Show Backseat Driving By FRANK K BAKERT BAKER BAKER- T Telegram Sports Editor In these days when so many of our champions arc are patting patting patting pat pat- ting themselves on the back its it's highly pleasant to find a astar astar astar star like Rip Radcliff of the St. St Louis Browns refusing to get excited about his own importance as the American leagues league's leading batter Just imagine for a moment what personalities such as Art Shires Ted Williams Dizzy Dean Tony Galento Max Baer and Bobby Riggs would say if they were projected into the limelight limelight limelight lime lime- light like Radcliff f has been Each of them would tell the whole wide world that this sudden Ludden spurt of batting power wasn't surprising surprising not not to him From Prom now on winning this batting championship would be a ashoo shoo hoo in Hadn't he developed a new stance Weren't most of these pitchers an open book to him But theres there's none of that kind of talk in Rips Rip's comment Although he has never never been a weak sticker the year old player who went to St. St Louis from the Chicago White Sox in ina a winter trade seemed about as surprised as anybody about his isis position when interviewed recently by the Associated h Press I Offering n no secret formula for his splendid mid- mid August batting average of he said tIm Im not doing anything different than I ever did I just stay loose up there and try to keep swinging I got off to a good start last spring have been in there regularly and that's what I need Ive I've kept in good shape and with a hustling ball club like ours youre you're bound to keep doing your best Im I'm using the same stance the same weight bat and the same grip on the bat They're just falling for hits this year I Iguess guess Radcliff weighs around pounds and is not a slugger although he was a batter for three years with the His specialty is short drives just over the infield good on the most part for singles This is his sixth year in the majors He batted only when he broke in with the Sox in 1935 topped the mark in the next three seasons and dropped to last season Radcliff bats and throws left handed and he h is is' available for either outfield duty or first base the position he played when he broke into organized baseball in 1928 with Paris of the Lone Star circuit He hasn't been a spectacular fielder though and as a result he has been in and out of the line This irregularity has undoubtedly been something of a handicap handicap handi handi- c cap p as he probably means by saying that he has been in there regularly Blazin Ben Guintini has has' faced so something of the same problem with the Salt Lake Bees here this summer A hand injury benched him a couple of times early in the campaign and he has repeatedly ridden the bench so more exp experienced players like Earl Owen or Jack Hatchett could be put in the line So although Ben Den hasn't been much of a sensation the Bee Dee management is far from giving up on the big stalwart stalwart stalwarts stal- stal wart warts Baseball scouts are repeatedly impressed by his size speed and general physical physic l assets and are arc hopeful that hell he'll begin to blossom with more experience and perhaps a chance to play regularly Getting back to Radcliff one finds a big reason for his batting prowess in what his manager Fred Haney of the Browns has to say Just watch him Haney urged baseball writers recently Did you ever see him swing hard enough to throw himself off balance No never He just meets the ball If you meet the ball squarely you'll get your share of base hits This brings out a line of development being sought on an another another another an- an other Bee player namely Ray Perry the popular third baseman Although a batter both Manager Tom and General Manager Eddie Mulligan believe that Perry will be still more more dangerous at the plate when he flattens out his batting swing a little more said on pretty good authority that Perry developed the habit of cutting upwards on the pitches in an effort to loft the ball over a towering fence in his town home-town park It takes time to break a habit like this but Perry has made considerable progress And as one critic said recently That boy may b become come a great hitter if hell he'll ever start shooting for singles and let the extra base wallops take care of them- them selves i One parting comment about Radcliff's balanced stance and determination to swing only at desired pitches comes from Catcher George Tebbetts of the Detroit Tigers lIe He said Rip will take a strike to get the pitch he wants And whenever a batter has that poise he usually is a dangerous man at the plate |