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Show Pfi TO BREAK the news abruptly, his name is Paul Derringer, born in Springfield, Ky.. some 37 years ago. Big P'jul. 6 feet 3 inches in height, displacement 215 IT'-XI pounds, has always 1 been one of my fa- Jt-:;! vorite pitchers. . W J In 1931, after 1 ! knocking around J.i with Danville and I- , . Rochester, Big Paul 1st II won 18 games for I "T s the Cardinals r-' s' . y against 8 losses Y I - and then took a K y heavy dip in 1932. Paul Derringer The Kentucky Rifleman Ri-fleman was a complete com-plete dud in 1933 when he won 7 games and lost 27 games for St. Louis and Cincinnati. That year Paul couldn't dent the surface of a custard pie. He wasn't much better bet-ter a year later, In 1934. After that he stumbled along for a while. But he had big years in 1938, 1939 and 1940. And then again he began skidding skid-ding a trifle, largely through early season injuries. Just a year ago Paul won 12 and lost 16 games with the Reds-only Reds-only so-so. Not so hot for Paul although al-though he was no longer any kid. "In my opinion," Bill Dickey once told me, "Derringer is one of the best pitchers I ever tried to hit. He has more than his share of speed he has a fine curve ball and he has control. I can't understand why Derringer doesn't win around 22 or even 25 games a year. I can tell ou he's that good. He's one of the few pitchers I never liked to face." In any event, Paul Derringer began be-gan his 18th pro season at the age of 37 with four successive wins over the Cardinals and the Pirates, picked as the two strongest clubs in the National League. Pitching for the Cubs, Derringer may be an upsetting factor in the National Leagne race. For the Cubs have shown the league better pitching pitch-ing than any one looked for. Charlie Char-lie Grimm has gotten them away at what you might call spring pennant speed, where a year ago at this time they were deep down in the quick- sands, out of sight at the bottom. It might be mentioned here that Derringer is on a par with Bill Dickey as a field shot and a better deer shot around the Florida Everglades. Ever-glades. My guess would be that Derringer Der-ringer is close to being the best pitcher in either league, on a par with Mort Cooper and Bucky Walters. Wal-ters. Stirniveiss and Lindell We ran into what you might call a representative gathering of baseball people " a few days ago, including veteran baseball writers, managers and old-time ball players. Someone started talking about the best baseball base-ball player in the American League today. George Stirnweiss, the Yankee Yan-kee second baseman, drew a unanimous unani-mous vote for this spot. As Harry Salsinger put It: "Stirnweiss "Stirn-weiss would have been a star in prewar pre-war days. He will still be a star in postwar play. The Yankee Infield-er Infield-er is a strong hitter, a fine infielder and a great base-runner. He is fast and smart. An all-around athlete, well up on the competitive side." In the opinion roundup that followed, fol-lowed, Boudreau of Cleveland and Stephens of the Browns were placed close to the Yankee entry for all-around all-around ability. This is no news to Joe McCarthy. McCarthy was keen about his crack infielder back in his rookie days. "You'll hear a lot more about this fellow," he said a year ago after the first few days of spring training. "He can do about all you could ask from an infielder where all he needs is a little more experience." Stirnweiss joins the combination of baseball and football stars. He was one of the best backs North' Carolina ever had, a chunky bullet. McCarthy has never been any too hilarious about football players. Joe claims they get too many shoulder, ankle and knee bruises or injuries that often return as haunting ghosts of former gridiron glory. Yet Stirnweiss Stirn-weiss and Spud Chandler, two of his best men, were both football stars. So was Johnny Lindell in high school, which Johnny proved In putting that famous block on Kurow-ski Kurow-ski in the 1943 world series. Lindell is another winning type whose absence would make more than a small difference in the present pres-ent race which may be just as steamy as the one last season that moved on to the final pitch. Lindell himself believes the Yankees' all-around all-around power and pitching will carry car-ry them through this time, whether he is with them or not. Speed Comes First Recently I asked Carl Hubbell, now a Giant scout, what he considered consid-ered first in selecting pitchers. "First of all," Hubbell said, "a pitcher must have speed. He must have an arm that can slip that fast one by you. If he has speed, you can probably teach him a curve ball and control later on. If he lacks speed he has almost no chance. Here and there you'll get a slow-ball pitcher pitch-er who can get by. But not one in a hundred can turn the trick. |