The Washington times., 1935-09-13

LESS d11u LuG Td1u COmD1ueO WI
Half a dozen games are all too
few in which to judge the true
ability OF a young ball player
from a Class B league.
Time may uncover a score of
faults which will make it impos-
Sible for him to go on playing in
the major leagues. He is bad on
buntS, We know, and he lacks
that burnish of some of the
greater third basemen. To argue
against those statements is i'm
possible. But with each succeed
ing day improvements are noted
in his play.
Smile For Everyone
He has a wide smile for every
one and the Griffs swear by him.
He is their avatar in home
spuns. The fans have adopted
him. He's Cubic" to the bleach
ers, and the bleachers don't dab
nicknames on players unless they
like them. They have to like
Roberto, crude as he is, for the
kids a riot of color.
Throwback to the old days he
IS, indeed. Maybe he won't
field every ball that rings off a
bat into his zone. Perhaps he
won't even field those he gets to
cleanly. That matters little to
him. He will get in front of a
ball and knock it down with his
chest or his arms or his legs.
Bruises may cover him; knots
may be raised on his body, but
let him get his hands on the
ball, and that siege gun of an
arm will NOV down any runner
in the American League.
Estallella made two plays yes
terday that were brilliants. Both
were on Vosmik. The greater of
the two came in the sixth inning.
Vosmik smashed a terrific liner to-
ward left. "Cubie" knocked the
ball down, wheeled and recovered.
Vosmik was only three jumps from
first base. He might as well have
been in Rome. Estallella threw
him out by a step. One fan
roared when Estallella recovered
the ball:
"Joe, you're a dead Duck"
And he was.
Becomes 300 Hitter
The kid is now a 300 hitter.
He doubled in the seventh inning
and scored when Kress popped to
Hughes who ran into short right
field to make the catch. Cubic saw
like a flash that Hughes couldn't
possibly make a throw, and he
was off with what speed he has.
That isn't too much, it may be
said in passing.
His hit gave the Cauban a per-
feet day at the bat. On three other
occasions he walked. And now we
will go back into history for just
a minute. Back in 1887 when a
base on balls counted as hit,
and the batter had a right to de-
mand that a high or low ball be
pitched, j. E. Tip" O'Neill, of
the st. Louis Browns compiled an
average of .492, tops for the game.
If bases on balls counted as hits
this morning Estallella would be
hitting a cool 500.
Officially Cubic has been at the
plate 20 times and made 6 hits,
including two doubles He has
walked eight times. So altogether
he has actually faced pitching 28
times and reached first base IA
times.
Buddy Lewis, Johnny Mihalic
and those other kids who are
up from the Chattanooga Look
outs hail from a Glass A wheel
and should have polish. Both
Lewis and Mihalic will be tried
at shortStop first.
"EStaIlella is going to play
third until he shows me that
he can't play there" Harris
said this morning. "Cubie is
willing and he has one of the
greatest arms in baseball. He
can knock down a ball and
still get a fast man where
some fielder with greater
polish would fail. He's
dangerous at the plate and
thinks he can hit any pitcher
who ever lived"