Show 11 I 1 FLA there Is a ru u mor abroad that when manager joe cronin of the boston red sox heard that the f gorilla was chucking things at her intended mate cronin immediately rushed to the sarasota zoo and tried to sign toto up as a red sox pi bitchet for joe crain after last season feels eels that he can use almost any form ot of animal life that can chuck things at the grantland rice bice opposition just a year ago on this fair air western coast of florida it was generally agreed that it if anything happened yankees the red so sox would move up to cheva bated throne outside of the pitching the red box had the best team in baseball at that time outside ot of the pitching the same thing li Is true today but outside ot of the pitching pitch ingIs is the same game as being outside of the money it Is if like being a well dressed man minus your pants A year ago manager cronin tor for veteran pitchers pitcher had bob grove jack wilson denny galehouse fritz joe having and jim bagby for rookies he be had bill butland herb hash and mickey harris who had bad won 60 minor league games and had cost tom yawkey over most mod of the veterans bit the soapy chute and all 11 II three of the rookies rookie took an even deeper dive after leading the league 37 days cronin began to use oie up his pitching staff with much lavishness and when the crash came you c could hear bear it 50 miles at sea the yankees blew the flag but the red sox were too tar far back to know oe cronin p nui what happened or to care enough to find out on to 1941 measured by its infield and its outfield by its power and its defensive play the red bed box still have the best club in baseball up to the outer rim of the pitchers box with frank catching and first class reserved reser reserves vei the red sox look even better now than they did a year ago but what about their pitching the only two veterans they have saved from the wreck ot of 1940 are bob grove and jack wilson grove will probably be good tor for only 20 games this season working once a week wilson loaded with p potential bowd powder e r is still an enigma Cr croninn Cronl onins ns three outside dependencies cies are 36 year old mike from rochester 29 year old oscar judd from sacramento and dick newsome from san diego Dieg othree three men who won over ever 60 games last season lie he should also get some help from his r rookies 0 of last year hash butland harris rich and dickman plus hughson brown and dobson this by any wild meanderings into the field of imagination a strong pitching staff but from the cluster of right and left arms cronan should be able to improve on his is pitching ot of 1940 with enough luck he might even be able to have four our or five good men ready and it if this happens the red sox box will be dangerous people to have around with jimmy foxx ted williams bobby doerr dom dimaggio DiMagg lo and others who can hammer over the needed runs when they count the most the possibilities are there but his e entire pitching string is stuffed with its it is a staff of qu question estfon mark veterans and rookies sore arms and 1910 failures cronin must feel as if he were wandering into a heavy losi for minus a miners lamp or a torch the lone exception the lone exception is robert M moses es grove the Lona lonaconing coning lancer from maryland grove reached the ripe age of 41 Is last A week this ibis is his twenty second season his seventeenth in the major leagues in his bis day and time grove has won hall ball games for the athletics and red bed sox and his left arm Is sui still hanging banging on nis lais all time major league average Is which Is far ar up tip in the higher brackets in this span of time lefty has whiffed 2217 opponents he is undoubtedly ond one of the greatest pitchers of all time last season the former speed king won 7 games and lost 8 0 it was the leanest year of his long career Tenny sons brook may go on tor for ever but not a pitching arm grove now c can an work only once a week or once every 10 days CronIn hopes the tall an and willowy willow southpaw can win 12 or 15 games this would border on a miracle exactly 10 years ago grove won 3 games and lost only 4 for one of the greatest seasons in all pitching his tory B but ut when you add 10 years U 31 years you begin bucking the lm im pregnable tur fortress tress known as ti glnn m e |