Evening star., 1934-03-28
Grimm Matches Terry.

~ to the punch of its infield if
Travis Jackson can keep both
legs working and play shortstop reg
ularly. "Jax" is no better fielder
than They Can't Beat Us" Ryan, but
the Giants cannot toss away any hit
ting strength, so Travis gets the call,
of course. The Giant infield of Terry,
Critz, jackson and Vergez is a swanky
quartet, but the Cubs are far from
weak on the inside line.
Grimm, who seems able to play reg
ularly, is as good a defensive first
baseman as Terry Billy Herman. who
appears to have found his 1882 form
is capable at second and Jurges and
English round out a good defensive
unit. The Giant infield may outhit
the Cubs. but I'm not so sure about
that. At the most, you would not
give New York much Of a shade on
the infield.
Gus Mancuso is a better catcher
than Gabby Hartnett, but Augustus
may not fully recover from the ef-
fectS Of typhoid for several months
and until he again is in top form
the Cub catching will equal anything
the Giants can produce.
OF course, the Cubs have no Carl
Hubbell on their pitching staff. But
they do have Guy Bush, who won 20
games for an erratic ball club in 1888,
and who should be as good or better
with Chuck Klein hitting for his
side. The Giants can be given a long
start in pitching because of Eubbell
but it would not surprise me to see
Warneke, Ward, Malone, Joiner and
Lee come through quite as capably as
Parmalee. Fitzsimmons. Schumacher
and whatever else New York may
offer in the way Of pitching.
Reserves About Equal.
"HE Cubs are well fortified in the
matter of reserves "Dolph"
Camilli, the substitute first
baseman, is as capable fielder as
one could demand and while he has
not done much in the way of hitting,
he won't be asked to if Charlie
Grimm's lumbago takes a long vaca-
ton. When Camilli is needed, the
Cub defense won't suffer. Augie Ca
Ian, the recruit from San Francisco,
has shown himself at home both at
second and third and will hit as well
as Critz, according to the Cub fol-
lowers. English can play third or
short with equal facility, so the Cub
infield is we'll protected. For re-
serves the Giants have George
Grantham, Fresco Thompson and
Blondy Ryan, SO the Cubs are not
overpowered at that point.
Riggs Stephenson and Stainback will
start the season as the Cubs reserve
outfielders, and old Stevie is one Of
the best pinch hitters in the business
and still capable of playing regularly
If needed. New York has ODoul,
Peel and Leiber for utility duty in the
pastures, and of those three ODoul is
the most dangerous. So it's toss-up
between the clubs there. Should any
thing happen to Hartnett, the Cubs
would be in a bad way for first-class
catching, with Benny Tate and Babe
Phelps in reserve, but no worse than
the Giants without Mancuso.
The Cubs are likely to show just as
much spirit this Summer as the
Giants. The Wrigleys are good pay
masters, but unless the Cubs deliver a
pennant this season some of the boys
will be missing or on short rations in
1885. The Bruins realize that fact
and the few play boys on the team
are taking their business seriously. As
a team the Cubs shape up equally as
strong as the Giants, and think they
are going to do a first-class job of
hustling, which should insure a Kill
kenny fight in the National League.
still believe the Cubs will win. If they
fail, then the Giants will be better
team than in 1888 and Bill Terry a
greater manager than his strongest
admirers believe,