The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1911-04-09
TIGERS ARE-SUNDAY

i ~
Detroit. April S.-The excellent
showing of those veteran Detroit
pitchers, Willett and Works. who first
were called on to so the regulation
number of innings. ought to encour-
age greatly both the management and
the fans. Willett. who was called on
for the long route at Dallas. showed
as good form against the Texas lea
guers as though it had been midsum-
mer- allowing but five hits and smear
ing the opposing team with a coat of
whitewash. 1t was not luck that en-.
abled Edgar to so through. either. He
had curve ball that was wonder
and better control than was his nor
NAL last season.
Much depends on Vic" this season.
In fact, it might be said almost that
the Tigers pennant chances hinge on
his having good year. Mullin al
ready has manifested that he will be
right, and Bill Donovan has shown I'M
usually promising indication for SO
early in the spring. Bill is never
ready, however, until the days begin
to get warm, and ii is up.to the other
veterans to give the club a start that
Wild Bills work will count for some
thing when he begins to take his turn
on the mound
Summers, who went home i'll after
a few days in Monroe and short
time on the road with the second club,
can't be figured on at present. 1t may
be that the LadOga curver will report
as strong as ever he was when the
main guard reaches Detroit. but
this looks doubtful. Unless he makes
an unusually quick recovery, he is
likely to be weak at the start of the
season, and it is cinch that Jen-
nings will not take any chances of
working him before he is all ready for
the gruelling championship games.
Up to Wllett and Mullin.
This makes it look as though it
would be up to Willett and Mullin, to-
gether with some of the young pitch
ers to make good in the first few
weeks of the season, when the Tigers
need at least a decent start if they
hope to be in the fight for the flag.
Mullins ability to pitch great ball
in cold weather is rroverbial. Year af-
able to make more than fair show
ing, the Maumee lad has gone in and
kept the club from sinking out of
sight. At times he has been forced to
bear the burden almost single handed,
but he never has failed. Therefore,
we aren't going to worry much about
George.
With Willett there has been less con-
fidence when it comes to matter of
toiling in snowstorms. Edgar is a
wonderful pitcher when he is going
right, but he lacks Mullins consisten-
cy in being good most of the time. In
the writer's humble opinion, this same
Edgar Willett is potentially the equal
of any slabman alive, and this doesn't
bar Mathewson nor Walter Johnson.
This is to say that We're the big Kan
san able to concentrate all his abil-
ity and apply his natural pitching tai
ents along the proper lines he would
be the greatest of the great. The
trouble has been with Edgar that he
never has done himself justice. Eth
er he has been fooling with lot of
new curves and fadeaways and spit
| tiers that he never ought to touch, or
else he hasn't had control. Some day
the large boy is going to come into his
own, he is going to be able to get the
ball over the plate when he wants to
and then-please help the poor OPP
posing teams.
Big Edgar Showing Form.
Already this year Willett has been
showing so much pitching ability that
| it looks like a cinch that he should
be working shoulder to shoulder with
George Mullin in the early days of the
race. With these two at their best the
Tigers ought to be out in front in two
weeks from April II, for the other De-
troit youngsters are likely to be in as
good shape as the juveniles of any
other club, making it stand-off when
everybody is depending on new talent.
Not to be outdone by Willett, Ralph
Works pitched a game of ball in Fort
Worth that was as good as any that
ever the lanky boy got out of his sys-
TEN. 1t would be said without hesita-
| ton that it was the best effort of the
young lawyers baseball life, but for
the fact that he was working against
minor league club, which isn't fair