OCR Text |
Show : i : : . . , ; Faint Hope Seen for Club ; Crawling Out of Second Division Berth in 1939 By ROBERT MYERS PASADENA, Cal Mrch 13 (AP) Endowed with mora brain than talent the Chicago White Sox face an uphill battle if they are to escape from the second division of the American league this year. Beset with hard luck from the very start of the 138 campaign, which ended with the Pal Hoi In ilxth place, the 1839 season seems destined to be another shaky one unleaa some of the poaaibilitie bloom Into actualities ac-tualities and lend a hand to smart maneuvering Jimmy Jim-my Dykes. Manager Dykes, a man who seem to work with a front office behind be-hind him (by Several Sev-eral laps), ha hone that his I ,! """" fielding is Improving and eventually eventual-ly he may become a avaluabl and ( as colorful as th one-time pride of south Chicago fsna, Zeke Bonura. Th outfield will remain about ' th sme, with Gerald Walker, Mlks Kreevich, Henry Steinbacher and Rip Radcliff taking car of th outer out-er garden. Dyke' main concern her is that Walker, a -SOS hitter last year and noted as an "early pring" batter, will be far behind th rut of th club In training because be-cause at n attack of Influenza, while Radcliff, who batted O30 Uit easen, Is a late hitter, usually going go-ing into hie bay etiik work, -after the others hav fired their but . bolts. There' further worry st second bass, not to mention th possibility that Luke Appling's ones broken ankle might fold again and leave a wide gap at shortstop. Jsck Hayes, th regular eecond seeker, won't be ready for the opening game, du to a knee operation, and, whils Erie (Boob) McNair, bought from Boston, Bos-ton, will take over th lob, he i , a natural shortstop and hardly up to th standard of Hayes. Also acquired ac-quired to protect th infield was Olli Bejma, brought back to th majors after a fine year with St. Paul. Luke Sewell, long-time "old reliable" re-liable" of the catching staff, is gone snd the Job is open to battle between be-tween George Rensa, Miks Tresh, Ken Sylvestri and Norman Schlue- ter. The coming exhibition games with th Chicago Cub and Pittsburgh Pitts-burgh out here will probably decide de-cide which three win stay with th club. e pitch.-, notably Jimmy Dyke John Whitehead, Clint Brown, Thornton Lc and a coupl of other, oth-er, will return to th form they once displayed. These hurlere, together with the old ataad-by, Ted Lyons, and Art Hsrring, who won II and lost with St, Paul last year: Vic Fra-sier, Fra-sier, who won 17 and lost 1 with th sam outfit, and another hope or so, loom as th best bets for the Sox pitching. Few around ths csmp believe that plucky Monty Stratton can deliver the goods this year de-spits de-spits ths brilliant young Texan's vow to try. Stratton, mainstay of the staff in 1938, lost a leg in a hunting accident this winter, a Brightest hope among the few newcomer Is Merv Connors, who joined Chicago lata lut season and exhibited rare hitting prowess. Ths strapping youngater may not be good enough to oust Jo Kuhel from ths first bass position, but his |