OCR Text |
Show Pfi W J GAM7lANDf A I . MCE Ji.JSfosl T AVE FERRISS, the MerUn of the mound, the ex-airman with the Boston Red Sox, is now after big game, meaning the star pitching pitch-ing records of the last 40 years. When you are levelling with dead aim on such past stars as Lefty Grove, Christy Mathewson, Carl Hubbell, Grover Alexander, Smoky Dave Ferriss Joe Woo d, Ed Walsh, Spud Chandler Chand-ler and a few others, oth-ers, you have to adjust ad-just your sights to an unusual angle. For in these 40 years of big league baseball base-ball there have been others who have set up a number num-ber of incredible marks that the brilliant bril-liant Ferriss must look at, face to face, or figure to figure. Here are just a few among those who have won more than 20 games in any given season: Robert Moses Grove, Athletics, 1931: Won 31, lost 4, pet. .886. Smoky Joe Wood, Red Sox, 1912: Won 34, lost S, pot. .872. Lefty Gomez, Yankees, 1935: Won 26, lost 5, pet. .839. Walter Johnson, Senators, 1913: Won 36, lost 7, pet. .837. Spud Chandler, Yankees, 1943: Won 20, lost 4, pet. .833. Carl Hubbell, Giants, 1936: Won 26, lost 6, pet. .813. Dizzy Dean, Cardinals, 1935: Won SO, lost 7, pet. .811. Eddie Cicotte, White Sox, 1919: Won 29, lost 7, pet. .806. Christy Mathewson, Giants, 1909: Won 25, lost 6, pet. .806. The above are the high-ranking percentage records since 1904. Ed Walsh won 40 and lost 15 in 1908 for .727. Alexander won 31 and lost 10 in 1915 for .756. Bob Feller's best year was 1939 when he won 24 and lose 9 for .727. Quite a Target It is Lefty Grove's record mark, set in 1931, that now becomes the main Ferriss target. Here's quite a target, (no matter how keen a sharpshooter sharp-shooter you may happen to be WON 31, LOST 4 PCT. .886. Only Smoky Joe Wood of the Red Sox in 1912 has even approached these miracle figures and Joe was 14 points away at .872, which is no part of a bust or a flop. To beat Lefty Grove's 1931 mark, Ferriss will have to win 31 games and drop only 3. This means that Miracle Dave will have to win 14 out of his next 15 starts. You will have to admit this is quite an order. This reminds us that Lefty Grove, the silent mountaineer, had the 6 greatest consecutive years any pitcher has ever known: .750 in 1928 .769 In 1929 .848 In 1930 .886 in 1931 .714 in 1932 and .750 hi 1933. In 1930 and 1931, Lefty won 59 games and lost only 9. Try and match that combination for something over .870 for two straight seasons. There are those perennial pessimists, pessi-mists, who live in ancient history as they stroke their mossy beards, who have this to say: "This is a soft year for pitchers. They are only facing a bunch of minor leaguers, most of them class B and class C. This is an off year. It shouldn't count." But wait just a few seconds. Why aren't the rest of the pitchers mopping mop-ping up as Ferriss is? Newhouser of the Tigers is one of the best from many seasons, but though working . for a much better ball club he hasn't been able to follow the Ferriss pace. No Real Support And looking back to Grove's big year, has Ferriss another Jimmy Foxx or another Al Simmons batting bat-ting in runs for his side? Simmons hit .390 that season and Jimmy Foxx hammered 30 home runs over the wall. And there were others. oth-ers. Connie Mack had a world series se-ries team that year, back in 1931. Don't forget that Grove drew far better defensive and offensive support sup-port than the 1945 Red Sox can offer. Without Ferriss, the Red Sox would be In seventh place, badly outclassed by every team In the American League except the Athletics. Ath-letics. Leave out the Ferriss record and the Red Sox would have only 25 victories against the 42 they held after Sunday's Kst. Don't forget again that Lefty Grove and Joe Wood were working with two pennant winning, two world series teams, while Ferriss has been pitching for a team that without him would be next to last among a lot of bad ball clubs. His infield and outfield support has been nothing noth-ing to compare with the support Grove and Woods knew in other and better years. Football's Coming Boom "This will be the greatest war season sea-son football has known," remarked Steve Owen, coach of the New York Giants. "I am not referring alone to the pro game. I am also speaking or the colleges. We have been get-dng get-dng in a number of reports lately from our scouts. I've heard from I number of college coaches and they tell me their material will be much better than it was a year ago. rhey won't be beating Army or Sfavy but they will still be good." I |