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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (April 13, 1951)
I DUCKTRACKS By A1 Karr I >ar_\ 1c Nelson, (Oregon s hard hitting second baseman who won the Northern Division hatting title in J'JSOwith a .441 aver age, is another in the long line of standout keystoners who have played, for the Wchfoots. Walt Kirsch, younger brother of baseball coach Don Kirsch, *]>.irKic<i «u inr Keystone sack just ;i few years ago, and Don himself played for three North ern Division Oregon champ ionship learns in 1941-42-43, winning division all-star honors twice. Undoubtedly the greatest second baseman produced by' the Webfonts was a player who never played second base for Oregon. He is Joe Gordon, who played shortstop in 1935-36, part of an excellent keystone combination along with second baseman Kay Koch. Gordon, who excelled in base ball, as a halfback in football, Land in soccer and track at Jef ferson High School in Port land never turned out for foot ball at Oregon. Nobody gives it much thought, however, for he starred in baseball and was JOE GORDON From short to fiecond signed by the New York Yankees in 1936. reporting to Oakland to the Pacific Coast League. C ailed up to theauks in 10.37, Cordon was converted into a second baseman by Joe McCarthy, who already had Frank Cro sctti at shortstop. Joe was sent down to Newark that \ ear, and played for a team that was to become the nucleus of futre great Yank teams. Major League Parks Just Like Howe Field Cordon hit 26 home runs for Newark, while Charlie Keller, known for his fence-busting, hit 13. The Yanks brought him up in 1938, and it was to stay. Cordon soOn established himself as one of the Mars of the game. In his first three big-league rears he hit 25, 28, and 30 home runs. Always a power hitter, he hit homers in a fashion reminiscent of the times that he used to powder long drives over the bank at Howe Field at a pretty con sistent rate. Joe never has compiled a gaudy batting average, but his per centages have been sound. Usually around a .280 hitter he has been a terrific clutch hitter, batting in 97,111,103, 87, and 103 runs in his first five major-league seasons. Gordon’s top batting aver age was .322 in 1942, when he was voted the most valuable player in the league. Strangely enough, he compiled his lowest World Series average that year, .095 on 2 hits in 21 times at bat. Cordon went into the army in 1944, and came out in the mid dle of the 1946 season. In 112 games he hit only .210 and hit 11 home runs, lie had trouble with Yankee President Larrv Mc Phail, and was traded to the Cleveland Indians for Allie Rey nolds. ^ Joe might have been expected to feel pretty low, but actually he was tickled to death to play for the Indians. He went on to cra-di 29 home runs for Cleveland in 1947, only one short of his personal record, and batted in 93 runs. Broke His Personal Records in 1948 The next year Gordon had one of his greatest years, slamming 32 home runs on a .2X0 average and driving in 124 runs, while helping lead the Indians to their first pennant since since t920. Gordon started to slip somewhat in 1949, and in 1950 he had a poor year, finally being replaced at second base by young Bobby Avila. His average sank low and home runs didn’t come at as heavy a rate. At the end of the season he asked for his release, received it, and signed as player-manager of the Sacramento Solons of the Pacific Coast League, the loop in which Gordon broke into professional baseball. Since the time he first played for the Webfoots Gordon has been not only a home run hitter and a clutch batter, but an ex-| ceptional fielder. His fielding prowess led to the nickname now as common as petitions at the University of Oregon—"Plash." ’When he was demonstrating his exceptional ability to get the jump on a batted ball for the Indians, the remark was made that the trouble with his fielding was that there was a little section in the left field corner that h'lash couldn't cover. The 36-year old Gordon is going strong again for Sacramento. ‘He had a hatting average of .294 including Wednesday night's game, had batted in 15 runs in 16 games (still the clutch hitter), and hit three homers, two in one game. The Plash isn't through yet. Alpha Xi's State: (Continued from f’nr/c one) "W<! wlHh to clarify our position regarding our political affiliation. Our action of Monday has been1 taken to mean that vve life peti-1 Lioning AGS for membership. We j wish make it clear that such was not our intent. Our action wan taken in accord with an agreement among the Greek houses who arc not members of AGS the purpose of this agreement being to pro tect all of us against just such sud den action as our Monday vote has been Interpreted to be. The agree ment may be quoted as follows: ‘The undersigned fraternities and sororities hereby pledge themselves not be become affiliated with... AGS until the following require ments have been met: “To notify the steering commit tee of USA. “To notify the other undersign ed fraternities and sororities. “To take no action until two regular weekly house meetings have been held subsequent to noti fication. “To take no final vote until the second of the two house meetings. “The purpose of waiting two weeks is to permit all sides to be heard; to give each of us time to fully consider the matter; and to prevent a hasty decision that might be regretted later. We be lieve that every girl in our group is entitled to an independent opin ion. When a majority of the girls felt that our political position should be re-evaluated, we notified the proper people that such was1 our intent. We regret that we did 1 f WSSF Auction Today I ho World Student Service i Fund'd "Friday the Thirteenth" auotion will take place at 4 p.m. today on Taylor's corner. Four groups will be sold to the highest bidding houses to serve dinner tonight and to provide en-j tertainment for the houses and their high school guests. Bill De Land .auction chairman, stated. Bob Zwald will auction off the groups highlighted by a trio of faculty members. Included in tr.ls group are R. A. Littman, assist ant professor of psychology; R. R. Bingham, instructor in history; and K. C. Robbins, instructor in economics. A representative group of Kwamas, sophomore women's ser vice honorary members, will be next on the auctioneer's block. A quintet of campus beauty queens composed of Nancy Chamberlain, 1950 Junior Weekend queen; Lyn Hartley. Sweetheart of Sigma Chi; Pat Foley, Moonlight Girl of Phi Sigma Kappa; Lois Peterson, Committee Needs Help The All-Campus Sing committee needs people to help decorate, ac cording to Jeanne Hoffman, co chairman. Those interested in helping may call Jean Burgess, 5-4301, before 4 p.m. Tuesday. not make it clear to the Emerald that our vote was not a vote to go back to AGS, but a vote to recon sider our position.” Alpha Xi Delta Betty Co-ed: and Charlene Hans< t, Dream Girl of Pi Kappa Alpha, will comprise the third group. Ugly Man contest finalists will be lined up toother and sold as a group. These include Tom Barry, Jack Faust, Gordon Howard, B >b Peterson, Jim Loscutoff, and Ja k Beyers. AI! proceeds from the aucti n will go to the WSSF drive. 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