Show the new york yankees are looking closely closel y at the red sox and the indians although holding every club in the league dangerous on any given give n occasion they naturally expect the strongest resistance from those two teams they are concerned with the pitching in boston and cleveland As they see it they will be aided by a contin bance of the ineffectiveness ti of old mose grove and m menaced by the skill of bob feller they even think at least some of them that I 1 talked to the other day that these two pitchers one near the end of the he string as a big t leaguer and the other just heading into bob grove the days of his greatness may bring about a change in the positions of their two leading rivals As joe mccarthy puts pats it feller is doing for the indians what grove used to do for the red sox but can do no longer apparently step in and bait their skidding with a well pitched game when the other pitchers are faltering so far of course the red sox have managed to do all right without old mose alose in the form he be held through last year but what of the months ahead the hot months when the strain will be heavier on the other pitchers grove through at last I 1 asked some of the yanks if they thought old mose was vas through that after 15 years of hurling during which he slipped under the mark only once and that in his first year out of baltimore if the lona coning limited really had lost his stuff I 1 asked them that remembering that everybody thought he was through as far back as 1934 when he won only eight games in his first year in boston they remembered that too and remembered how he came back with a rush and what a pitcher he was right up to the end of last season only one of them answered 1 I dont know he said but what we heard when we were in boston the dope we got was that while he might come through with a good game once in a while might get out there any afternoon BOB FELLER and blow that curve b ball au of his around the plate and then let go with a fast one now and then just to remind the hitters he still has it he going to be much real help to the club any more if so those other boston pitchers had better be hot all season check back and find that the 15 games grove won last year meant the difference between second place and fourth at least the yanks admire them incidentally grove and feller who may in one way or the other have such an eff effect act not only on the fate of their own clubs but on the late fate of the yankees as well are two of the yanks favorite athletes naturally they like to beat the two bobs every time they hook book up with them but they admire grove for his year in and year out perform inces acts the courage he showed in b eating beating his way back when eve everybody ry b ody had him tagged tor for the cleaners and the skill with which he be has made over his pitching style they dont like showboats Show boats admire feller not only tor fur the natural stuff he has but for the way he be has taken his fame in stride there are no swelled heads or show oss offs among the yankees and they freely hand it to the kid from van meter for having already touched greatness without making any fuss about it the yanks I 1 might say are critical cal of ball players they call show boats not understanding dizzy dean can they took an almost violent dislike to him and got a terrific ki kick ck out of his crack up in the allstar game in washington in 1937 and the defeat they slapped on him in the world series ol of 1938 but diz got them on his side after the f inal final game of the 1938 series when he walked into their clubhouse at the stadium and said he hated to lose but getting beaten by a great ball club took some of the sting out of the defeat |