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Show V CMiV7lANDl A FEW old-timers were talking a day or two ago about the best combination pitching staffs, Including Includ-ing two stars. It all began on a visit to Detroit where naturally they were talking about Newhouser and Trout, who came close to winning the pennant for the Tigers last fall. I could take them back to the days of Mathewson and Mc-Ginnity, Mc-Ginnity, a pretty fair two-man combination. com-bination. There were others, including Jack Chesbro, who were just as good or just as effective, f f U Ljk k jt.fi Dizzy Trout anyway. But those were times far away and long ago. Few modern fans recall their names. But this is getting away from all-star pitching strength where two men are concerned con-cerned on one team. Several requests re-quests have come in from servicemen, service-men, especially those overseas, to hear more about Newhouser and Trout, the winning Tiger combination. combina-tion. We put this problem up to E. A. Batchelor, the Detroit expert, who came through promptly with the following: fol-lowing: "Newhouser had threatened to be a fine pitcher ever since he joined the Tigers at the age of 18, with a very limited minor league experience. experi-ence. He had plenty of 'swift' and an excellent curve, but he also had two serious defects. He never could get the ball over the plate without easing up on his stuff and he sulked and pouted whenever things went wrong for him. It used to be said that Harold was licked as soon as an error was made behind him that he was a rank quitter if he didn't get all the breaks. Couldn't Stand Defeat "The trouble seemed to be that he couldn't get over the idea that he should win every game he pitched. No matter how good his performance, perform-ance, if the other team outscored the Tigers he felt that Fate had kicked him right in the seat of the pants. There may he better ways of acquiring unlimited unpopularity with one's teammates than a chronic chron-ic martyr complex, but we don't recall re-call any of them at the moment. Newhouser was cordially disliked by the entire Tiger squad. When he pitched the whole team tightened up and played its worst ball. "Paul Richards probably is deserving de-serving of a great deal of the credit for Newhouser's development from a problem child into a real pitcher. This veteran backstop was acquired by the Tigers from Atlanta, where he had been manager, to help fill the hole left by the departure of George 'Birdie' Tebbetts for the army. "He conveyed the Idea that a successful suc-cessful pitcher works on the batters' bat-ters' weaknesses and does not merely mere-ly try to throw the ball past them by main strength. And so, in one year, he developed all the latent talent tal-ent of the young southpaw and helped to earn for him the award of most valuable player In the American League. Cay, Eccentric Trout "Trout, In many respects. Is the exact opposite of Newhouser In mental men-tal make-up. Instead of being a sulking, sulk-ing, self-centered athlete, he was always al-ways the 'good fellow.' He worked all his waking hours at his trade of being a charming eccentric. Nothing Noth-ing seemed to worry him not even the necessity for winning an occasional occa-sional ball game. It was the feeling of the fans that he was more Interested In-terested In clowning than In pitching; pitch-ing; that he would rather get a laugh than a digit in the win column. col-umn. Everybody liked him and everybody ev-erybody wanted to see him win, everybody, ev-erybody, except, It seemed, himself. "Then, all of a sudden, Paul seemed to tumble to the idea that his extra curriculnr activities as the life of the party could be reconciled with doing a serious job on the mound. Just about the time he was ready to receive one of those long green railroad tickets to the minors, he settled down to work. He won 20 games in 10-13 with a club that wasn't going anywhere in particular and he liked the idea of being a winner win-ner so well that he kept It up In 1944 with 27 victories. "It wasn't that Paul suddenly uncovered un-covered some new stuff. He hasn't a bit more on the ball now than he had when he was struggling lo break even. He always has had a fine curve ball and exceptional control, to say nothing of poise that even nn earthquake couldn't disturb. dis-turb. He Just naturally grew up at long last. "One characteristic that these two pitchers have In common Is their willingness to work. One or the other was in over half of the games that the Tigers played Inst year, in almost 70 games of record. Even when they were starting games far often than Is customary In the major ma-jor leagues, they were doing relief work for faltering nssoclntes. And their associates last senson had a positive genius for faltering. In fact, all the rest of the Tiger pitchers combined, won only 32 games, or a little over half as many as the two stars. |