The news scimitar. (Memphis, Tenn.) 1907-1926, 1920-03-01
SOUTHPAW DEARTH
ALARMS MAGNATES
Major League Club Owners
Perturbed Over Absence
of Portsiders.

NEW YORK. March l---Craek south
paw pitchers are worth their weight In
gold TO major league clubs these days.
Time was when the big league man
ager could dive into the grabbag and
come up with a fairly good portsider
most any day. But that day has passed
For the last three or four years man
ayers and scouts have been comhlng the
minor leagues and watching semipro
and collegiate ranks for young south
paws OF promise without encouraging
results. The race to which such Pitch
erS as Waddell, Rucker and Plank be-
longed appears TO be whitening away
aud the lack Of an oncomlng crop to
take the places Of such hurlers as
Vaughn, Tyler, Reuthcr, Marquard.
Cooper, Leonard and Coumbe Is alarm
ing.
Miller Higgins. manager OF the
Yankees IL better fixed IN the way OF
leftehanded pitchers than most big
league managers. yet Miller deplores
the famine In southpaw pitchers The
Yankees have Mogrdge and Thormah-
Ten to pitch regularly from the port side
and Ruth could be used In an emer-
gency.
Every major league club needs n
brace Of first class southpaws." said
Higgins recently, but getting them Is
the big question, Practically every
manager ! know is on a still hunt for
portside pitchers and has been hunting
for long time.
Il can think of no good reason for
the scarcity Of good southpaws, but 1t
Is fact that they are scarce They are
simply fading out that's all, And with
20 many major league hatsmen swing
ING IRON the left side Of the plate these
days southpaw pitchers are needed as
never before We are well fixed for
southpaws, thank goodness, but We still
have 10 solve the problem of digging up
new ones for future use. can readily
sympathize with the manager who
hasn't at least one crack left hauder
Look over the 1919 major league rec
0fds and you viii find that the left
hand pitchers who can he depended upon
TO get In there and take their regular
turns IN the box are outnumbered
four or five to one by the right-han
efs
In the National league the Cubs arc
well fixed with Vaughn and Tyler to -
their sharpshooting from the port 81 Is,
The Reds have good man in w g..
Reuther and a seasoned southpaN -
Sallee. Pittsburgh has the best yoaaE
kouthpaw IN the league In Cooper. and
Earl Hamilton, Of the Pirates, also
chucks with his fork hand st Louis
has Sherdell and May, but neither Is
crack pitcher. though both may de
vetop into consistent winners. The
Giants have Art Nehf and Rube Ben
ton. Brooklyn falls back on Maruuard
for much OF the pitching against clubs
that have strong left-handed batting
orders and Sherrod Smith helps out,
The Phillies have Rixie and Packard
and had Leon Ames last season But
there Is not a club Of the eight in the
National league that would refuse 10
dig deep for another crack southpaw.
In the American league the Yanks
with Mogridge and ThormahIen' are
fairly well fixed The Browns have
Weiiman and Koob and Cleveland has
Coumbe alone TO figure as a crack left.
handler. Boston got good southpaw
from Washington IN Harry Harper
Chicago has Kerr and Williams, and
Detroit Dutch Leonard, while Philade-
phia has lone southpaw OF prominence
in Kinney.