Sport: White Shirt Wallop

International polo used to mean the U.S. v. Argentina (and Great Britain) in a hard-riding, first-class show. The first big polo match since the war, probably due to recent diplomatic differences between Washington and Buenos Aires, was something less than that. At Long Island’s International Field last week, 21,000 fans crowded the weather-beaten stands to watch a good U.S. team trounce a fair Mexican quartet for the second time in a three-match series.

At the late great Tommy Hitchcock’s old No. 2 spot rode a burly Texas cowboy, 42-year-old Cecil Smith, who racked up four goals. Another old hand, Stu Iglehart, 37, busted up Mexico’s attacks at No. 3 with what used to be the best backhand in the business—and it hadn’t slipped much.

The visitors had better ponies but considerably less experience than the white-shirted U.S. veterans. But at any rate, Mexico’s polo-playing President Manuel Avila Camacho was satisfied that his hand-picked team of brothers—José, Alejandro, Guillermo and Gabriel Gracida—had been beaten by the best team the U.S. could muster. The scores: 10-4 and 11-4.

Ponies & Players. Last June Argentina’s internationalists got as far north as Mexico, where they beat Camacho’s boys by one goal. After waiting in vain for a U.S. invitation, the Argentine team sold 18 ponies to the Mexicans and went home.

Later, an Argentine polo pony trader arrived in the U.S. with a string of 24 mounts. He expected them to go like hotcakes, at $3,000 to $5,000 apiece, as they did before the war. By last week, he had not sold one. U.S. poloists had learned to appreciate the home-grown Texas cow-pony, which can run like the wind for 100 yards, stop on a dime and take a lot of punishment.

It looked as if Texas would also supply its share of players. The two most promising teen-agers in the land—Larry Sheerin of San Antonio and Tom Mather of Dallas —should be ready by the time Great Britain is ready for international polo again, two years from now.