Aldon,
 
the best I could come up with off the top of my head is the following:
 
"It is our strength as Americans that those of us who are any good at all
start out to make a record.  Whistler set out to beat every European
painter.  If Henry James didn't think of himself as the Babe Ruth among
novelists it was probably because he was born first and left his native land
before the King of Swat [sic] emerged."--"Possibilities of Civilization:
What the Small Town Can Do" (1936)
 
However, one degree separates Pound and Donald Hall, a prolific
sportswriter.  His "Baseball and the Poets" is fun, if not comprehensive.
 
Michael Alleman