Show speaking of sports comeback of di mag makes yanks happy by GEORGE A BARCLAY A AS S THE new york yankees have thundered down the home stretch in the american league pennant race piling up a lead t that hat could not be challenged the denizens of Go thams little italy have been happy for joe dl DI maggio was hitting and his bat was winning ball games joes batting average Is a barometer of joy or despair in the east side neighborhood where the sons of italy have settled and raised their bambinos lambinos bambi nos in the early days of the sea season son when joe was in the doghouse dog house with the yankee ownership and his bat was feeble there was consternation in little italy but as the season wore on and the yanks began pulling away from the cleveland indians there were smiles for joe had found his batting eye again if little italy was happy over dl DI Mag magglos gios revival so was joe mcjoe 0 ik I 1 aw T tal X A 4 X DI MAGGIO carthy for once again this astute managers faith in a ball bail player was vindicated mccarthy is noted for sticking with a player when the averages are throwing him down he demonstrated that long ago with pitcher rat pat malone when joe was manager of the chicago cubs 1 in malones first year as a cub he be lost his first five starts joe Is game that might have discouraged the average manager but not joe mccarthy he sent malone back for his sixth start starl pat justified this confidence by winning that game and going on to become one of the most effective pitchers in the national league later when trouble dogged malone and he was waived out of the league mccarthy now manager of the yankees signed him as a relief pitcher and he be continued with good results for the yanks until the close of last season you could cite other examples of this tenacious mccarthy faith theres the case of pitcher lefty gomez who ran into a discouraging series of defeats and finally worked his bis way back into the winners estate or you might mention lou gehrls who was a bust in the early days day of this season joe give up on lou when the fans and critics were panning him and so joe di maggio is the latest reward of mccarthys McCar thys loyalty joes troubles this year started with his holdout demand for atter after a brilliant 1937 season joes holdout was a failure and he finally compromised tor for a year after missing the training trip entirely obviously out of condition because of missing the training trip he be missed the first ten days of the season and one of the disciplinary measures adopted by col jacob ruppert Rupper towner owner of the club for this recalcitrant holdout was to dock joe at the rate of for each game he be missed or a total of 1620 once joe got into the lineup however he was careful not to miss another game informed baseball followers are giving odds that colonel ruppert will refund dl DI maggion Mag gloa gios lost salary when the 1938 season goes into history joe gets going the going easy for joe in the early stages of the sea season sori the hits blast into the outfield as they had in his two previous pravio us years and a home run was comet something hing of a curiosity but mccar mccarthy thy stuck with him As a matter of fact he tried to drop di maggio into the lineup as a pinch hitter on opening day but was overruled by business busine ss manager ed barrow that gesture as well as mccarthys McCar thys serene confidence in him when joe apparently get going was a convincing evidence that his manager believed the slump was only temporary joes performance in the home stretch of the pennant race proved how right mccarthy was finishing his bis third year in the big leagues joe oi di maggio can rest and invite his soul his batting average and also his record for runs batted in and runs scored mark him as one of baseballs greats those who know this young italian say di maggio is a misunderstood player he has a reputation for aloofness that borders on the snooty this is shyness say his friends softball school PHE E axiom that En glands battles of tomorrow are being won today on the playing fields of barrow and eton might be paraphrased tor for baseball as follows major league games of tomorrow are being won on softball fields of today for the outstanding baseball finds of the past several years got their start playing softball joe di maggio was a softball player before he jumped to baseball and started toward the hall of fame as a member of the new york yankees his sensational young teammate tom henrich broke into the game via the softball diamond ken keltner Kel who has made a name for himself this year as third baseman for the cleveland indians was a member of a milwaukee softball team that played in the worlds championship meet two years ago long before he thought of prof professional assion baseball as a career baseball men who watched the worlds championship softball tour cament in chicago which drew teams from 44 states of the union agreed that a player who can attain a respectable batting average against competent mounds men in the fast ball pitching events should be able to io hit a baseball without exceeding difficulty the softball pitcher stands only 40 feet away from the batter at home plate whereas the baseball pitcher stands 60 feet away the ball he uses is not much larger than a regulation baseball 12 inches in circumference cum ference compared to it is nearly as hard it comes to the batter with almost blinding speed when thrown by a star softball pitcher camera tests have indicated that the pitching speed of a tast fast softball is about the same as that of a fast baseball but the soft bau bail b batter atter has one third less distance in which to get ready to swing far from scoffing at softball sott ball as a sissy game thoughtful baseball men frankly agree that it may be eff effective ec in preparing a youngster for baseball later on here and there adle GREATEST fullback in the middle west this tall fail will be howie weiss of the university of wisconsin according to coach harry the longwood cricket club of chestnut hills mass has the first tennis racket it ever purchased it was bought april 24 1878 or 50 years ago among temple football opponents this year are three with whom the owls played scoreless ties last year they are bucknell holy cross and boston college with the signing of cecil isbell of purdue and andy uram of minnesota st stars ars of the recent AU star football game gam e in chicago the green bay packers have made themselves a formidable threat in the national professional football league this fall fail shake up time W HEN the winter baseball meet ings are held several months hence it Is the prophecy of informed baseball men that there will b be e more trades between big league teams than the national game has experienced in a long time shake ui up talk is in the air as baseball gives way to football in seasonal sports interest and teams that promised well but fared indifferently ferent ly are preparing to strengthen themselves for the 1939 race it Is conceded that three teams the new york giants and the chicago cubs in the national league A 1 K e CONNIE MACK and the cleveland indians in the american league are most in need of overhauling if they are to be pennant contenders again next year how to do 1 it few managers would be prepared to take the drastic steps used by connie conale mack ot of the philadelphia athletics on two occasions years ago when he decided his teams had passed their peak of baseball usefulness to him and could still bring a handsome profit old timers will remember that after the worlds series of 1914 which the athletics lost to the boston braves mack disposed of his infield consisting of stuffy mcinnes eddie collins jack barry and frank baker as well as sundry pitchers and outfielders he used the same procedure after the 1931 worlds series but managers terry hartnett and vitt respectively will be unusually receptive to trades that will replace fading or disgruntled players with fresh performers 0 western newspaper union |