THE SPORTING SCENE

In back of the 7th Avenue South branch of the New York Public Library, on the western margin of Greenwich Village, is a large area covered with asphalt, suphemistically called Hudson Park. It has a softball field in one corner and a drinking fountain in the other. It is a good place to play ball.

One spring day five years ago, this writer was occupying first base on that softball field, by virtue of a dribbling grounder that had glanced off someone's foot. I was intently watching a schoolmate in the process of striking out, when there was a great amount of noise behind me, and I turned to see a platoon of assortedized boys spilling across the baseline, shouting loudly and making obscene gestures.

This was not uncommon. Our school was engaged, at the time, in a small war with a neighboring parochial school called St. Anthony's. The St. Anthony's boys jumped us on the way home from school; we threw snowballs at the stained-glass windows in St. Anthony's. It was good clean fun and everybody enjoyed it. Hudson Park was the official battlefield for the war on weekday afternoons.

This afternoon the squad from St. Anthony's was even larger than usual. As it raced onto the field, we moved to meet it. Then, one of its members, a small wiry boy with wild hair and a field jacket which was much too large, detached himself from the crowd and grabbed me by the front of my sweater.

"Get off our field," he said. I laughed, because he was a foot shorter than I was. Then the boy hit me on the jaw and twice quickly on the side of the head. I stopped laughing. I jabbed once at his nose; he looked surprised and began to use both hands. It was very painful, and two St. Anthony's boys had to pull me away before I got too damaged and brought an early end to the war. As they led me off, one of them looked up and smiled patronizingly.

"You gotta watch out for Paddy. He gets very excited."

They have put a basketball court on Hudson Park now; Paddy has grown up and owns an ice cream parlor quite near St. Anthony's. And tonight, as Paddy Young, he is going against Laurent Dauthuille for a maximum of ten rounds in the feature event at Madison Square Garden. Dauthuille is a 12 to 5 favorite, but my callments are with Paddy. I wish him luck, and commend to him the fact that Dauthuille, as a Frenchman, is also apt to got excited.