Sport: Boston's Shore

For 13 years scrappy Eddie Shore, a defenseman of the Boston Bruins, has been the Big Blade of major-league hockey. His savage body-checking cost him all his teeth but brought him a salary of $15,000 a year, drew crowds to hockey games, eight times helped the Bruins climb to top ranking in their division of the league.

Last summer, at an age when most hockey players put away their skates for good, 36-year-old Eddie Shore bought the minor-league Springfield (Mass.) Indians with $40,000 of his savings, planned to play with the minor-leaguers himself. Because Boston was loath to lose him, Eddie Shore agreed to play with the Bruins once a week (at $200 a game), manage the Indians the rest of the time, put off donning his Indian suit until next year.

Last week, after three games with the Bruins, Owner-Player Shore realized that his dual role was too much to handle, asked to be spared from the Boston lineup. The Bruins consented.