The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1922-06-10
DETROIT, POSSESSOR
OF GREAT SLUCCERS,
CAN'T GET HURLERS
by FRANK @. MENKE
ften Il has been said.


Put Detroit uniform on any out
( fielder in the whole world and he'll at
| once hit for $50; put a Detroit uni
| form on any pitcher In the world and
| he promptly will pitch $50"
| There's much truth In that
Over sweep of Is years or so, De-
/ troit paid out about $500 and secured
+ four Of the greatest hitting outfielders
baseball ever has hown-Cobb, Craw-
/ ford, Veach and Heilman. And, in that
/ same sweep of time it has unshackled
| about S550,000 from its Golfers for
pitchers without happening a single
one worth much more than last years
! straw hat
In all baseball there's nothing quite
F.! so startling as Detroit's success in
| picking up outfeiders for a few hun
| dred dollars who almost Immediately
| become million dollar beauties"-nor
is there any mystery so battling as
Detroits inability to get star
moundsman.
/ If the club owners were niggardly
with the exchequer-if they refused
! to gamble heap of money on young
I pitchers worth-then the explanation
would be simple.
But exactly the reverse is true.
Send Out Scouts
! Detroit has sent its scouts over
every acre of baseball territory, year
| after year, with the Injunction:
} Get pitchers-and damn the cost"
I The scouts followed orders. They
! grabbed every youngster who looked
good-paid any price that was asked
Whenever they were forced to bid for
] pitcher, they remembered the injunc-
/ ton damn the cost'-and they bought
| that twirler.
And with high hopes the Tiger own
ers have sent these kids to training
camps each year. With even higher
! hopes they turned them over to wise
and veteran tutors for major league
! teaching
| But all in vain.
One by one-year after year-a hun
| dred OF them-two Misunderstanding
three hundred-have been found want
| ing. From 1905 on to 1921, the Tigers
! haven't brought to the fore a single
pitcher who ever could be ranked be-
! yond the ordinary.
And so, when one remembers that
pitching is Is per cent of a teams
| strength, 1t is easily understood whv
the Tigers have been floundering
around mainly in second division since
Donovan, Mullin. Summers, Killetts,
and other veterans of pennant winning
days passed beyond the horizon of
baseball.
| Missed remnants.
| It is the cinchiest cinch in the world
that If Detroit from 1910 to 1921 had
| been possessed of even a fair pitching
staff, it would have won about 80 per
cent of the pennants awarded since
/ that time. For Detroit through that
whole era has known for its own the
greatest hitting combination in base.
| ball.
If you'll slither back through the
record books you will find that the
! Tiger crews for a dozen years have
been almost consistently at the top
N the matter of runs scored and hits
made. Yet theye have won no flags
! simply because whenever they maced
opposition pitchers for a bundle of
runs, their own pitchers yielded just
! enough more to let the other tribe rip
! pie on to triumph.
In 1921 the Tigers finished the year
| with batting mark of .316-the high
| est average ever turned in by a major
/
tn ematter of runs scored; it possess
cd the champion clubber in Heilman,
! and the runner up with Cobb.
Yet that team-the hittingest one
| baseball ever has produced in modern
times-couId win but II out of its
| 153 games for an average of 464-and
! it landed woozy sixth in the standing
CT the clubs.
Made Desperate.
Made desperate by the lack of pitch
ers, Cobb served personally as a pinch
| hitting scout during the winter. He
| signed up everybody that looked good.
| Tigers have had at one time in many
years. 1t was his hope that out of
| that vast army he might find one or
| two singing jewels.
Has he-or hasn't he7
! He has uncovered two youngsters
| Stoner and PiIlette-who look a little
| better than the average. But whether
| they will stand the gaff and go on to
real pitching heights, or slip precip-
itately back to the bushes before mil
summer, as hundreds have done be-
| fore. remains to be seen.
| Meanwhile the Tigers nurse no pen
| from day to day, getting their joy out
of life by busting down fences, and
lconsoling themselves with the thought
| that:
Some day-maybe-weIl get a few
| pitchers. And then watch US co.
Copyright 1921 by King Features