150 BALL RUN: Crane vs Balsis, U.S. Open 14.1 Championship 1966 FINALS

iusedtoberich · Mar 29, 2020

I'm no expert, but I thought the guy's commentary was excellent. Designed for squares, but you could tell he knows the game and the players. That's the impression I got watching this video a few times over the years.

HawaiianEye · Mar 29, 2020

iusedtoberich said:
I'm no expert, but I thought the guy's commentary was excellent. Designed for squares, but you could tell he knows the game and the players. That's the impression I got watching this video a few times over the years.

FWIW, the guys commentating was 100% better than most of the stuff we get on streaming matches...with a few exceptions, like Jeremy Jones.

markjames · Mar 29, 2020

He used the word “elect” in the first twenty seconds!

westcoast · Mar 29, 2020

One thing that I have noticed for these old school players is that they shoot with more of an upright stance- almost all of the players of that era apparently shot like that

grindz · Mar 29, 2020

Thanks to OP for posting... I had not seen this before.

I'm not a straight pool player by any means, but things I noticed
from watching were; Crane looks pretty dapper! He's not afraid
to juice it up..... and seems to me that they both play a little loose.

Anyone else feel the play was a little loose?

td

measureman · Mar 30, 2020

westcoast said:
One thing that I have noticed for these old school players is that they shoot with more of an upright stance- almost all of the players of that era apparently shot like that

Straight pool is for the most part a half table game with the balls closer together then in other games.
The more upright stance makes it easier to see the lay out.

haystj · Mar 30, 2020

Wow, great video.

Irving was approx 53 years old at that time.

Amazing

mikemosconi · Mar 30, 2020

Bob Jewett said:
About the cloth speed, it is possible to measure the speed of the cloth from Balsis' lag shot at the start of the game. It went 7 diamonds in what I measure as 6.57 seconds. With a little arithmetic, that tells you that the rolling friction from the cloth is the equivalent of an uphill slope of 2%.

Typical modern cloths give an equivalent slope of about 1%. This means that a ball starting at a certain speed will go twice as far (assuming no cushion contact) on modern cloth as on that table.

Yes that sounds about right, in one key ball shot, where there is was a fairly full ball hit Crane slams the shot just to move the cue ball three rails into position for the break ball- today it would be effortless. I think Holhmann still can play 14.1 closest in style to the old timers when he has to. He can really pick apart clustered balls and mfg. break balls.

PoolBum · Mar 30, 2020

mikemosconi said:
Yes that sounds about right, in one key ball shot, where there is was a fairly full ball hit Crane slams the shot just to move the cue ball three rails into position for the break ball- today it would be effortless. I think Holhmann still can play 14.1 closest in style to the old timers when he has to. He can really pick apart clustered balls and mfg. break balls.

Hohmann would be my pick as the best straight pool player over the last 25 years or so. Plus he has two World 9-Ball titles to boot.

pwd72s · Mar 31, 2020

So glad you posted this. Many thanks for having done so! A great mood lifter...

johnnysd · Mar 31, 2020

I work with a guy that lives in Rochester. We were talking about pool and it came out that when he was younger he would play with an old guy named Irving that was "pretty good" I asked him Irving Crane?? and he said yes. He knew Irving was a really good player but was surprised when I told him he was one of the greatest ever. Contrary to his reputation my coworker said he was super friendly and always willing to help and offer advice

johnnysd · Mar 31, 2020

Just watched it again. Think I have seen it 4 times now. Table does not really seem that slow to me. Straight pool in my view is still the greatest of all the pool games. Shame it is not played much any longer.

150 BALL RUN: Crane vs Balsis, U.S. Open 14.1 Championship 1966 FINALS

iusedtoberich

AzB Silver Member

HawaiianEye

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markjames

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westcoast

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grindz

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measureman

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haystj

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mikemosconi

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PoolBum

Ace in the side.

pwd72s

recreational banger

johnnysd

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johnnysd

AzB Silver Member