Evening star., 1932-06-18
HIGH TRIBUTE PAID
y GR|FFS' |NF|ELDER
Detroit Critic Asserts Joe
"Makes or Breaks, the
Washington Team.
BY JOHN b. KELLER.

~ ETRO1T, June IL. - A
prophet goes without
IL honor in his own land as
the Good Book tells us no
more than a fine base ball player
in his own city.
Thoughtless Capital fans booed
Joe Cronin not so long ago in
Griffith Stadium, but out this
way as we'll as in the Eastern sec
tor Of the American League out
side of Washington, they regard
the Nationals shortstop as one of
the games greatest.
About the finest tribute to the Wash
1ngton clubs brilliant player that has
come to our attention was written here
by Henry Salsinger, sports scribe of
renown, after seeing the Nationals with
Cronin in the lineup for the first time
In nearly two weeks undergo a startling
form reversal following a period Of de-
preston in which eight of a dozen tiltS
were lost.
For the benefit of Washington ad-
mirers of Joe Cronin in particular and
Capital fandom in general, Salsinger's S
words are given here:
s'1'HE presence Of one ball player
L can make a team and the ab-
sence of the same player can
break team. Washington without Joe
Cronin is a weak-looking ball club,
lacking defensive strength, lacking
luSter, lacking punch at bat. Wash
1ngton, with Joe Cronin in the lineup
Is an altogether different team.
ON one occasion We were talking to
q famous foot ball coach, who told us,
during a discussion Of a certain in
dividual player, He's not a great ball
carrier and he's not a good defensive
player. He blocks Intellectually. if at
all, and he Is weak tackler. He can
not forward pass and he cannot punt
or drop-kick or place-kick, but he could
play on any foot ball team that I ever
coached because he has the ability to
bring team to its highest pitch of
while he is in the lineup his team
plays its best foot ball He is the spark
plug of his eleven and every good team
must have spark plug, bell COW,
natural leader
Joe Cronin is that to Washington.
With Cronin in the lineup Washing
ton comes to high pitch of achieve
ment. The team travels at its fastest
pace. 1t looks different on offense and
defense.
"A number of men reach the head
lines because of mechanical skill, but
Cronin goes beyond the headlines; he
has that which the headlines miss
Besides mechanical ability he has mag
netism. He carries the qualities that
win ball games, but that cannot be fig
ured in the percentage table. He is
one Of the magnificent competitors of
sport, one of the spark plugs of base
ball, a bell cow roaming the playing
pastures of the American League"
IT'S about time for the Washington
i ball club to step out and do some
thing for itself if it would carry
on in this American League hurly-burly.
Although still in a second-place dead
lock with the Athletics and just seven
games behind the pace-setting Yankees,
the Nationals for month have played
worse than any club in the circuit
excepting the Red Sox.
Up to May Is the Nationals had won
19 games and lost S. Then they ran
into the St. Louis hoodoo and-blooie
Over the stretch starting May IS Man.
ager Walter Johnson's charges have
been bumped 20 times in "a tussles. For
"a days they have performed at only
.412 pace.
Over the same stretch the Yankees have
come along with a rush. They have
played at a .686 pace winning "a games
while losing IL. No wonder they have
surged to the head Of the league.
That dark-horse outfit, the Browns,
has been moving at fast pace, too,
since 1t ran into the Nationals in
Washington on June IS. Bill Killefer's
crew has won 13 of its last % engage
ments. That's moving along at 643
rate.
The AS also have been hitting on
ell eight in the period starting May
Is. They have won % of their last
IS games to come from nowhere to
a second-place tie with the Nationals.
Over the same stretch the Tigers
have broken even. while the Indians
have been skidding about perilously at
a 433 pace with 13 wins and IT
defeats.
Even the fuzzy White Sox have Jared
better than the Nationals End the
Indians in the past month. This seventh
place club has won Is games and
lost 10, which gives 1t winning
percentage OF ASS for the string.
It's well that the Nationals got such
a head start on the others in the early
campaigning. Otherwise they'd be IN
the depths now. AS it is they'll soon
be there unless some mighty bracing
Is done-and done quickly.