Show I INSIDE BASEBALL By Dy Ted Williams r sy I ISam I i Sam Jethroe the rookie out out- out out-I with considerable interest that I fielder with the Boston Braves illustrates how wrong one can be forming a first Impre Impression on During Durins the spring training season season season sea sea- son in Florida Florid baseball experts were vere predicting that Jethroe would never be able to play big biJ league I baseball He was misjudging fly balls in the outfield He was vas unable unable unable un un- un- un able to throw more than feet And he wasn't exactly knocking I down the grapefruit league fences with sith his bat Bad Reports Since the Braves Bra were training at Bradenton the next town to Sarasota where the Red Sox get into I naturally heard most of ol these bad repots s on Jethroe's play So it has been have followed his early season 1 showing in the National league Apparently Jethroe has found himself and is playing much better hetter better bet het- ter ball than any of the experts thought possible He has been in inthe inthe inthe the regular lineup every ery day wh while Je hitting consistently well and making making making mak mak- ing defensive e plays spring training I observers never thought he could I make When I return to Boston following following follow follow- ing a road trip I hear fans actually 1 raving about his base running feats So he must be a far bett better r ball bail ballplayer player than he looked to be in the sou south tho A Contradiction This case is interesting to me rae because it is contrary to what that generally generally generally gen gen- happens During spring C training a good many rookies look I good They do enough in early C season exhibition games to attract I the attention of oC observers ers who sho frequently frequently fre Ire I 1 go overboard and predict t great futures for them in the game t Quite often these highly pub pub- t rookies tail of off as soon soon ns as the championship season gets Under under under Un- Un un un- der way They are like flowers fowers which bloom in the spring When the hot weather rolls around they 1 wilt wilL d Two Factors 1 This is due to two factors These q rookies look better belter than they are arc arcin a in spring training because they ii are bearing down while the more experienced players are taking things easy casy Secondly these rookies tighten up and fail to show to their best advantage antage when the regular season starts Jethroe evidently is the lion tion to the rule He must have ha 4 suffered d from trying tv tc hard tomake tomake to tomake make a good impression in spring training and then gained confidence confidence confidence dence and the ability to relax when C he discovered disco that he was as being S SC considered a regular member of the I C team despite a poor spring training training training train train- r ing showing c In any case he may win the c rookie of the year award on the basis o of his current play And that 1 would really be after some of the t expert reports which were being circulated about him in Florida I t |