John Mcgraw

State GOP activists wrapped up their weekend convention Sunday by peaceably settling a divisive leadership fight, squaring away rules for the next presidential primary and slapping at the party's recent gubernatorial nominee. After hearing from a seventh and final presidential hopeful--New Hampshire Sen.

Prince is expected to be the headline performer during halftime of Super Bowl XLI on Feb. 4 at Dolphin Stadium in South Florida, according to the folks at Sportsbybrooks.com. It will be CBS' first broadcast of the NFL's championship game since Janet Jackson's infamous "wardrobe malfunction" in 2004, when the FCC responded to the singer's bared breast with $550,000 in fines. So how deep are the pockets at CBS?

With 98 wins in the regular season, Detroit Manager Sparky Anderson moved ahead of Fred Clarke into 11th place among baseball's winningest managers. His goal is to pass John McGraw for second place. He needs 1,229 wins to catch McGraw, who had 2,840. "If I stay healthy, I'll pass him," Anderson said, guessing it would take him 15 years. "I'm only 53. McGraw's the only one I want." Connie Mack holds the record with 3,776 wins. "Mack don't count," Anderson said.

When I began writing "The Boys of Summer" in the autumn of 1968, my friendship with Jackie Robinson proved a benediction. One significant aspect of that book was its commercial success. Robinson telephoned me during the summer of 1972, when the book was No. 1 in Boise, Brockton and elsewhere, and called me some X-rated names. "You've got my telephone ringing every damn minute," he said. "People seem to be finding out I'm not an Uncle Tom."

Prince is expected to be the headline performer during halftime of Super Bowl XLI on Feb. 4 at Dolphin Stadium in South Florida, according to the folks at Sportsbybrooks.com. It will be CBS' first broadcast of the NFL's championship game since Janet Jackson's infamous "wardrobe malfunction" in 2004, when the FCC responded to the singer's bared breast with $550,000 in fines. So how deep are the pockets at CBS?

When I began writing "The Boys of Summer" in the autumn of 1968, my friendship with Jackie Robinson proved a benediction. One significant aspect of that book was its commercial success. Robinson telephoned me during the summer of 1972, when the book was No. 1 in Boise, Brockton and elsewhere, and called me some X-rated names. "You've got my telephone ringing every damn minute," he said. "People seem to be finding out I'm not an Uncle Tom."

As Pete Rose closes in on Ty Cobb's lifetime hits record, more attention is being paid to the career of the man called the Georgia Peach. This article on Cobb's final months, written in 1961, was described by Bob Considine as "perhaps the best sports piece I have ever read." It won the Associated Press' Best Sports Story of the Year Award. Al Stump wrote this story for True magazine. Stump, 64, is a free lance writer who has had more than 1,000 magazine articles and 7 books published.

Travis Jackson, 84, who was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1982 by the veterans committee, died at his home in Waldo, Ark. Jackson played shortstop on John McGraw's New York Giant teams of the 1920s and 1930s.

Somewhere out there, John McGraw, Miller Huggins, Connie Mack, Casey Stengel and Walter Alston were sitting around looking down on the Dodger ninth inning witnessing that flagrant violation of fundamental baseball strategy and said to the powers that be, "Let them eat cake." CY AMITIN Montrose

Managing legends who schooled future major league skippers: John McGraw managed 40 Connie Mack managed 38 Rogers Hornsby managed 29 Bucky Harris managed 29 Leo Durocher managed 27 Casey Stengel managed 25 Joe McCarthy managed 23 Walter Alston managed 19 Source: "The SABR Bulletin"

State GOP activists wrapped up their weekend convention Sunday by peaceably settling a divisive leadership fight, squaring away rules for the next presidential primary and slapping at the party's recent gubernatorial nominee. After hearing from a seventh and final presidential hopeful--New Hampshire Sen.

With 98 wins in the regular season, Detroit Manager Sparky Anderson moved ahead of Fred Clarke into 11th place among baseball's winningest managers. His goal is to pass John McGraw for second place. He needs 1,229 wins to catch McGraw, who had 2,840. "If I stay healthy, I'll pass him," Anderson said, guessing it would take him 15 years. "I'm only 53. McGraw's the only one I want." Connie Mack holds the record with 3,776 wins. "Mack don't count," Anderson said.

Re "State Republicans Pick Conservative Leader," March 1: Is it not a curious twist on Barry Goldwater's praise of extremism in defense of liberty that state GOP leaders now define being a "moderate" as too extreme for them? MICHAEL D. REAGAN Riverside John McGraw, the new state GOP chairman, said that the party had to "get back on message and be a party that gets the message out." Alas, he couldn't say what that message should be. In case he's still up a tree on the message, I have a suggestion: Take his cue from either of the brothers Bush or one of several other savvy GOP governors.