Scorecard

Observers at the track blamed the failure of the $5 bet on a general resentment that the price had been raised, on a disinclination of people to "wheel" the double (coupling a horse in one race with every horse in the other race) because of the expense and on a falling off in gimmick bets (some bettors always play a perfunctory $2 bet on their age or on their favorite number).

Demurrers pointed out that the experiment was a very brief one, that favorites kept winning and that there had not been any big payoffs to get bettors excited. Nonetheless, the fact remains: the $2 bettor kept his money in his pocket or at the other $2 windows.

GRAMBLING GAME
Grambling College, the hotbed in which so many pro football players begin their growth, is playing the numbers game and winning. Grambling had its worst record in 10 years (6-4) last fall but still led the NAIA and NCAA college-division teams in total attendance at all games with 277,209, and this year the figure may be higher. The team plays more than half of its games on the road and has dates scheduled in Pittsburgh's Three Rivers Stadium, Chicago's Soldier Field, Cleveland's Municipal Stadium, Houston's Astrodome and, tentatively, Detroit's Tiger Stadium. Plans are also under way to send games back home via closed-circuit TV. Grambling may be a small school (4,000 students), but in football it is big time all the way.

HERESY

Here is a comment from a non- Pittsburgh baseball fan that is guaranteed to outrage followers of the Pirates. He says, "I'm sick and tired of hearing people say that Roberto Clemente is the greatest player in the game. He's a good player, a very good player, but he simply is not on a level with a Henry Aaron or a Willie Mays. Take fielding. Clemente is superb, no doubt about it, and he has a powerful arm. But Mays for years was an even better fielder with a stronger arm. And Aaron, even though he is not spectacular, is just about as good. Clemente is a fine base runner. But as good as Mays was? Never. And have you ever noticed Aaron's percentage of successful steals? In hitting, despite those batting championships, Clemente does not compare. Never mind home runs, where Aaron and Mays leave him far behind. Take runs scored and runs batted in, the key statistics in evaluating a player's offensive value. Clemente has scored 100 runs in a season only three times and batted in 100 runs twice. Aaron has scored 100 or more runs 14 times, Mays 12, and each has had 10 100-RBI seasons. In the 16 years the three have been in the National League together, Clemente has been behind both Mays and Aaron in both categories 13 times, including this season. And he's on the bench so much. Look, from 1955 through 1965, Mays missed only 33 games in 11 seasons. Aaron missed 49. Clemente missed 211, which is the equivalent of a season and a quarter. That doesn't hurt his batting average but it sure doesn't help his team.

" Clemente is a fine ballplayer, but in my book he's terribly overrated."