Show speaking peaking of sports main street produces most diamond stars by GEORGE A BARCLAY I 1 TP P YOU want to become a big 1 league baseball star first see to it that hat you are born and reared lV country town an at al surefire sure fire recipe provided you has b what it takes for practically all of the diamond aces of the present generation hall from hamlets that were unknown until their baseball fame put those towns on the be map few people had heard of van meter iowa until a lad named bob feller began pitching his way to immortality with the cleveland indians now most any school boy can tell you about it 11 did you ever hear of mt ida ark where lon warneke of the st louis cardinals was born or lonaconing Lona coning md where lefty grove of the boston red sox made his bow curiously enough what is true of the stars of today was true of those of yesterday As witness ty cobb azg X BOB FELLER who was born in royston ga christy mathewson who was born in factoryville Factor factory ville pa grover alexander in york neb sam crawford wahoo neb red faber cascade iowa hans bans wagner in mansfield pa walter johnson in humboldt kan there are ot of course a few brilliant exceptions past and present t to the credit of the big cities but theo they are relatively small in number babe ruth tor for instance grew up in baltimore md hank greenberg of the tigers is a product of new york city freddie lindstrom ot of the giants pirates and cubs hailed from chicago bill jurges cubs shortstop Is a brooklyn boy lou rig spent his boyhood in new tc city but generally when you hear some one say that a local boy has made good in the big leagues find that hes from pageland mageland Pa geland N C where van lingle mungo of the brooklyn dodgers was born or norway iowa where hal trosky of the indians first saw the light of day or celeste texas where monte stratton white sox pitching ace was ushered into the world think of a few other stars well carl hubbell comes from carthage mo joe di maggio from martinez calif dizzy dean from holdenville Hol denville okla mel ott from gretna la arky vaughan of the pirates from cluty clifty ark buck newsom of the st louis browns from hartsville N C billy herman of the cubs cub from new albany ind luke ap of the white sox from high at N C lefty gomez of the yankees from rodeo calif eldon auker of the tigers tron fron kan tommy bridges from gordonville tenn rudy york from aragon ga red ruffing from granville ill tex carleton of the cubs from comanche texas pepper martin from temple okla cearley Ge ot ol uie the tigers from Fowl fowlerville erville mich mel harder of the cleveland indians from beemer neb sammy hale from iowa dixie walker of the tigers from ga wesley k dizzy dean carl hubbell and rick ferrell of the washington senators from greenville N C you could so go on through until you bad exhausted the rosters of the sixteen clubs in the national and american leagues and find that players born in the big cities were relatively few and far between why is this the case guess is as good as anybody alses the smaller town can offer the advantages of greater opportunities for outdoor sports more places tor for kids to play in the open a chance for a sturdier physical development baseball miracles M it Is the mellowing in iv fluence of age or a subsidence of the sun spots that have been plaguing humans in recent years jears but some of baseballs problem boys have shown a rather amazing reversal of form so far this year consider dizzy dean the champion popper off offer er of 1937 the great one is serious practically dignified now A year ago he would have expounded opinions on any subject under the sun and he would have gone tor for any stunt imaginable but not now this tendency was apparent even before he became a cub A sore pitching arm may be be the the cause but in spite of his enforced layoff from pitching dizz says his arm is all right and heu hell win plenty of games time will tell then theres van mungo pitching ace of the dodgers hes a chastened chasteney chast ened young man so tar far this year he solemnly tells the world he is going to continue walking the straight and narrow and that hell keep the peace at all costs casey stengel manager of the boston bees has quit being a clown hes serious and is determined to get the best out ot of what he be regards as a fine ball club lefty groves teammates are surprised and delighted at the change in the veteran red sox pitcher instead of being gruff silent and haughty he goes round smiling indulges in small talk and pranks and is particularly nice to the rookie players and they say that ducky bucky medwick has become more even tempered it long ago that the cardinals biggest threat would explode suddenly and often this year he Is a happier more friendly fellow maybe its the new baby at his home leo the lion H treaded into his seventeenth L consecutive member season as a of the chicago cubs charles leo gabby hartnett coin continues t finues to set a pace that astonishes the athletic world nine years ago it looked as though he were through A useless throwing arm kept him out of action in the season of 1929 when the cubs won the national league pennant but he be came back the next year and became the greatest catcher in baseball last year gabby was the third leading batter in the league with a evv g p 01 41 GABBY HARTNETT record of an almost phenomenal feat considering the way age has slowed up his running he received only two fewer votes than joe medwick in the leagues most valuable player poll he made the majors allstar all star team and his hitting streak through 26 straight games was the longest compiled by a national leaguer in games he in increased his lifetime batting average to an even lots of fellows would be satisfied with that record but hartnett has set an even greater goal in baseball tie he wants to have the honor of having caught more games than any other receiver in the history of the national game ray schalk formerly of the chicago white sox caught 1721 games in the american league which Is only more than hartnett has managed in the national gabby should at least cut that remaining figure in halt half this year and be in a position to pass it by 1939 he is also shooting tor for another record at present he is tied with schalk tor for having caught or more games in 12 campaigns he wants to beat rays record here and there DOB OB LEFTY GROVE boston bred ij red coxs thirty eight year old ace became the sixth major league pitcher in history to pass the 2000 strikeout strike out mark recently when he tanned fanned six detroit tigers while gaining the two hundred sixtieth victory of his 15 year american league career walter johnson in his 21 years with washington had the others to reach the 2000 mark were cy young christy mathewson bazzy vance and grover alexander only two states pennsylvania and new york collected in excess of a million dollars for hunting and fishing licenses in 1937 pennsylvania received 1 new york jack Demp cut of the purse urse for his title winning battle with jess willard in toledo july 4 1919 was i sl western newspaper union |