| Show red SPORT LIGHT 1 I va 20 game winner Is national hero H ero 1 by GRANTLAND RICE I 1 1 dihe HE FRIGHTFUL PITCHING of 1 the he new season has certainly the short spring train fag g teason season for 1951 twenty bases on en balls per game IS 15 and 20 runs aall ball games running beyond three fad a half bau hours wild medleys of i home runs have left the natives in a badly dazed condition 0 all around the map next pitchers 4 will be put to work running as well as throwing around the middle of february ary maybe that wont help grantland Crant land a ILI of any n y too much but I 1 at I 1 ae least a tin t it might C cutting off of a few saran arms make it much worse 11 he ball fields are littered with lore aimed II armed med pitchers as it is f A few friends of mine were I 1 tall talking drig about pitching and i throwing the other night writes R T an accurate observer and one of them said it was just it s age the be pit pitchers c hers were just as good as ever somebody mentioned bobby fe rollers abir strikeouts eouts with cleveland cleveand in g isle 6 and 28 strikeouts eouts in consecutive games in 1938 as being just about tops good yes our friend yawned dawned tut I 1 want to remind you of a guy rho ho never left one club pitched every ry game for one team and that learn ram was almost always fighting with ith all its might to get out of the cellar cellar heres a sample in 10 consecutive tiVe years these are the games that pitcher won 25 23 32 36 28 27 24 23 and 20 per season it if a pitcher wins 20 games nowadays ites a national hero this man won zu 20 games or more f for 0 r 10 straight masons sons with a mis miserable e rable ball club a club that sometimes won only then hen this man p pitched in his lifetime the average pitcher wins to games the real stars win MO ducky bucky walters missed it by a vhf olsker once in a great while the champion of champions comes long along and wins games in a life time in the major leagues this man von n and in 21 years of 0 big time baseball his earned run averse average was below three runs per game 75 per cent of the time the ne year ie won 36 games and lost only sev I 1 len e his ERA w was a s 1 1141 his ni name mo walter johnson of course right nander hander washington our other friend had heard of b alm I 1 M but even walter johnsons rec ord d tor for consecutive 20 game years as topped in the majors he said I 1 christopher mathewson of the new york giants by name in 1903 matty won 30 games tor for the giants in the next two years he won 33 and 31 in the next nine years he won in order 22 24 37 25 27 26 23 25 and 24 games per season he won 20 games in 1901 and al together matty won 20 games or better in 13 seasons maybe ty cobbs record of leading the league in batting nine years in succession is better or babe ruths home runs or cobbs hits IT ill take mathewson right and left handers right hinders I 1 ill take a lefty any day said another kibitzer ill take lefty grove against the field connie mack who still calls him that grove judges grove the greatest left hander of all time tim c rind that includes george rube waddell whom mack once named the lefty king groves record in 1931 when he won 31 games and lost only four with an ERA of 2 05 is the finest pitching in modern baseball maybe johnson and mathewson did have to face cobb and wagner and speaker game after game grove had to face babe ruth and harry hellmann heilmann and a guy named gehrig grove won games in only 17 seasons but not the most important statistic grove lost only games his all time winning percentage of will never be equaled its as far above johnsons Mathew sons alexanders and eddie planks percentage 0 of f wins as cobb is above the rest of the hitters lefty grove dont forget is is the only maj major or league pitcher who ever won twice as many games as he lost over a 2 long ca career reer the talk fell to pitchers of the aus a and nd s and and which one hid had a chance to make the upper circle of fame somebody said that joe demag glos 56 game consecutive hitting streak in 1941 was the greatest feat in all baseball batted 91 hits in 56 games youre all wrong said another the greatest feat in history of baseball in a regular game it was when carl hubbell struck out ruth gehrig foxx simmons and cronin in order in the allstar all star game of 1934 only foxx so much as n nicked a single ball it was a foul and foxx never saw the other three pitches nobody d did I 1 d babe ruth said afterward it was the greatest pitching pit chinn exhibition he had ever eer seen and that was from one of the greatest pitchers of al time |
