were and don't realize they never will be, or about old men whose egos won't accept the natural process of aging. Every time the story is the same, only the names are changed. It's boring. James Thurber said it all in The Secret Life of Walter Mitty. Please find some new stories.
HERBERT W. WONG
Eugene, Ore.

OTHER SHORTCUTS
Sir:
When Lon Hinkle took his famous shortcut, driving down the adjacent 17th fairway while playing the 8th hole at the 1979 U.S. Open at Inverness (Up a Tree in Toledo, June 25), no one mentioned that Walter Hagen used a similar ploy during the third round of the 1921 PGA Championship at Inwood Country Club on Long Island. Hagen drove down the parallel 18th fairway to get a better, though longer, second shot at the 11th green. Late that night club pro Jack Mackie, the club president and a number of their cohorts planted a large weeping willow between the fairways, blocking the route for subsequent rounds.

Nor did anyone mention that Ed Furgol, who won the 1954 U.S. Open at Baltusrol, saved a crucial par on the 18th hole of the final round by hitting his second shot to the 18th fairway of the upper course after being stymied by trees on the left of the 18th fairway of the lower course, on which the tournament was being played. Furgol was completely within his rights—as were Hinkle and Hagen—because the upper course had not been declared out of bounds.
HAROLD A. SEGALL
New York City

?In The Walter Hagen Story (as told to Margaret Seaton Heck), Hagen relates his encounter with the willow on the fourth round of the '21 PGA this way: "I thought the gallery seemed unusually excited and noisy. I knew something was happening but I couldn't figure just what. I teed up my ball, looked up and saw that willow tree confronting me. The gallery really laughed now at the surprised look on my face.... 'I never saw such fast-growing trees in my life,' I remarked.... The laughter grew into a roar, but not at my remark. Instead a sudden fierce gust of wind had whipped loose the guy wires holding the tree on the edge of the lagoon...and the willow was out of business. 'Well, I timed this about right,' I told them. 'Now if I can time my tee shot as well I can be down in my regular spot on the eighteenth fairway.' Some fellow in the gallery said, 'You can't beat him!' And no one did that day." Indeed, Hagen won the championship, the first of his five PGA titles. And to this day a willow, known sometimes as Mackie's Tree but mostly as Hagen's Willow, stands on that spot at Inwood Country Club.—ED.

SALMON RANCHING
Sir:
It was with great interest that I read Robert F. Jones' article Clamor Along the Klamath (June 4). He deserves credit for his thoroughness in researching and reporting the local battle over a disappearing natural resource—salmon.

To help boost California's salmon population, I have introduced legislation in the State Assembly that will allow private industry, under state supervision, to undertake salmon-ranching operations along the coast. A salmon ranch enhances native stock by propagating and releasing fish into coastal bays and estuaries. The fish are recaptured when they instinctively return to the point of release after maturing in the ocean. My bill (AB 1458) provides that while the adult fish are at sea, they are to be public property and could be caught by any state-licensed fisherman—commercial or sports. The salmon rancher would market his catch of returning fish, with selected salmon held out for further propagation.

Certainly, natural salmon runs should be protected from overfishing, pollution, hydroelectric dam interference and other controllable factors. But restorative action alone won't get to the heart of the problem, which is meeting a growing demand for affordable protein-rich food. Salmon ranching offers to do this.
PAUL BANNAI
Member
California State Assembly
Sacramento