Show Understudies Understudies Hopeful Hopeful of Places As Injuries Hit Yankee Re Byrd and Hoag Haag Find Steady Jobs Opening After Long Spell on Bench By JOHN JOliN STAnK Associated Press Sports Writer NEW YORK July 4 P In JP-In In the themore themore themore more or less general crumbling of Yankee veterans through prolonged ed ph physical sic ll strain this se season son two young fellows who vho for several years have shared periodic mention as promising understudies to Babe Ruth fine find stead steady jobs gr gradually opening up for both of them Sammy Byrd and Myril Hoag who have been hanging around for quite a spell on the Yankee bench are seeing fairl fairly consistent duty as the Bambinos Bambino's days of rest and abbreviated abbreviated appearances become more numerous numerous nu nu- nu and the elderly Earle Combs likewise finds the years telling Each has played in considerably more than half haU of ot the Yankee games during the first two and a halt hall months of oC the season and Combs Combs' recent to the ankle he broke broken in n 1924 makes it more certain that these there understudies are on the verge vergeot of ot attaining status as regul regulars The Yankee on the field of battle this season have been persistent per enough gh to have seriously an an- noyed any team let Iet alone an an aggregation gation gatlon liberally dotted with players admittedly in the twilight of their starring days das Plenty of ot Casualties Besides Combs' Combs ankle sprain here have been several jarring mishaps to Ruth including a couple of ot spills splits while patrolling the outfield and a abad abad abad bad shoulder bruise from a pitched ball baH Then Tony Lazzeri another of the theOld theOld theOld Old Guard has been bothered for several weeks by an injured finger which is slow to heal and has a chronic lame lam knee And Lou Gehrig survived a chipped toe bone only through sheer determination not to break up his great consecutive games record I Pitcher Johnny Allens Allen's lame arm arrn has made him useless for nearly two months The younger generation had already already al alp al- al read ready started overhauling Combs when he met his accident for just the he day before young Ben Chapman had lad been promoted to center field and Earle shifted to left Hoag back from a brief briet but briliant brilliant bril bril- season at the Yanks' Yanks Newark farm arm farm moved into Combs' Combs new spot white while Byrd continues to fill in for lor Ruth luth in right Both of the tive ive youngsters youngsters they they are 26 are 26 are stellar tellar fielders Hoag has one o of the best cst throwing arms in the game and andie he ie covers a lot of ground in his little No 4 shoes Classy Fielding Trio A Hong Chapman outfield Would not probably have the blasting blasting blast blast- ing power of a trio including Ruth auth and Combs but in speed and fly fly- catching ability it would rank with the best besl After all Ruth and Combs have been batting under this year while Hoag and Byrd are fairly close to o that figure even while not play play- ing ng regularly Byrd who came up from Albany has las been with the Yanks since 1929 Hoag came up from S Sacramento in 1930 1930 but until this season hadn't broken into as many games ames as Sam Sam- my ray Manager Joe McCarthy still hasn't a real solution to the problem Lazeri's Laz Laz- eri's eris defection will create in the in in- field He has been going along with Crosetti on third Red Rolfe RoUe at short and Lazzeri when feeling fit at see sec ond But there are plenty of ot fans who doubt that either Rolfe or Don Hellner Heffner the pair touted in the spring as a cinch keystone combination will make male the big league grade |