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Show PFi TN THE Yankee clubhouse they 1 were talking about the fastest pitcher. The argument got down to Lefty Grove and Bob Feller. I ran in my nomination a fellow named Walter Johnson. "I never batted against Johnson," Bill Dickey said, 'but mv vote enes for Grove when he was at his best. 1 can see Feller's fast one, even if I don't hit too well but I couldn't see Grove's." "I never saw Johnson work," Joe Gordon said, "and I never saw Grove at his best, at the top. But I'll string with Bob Feller. He is fast enough for me. Grantland Sometimes too fast." I still stick with Johnson. One answer is that Big Barney pitched more shutouts and had more strikeouts strike-outs than any pitcher in baseball 113 shutouts, if I recall the exact figures. And Johnson had no chance to ease up with a weak-hUting club. Also every hitter in those days knew a fast one was coming, but they still couldn't hit the Big Train. "I guess Johnson, with that record, rec-ord, gets the call," Dickey said. The Detroit Mystery Here's another angle few fans figure fig-ure out. I asked one of the Tiger stars how he accounted for Detroit's sudden rise from a sixth-place pick to a pennant contender, and then the mid-season slow-up prior to the final surge. "Nature," he said. "In the spring we were afraid of Dick Bartell's legs and Charlie Gehringer's legs and back. But we happened to get a damp spring which ran into June. We had soft ground to work on until July. This gave both tf"'"! veterans a chance 'V if to save their legs, t t&i. 1 Then the sun baked T.TrS out aU diamonds jtjsaaa' -1 and what a differ- "jix f ence this makes to i older legs." kJlC "This Is true UvW' Jj enough," Bartell j " -' jfl told me. "I was a I 3- r4 kid again as long as "m JJ, i had soft ground Dick Bartell ""der my feet But these hard, baked out diamonds are rough on your legs. I could begin to feel the difference in a few days sore ligaments, sore feet." Bartell was one of the main factors fac-tors in Detroit's early summer charge. Both his spirit and his play were major factors in the Tiger drive. And the same goes for Geh-ringer, Geh-ringer, who stands out as one of the great second basemen of all time. When these two begin to skid the Tiger infield began to look porous. "Figure this one out," one of the Yankees said. "We all know the value of big, powerful hands in baseball. Hands like Wagner's and Lajoie's but one of the best infield-ers infield-ers I've seen in a long time has the smallest pair of hands in either league." "Meaning whom?" we asked. "Boudreau, the Cleveland shortstop," short-stop," he answered. "Boudreau has extremely small hands. They are delicate looking. But I don't know of a better shortstop anywhere today. to-day. He has been one of the main reasons for Cleveland's success. When he gets either hand on a ball it sticks with him." The Eternal Argument "I'll tell you something," one oj the Cleveland veterans said. "Old-timers "Old-timers are always talking about the play of the stars who once made the headlines. They talk about a more scientific game. I'd like to see some of these old-timers handle the ball they hit at you today infield or outfield. "The game today is twice as fast. This modern ball comes at you like a rifle shot many times. You can't afford to lose a split second. The same is true in the outfield where line drives come whistling by. It takes much better starting speed to handle the new, faster ball, no matter mat-ter what position you play. Those old-timers were lucky when it came to handling a much slower ball, one that gave you more time to cover your ground. "Baseball today is far harder on the nerves. You have to be alert every second a man is at bat. You are tense all the time in any close game. The old-time game may have been more scientific, but the game today is largely a matter of speed and power." Pitchers vs. Hitters The clubhouse chitchat drifted around to the comparative value of pitching and hitting. "If you had your choice." I asked one of the veterans, "who would you take Ruth, Cobb, Wagner and Foxx or Johnson, Alexander, Feller and Grove each at his peak?" "I don't have to wait on that one," he said. "I'd take the four pitchers. Give me those four pitchers and I'll eiVc you any four big hitters you might name in any baseball league, anywhere." |