Mr. Moy:
Are you playing in the New Jersey and/or the New York Qualifier?
If so, good luck. I have not heard much from you over the years, other than your book, of course. I bet you have a lot of interesting stories to tell about old time straight pool that the rest of us can't wait to hear.
Dennis
Hi Dennis,
Until recently, I never posted very much, but I read a lot and have enjoyed your posts in this forum.
Unfortunately, the timing of the NJ and NY qualifiers don't work out for me. Not sure I'm really in shape for tournaments anyway, and played the Drexeline qualifier sort of on a lark. (I was more of a driver for my friend, Benny, who won the whole thing.) This year, for the first time, I started playing a league, and that has gotten me to play at least one match a week so I decided to try Drexeline because I had wanted to see that room anyway. Glad I did. It's one of the nicest rooms I've ever seen, and if I lived close enough, I'd go there every day if I could.
Virtually everyone who writes and reads the 14.1 forum has great stories, I bet -- so I'm not sure I stand out in that regard!
Most of my stories have to do with either Babe Cranfield or hanging around the first poolroom I ever saw, Holli's in Nanuet, NY, owned by Toby Sweet and his partner, Vinnie Cass. I was very lucky to be able to see great players when I was just starting to get interested in pool. Plus Babe was mainly a straight pool player and Toby played almost exclusively nine-ball so I saw both games played at the absolute highest level. (Both could play anything, though. Arnold Silvernail, one of Babe's friends from the Syracuse area, listed Babe's accomplishments at the time Babe had passed away, and they included stringing 17 racks of nine-ball; and the one time I saw Toby play straight pool in 10 years we had a one-inning practice session where he ran over 80 before the room got too busy and he needed to take care of the desk.)
Here's a story you might have heard about -- it was touched on by an article called "The Cues of Willie Mosconi," which Charlie Ursitti wrote for the March 2011 issue of Pool & Billiard magazine. Mosconi and Babe both played with similar cues in the 1930s, both of them made by Herman Rambow. They had put the cues down while they were playing near each other at either a tournament or an exhibition. Somehow, they ended up picking up the wrong cues before they went home.
After they each got home, Babe called Willie. As Babe told me (and as Charlie has recounted), Willie and Babe each felt like they were playing better with the other guy's cue so they decided just to keep the cues they had! Willie's cue (which used to be Babe's) is now in the Smithsonian. Babe's cue (which used to be Willie's) is still in the possession of Babe's family. If both of those cues could talk ...!
Right up to the time Babe suffered a stroke (1997, when Babe was in his 80s), he ran 100s. It was something to see. It looked so easy, and it was surprising when he missed. By then, his eyes weren't that great and his hands had a tremble to them -- he was well past his prime, which makes it pretty scary to think of how he must have played in his younger days. When Babe was World Champion, he wasn't young. (He turned 49 just at the time he finished the challenge match with Luther Lassiter, in 1964.) That was his second run at playing professionally. Before that, he had a professional playing career in the 1930s, when he was in his late teens and early 20s.
Thanks for this note, and maybe we can get together if you're ever in the NY area. I have cousins in the Chicago area, and when I head out there, will get in touch. I'm going to try to see at least part of the World's, so if you're going, maybe I'll see you there too.
Take care,
Larry