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Show A SHORT whUe ago, we were roaming the Cleveland landscape land-scape with a pretty fair old-timer. He was, and is, the Gray Eagle U I only a trifle grayer gray-er than he used to be. The name is Speaker Tris Speaker the kid who came up from Hubbard City, Tex., nearly near-ly 40 years ago to become one of the great ballplayers ball-players of all time, both as an Tris Speaker out-fielding hawk and a hitter, a hitter good enough to keep Ty Cobb from leading the league 13 consecutive consecu-tive years. Tris Speaker won or savd many a ball game with his brilliant field- ing and .his hard hitting. But he willingly will-ingly agrees that when it comes to a winning percentage, the star pitcher is the winning factor. "Walter Johnson," Speaker said, "won 20 or more games a year over a period of 10 consecutive consecu-tive years with a club that without with-out him probably would have been mired In the second division. divi-sion. His average was about 200 or maybe 300 per cent above his team's average. Washington ' without Johnson was a pushover. Washington with Johnson pitching was hard-' hard-' er to beat than any team in the league, including the Athletics, Athlet-ics, Tigers or the Red Sox. It's the same, today, when Newhous-er, Newhous-er, Feller and Chandler are working. "The Red Sox also have great pitchers, but they have a great team to back them up. What makes them ' so strong, at this point anyway, is that In addition to a fine ball club they also have the pitching. That makes it tough for any challenger. Great pitchers such as Ed Walsh, Nick Altrock and Doc White have carried weak-hitting teams to a pennant and a world's championship, champion-ship, as this trio did in 1906, but no set of hitters and fielders ever have carried weak pitchers anywhere out of the second division." All that is needed is to look over the individual pitching averages of Hal Newhouser of the Tigers, Bob Feller of the Indians and Spud Chandler of the Yankees and compare com-pare them with the averages of their teams in the standing of the clubs. These three men have kept on winning win-ning in spite of weak batting support sup-port at times. You've heard more than a little about the famous Gas House gang of St. Louis around 1934. They had their full share of good ball-players, but it was Dizzy Dean who pitched them into a pennant without Dizzy they would have finished six or eight games away, possibly more. Next Title Bout In the wake of the Louis-Conn championship fight it is only natural that the new gossip should concern the next title contest. It was generally gen-erally understood that if Louis retained re-tained his title his next fight would be against the winner of the Tami Mauriello - Jersey Joe Walcott elimination elim-ination contest. If Conn won there was to be a repeat engagement, meaning the best two out of three. Louis will have to have a September Sep-tember match for several reasons. One is need of money to pay his taxes and to square his account with Mike Jacobs. Another is that Joe Isn't getting any younger and the years have begun to take their toll. He still can pick up another $90,000 net profit in a second fight. Outside of Conn and Louis, the heavyweight picture has been shy of talent for some time. Now Conn is definitely out. Promoter Mike Jacobs has been trying to get a real challengeF ready for the last three years, but the supply has been extremely ex-tremely thin. Lee Oma kicked himself out of the picture with his terrible showing against Jersey Jer-sey Joe Walcott. Oma set an all-time record for wrecking a show, for refusing to make any ! part of a fight. You can throw Oma out of any heavyweight ' picture that means anything. I Jersey Joe Walcott may not be ) much of a heavyweight, as far as j champions go, and the same can be I said of Tami Mauriello. Still they r seem to be the only ones left who have shown anything worth looking at and neither has shown too : much. A Mauriello-Walcott meeting meet-ing might be no part of a thriller-it thriller-it doesn't figure to be but at least it would be a clash between the two heavyweights who might slip into J the spotlight in the wake of Louis and Conn. Financially, the sooner such a fight is scheduled, perhaps the bet- ter. There has been an abnormal amount of loose money around. The amazing thing is that during the five years intervening between the first and second Louis - Conn parties, no other heavyweight has been developed who has any class. One might think that over a five-year five-year period, during which so much boxing was taught in the army and navy, some challenger would have been found. So far this Is only an idle dream. Up to date no such animal has been developed. |