Evening star., 1935-08-19
BY staff Correspondent of The Star.

- ~LEVELAND, August 19-Young
4 Sammy Holbrook has been in
I professional base ball too short
~ a time for Judgment to be
passed on his catching future, but
one thing is certain-Clif Bolton is
being missed sorely by the Nationals.
AS catcher Bolton probably never
really was appreciated by Capital fan
dom, nor even by his teammates per-
haps. But since he suffered a broken
finger here in the opening game of
the Indian series it Is becoming in
creasingly apparent that his shoes are
too big for Holbrook to fill at the
present time.
Earlier in the season Holbrook won
Manager Bucky Harris regard when
he went on batting spree and then
caught few good games behind the
plate. So we'll did he stack up, as a
matter of fact, that Bucky considered
alternating the right-handed hitting
Holbrook and the southpaw-swinging
Bolton.
Then. apparently the pace Of major
league pitching became too hot for
Sammy. Now, sole heir to Bottoms
job for at least month. Holbrook is
struggling with the stick and the
Griffs are feeling keenly Cliffs absence.
When he tapped a cheap hit to
Sammy Hale in yesterdays night-cap
Holbrook made his first safety in 8
games, or II times at bat. In his last
IA games Sam has batted 80 times and
made only hits for an average
of 091. He batted in one run over
this stretch and struck out eight times.
To end the ninth inning Of yester-
days opener Sammy famed on three
pitched balls with the bases loaded
and the score tied.
Behind the bat there are many
rough edges to be filed of. His throw
ing is erratic and Holbrook has yet
to learn the various weaknesses of the
American League hitters. Still, while
the Griffs may feel Bottoms loss now,
youngSter must get experience some
time and it's just as well Holbrook's
opportunity Is at time when there
is very little to lose.
WHILE Buddy Myer and Joe Vosmik,
who were running one-two for
the American League batting leader
ship when the Griffs opened their
series with the Tribe, have been
scrapping here a couple of gents
named Roger Cramer and Hank
Greenberg have stepped into the
battle.
Vosmik won the first two rounds of
his battle with Myer last Saturday,
but Buddy came back yesterday to
even their squabble by getting three
hits in eight trips to maintain. his
.345 average.
Vosmik made only one safety In
nine tries and dropped from BAT and
the lead to .342, putting him fourth
behind Cramer of the AS and Green
berg of the Tigers.
ITS hard to figure Cleveland fandom
A crowd of 10000 cash customers
turned out for yesterdays double
header, which would evidence consid-
cradle interest in the Indians. Yet in
the opener when Linke had thrown
three straight balls to Hal Trosky.
fan yelled: Jaw, c'mon and hit, va
big bum. Whatya waitin' for?"
And very sentimental taxi driver
en- route to the park called back to his
fares:
"Y'know. I'm glad they got old WAL
ter johnson out. I went out to a game
this Summer and that Vosmik fella
hit a home run. And do va know,
johnson didn't even come out Of the
dugout and shake hands with him as
he crossed the plate?"
There will be rumors and more
rumors this Winter about next years
Cleveland manager, but here's a tip
that's almost good for q nickel bet:
The Indians boss in 1886 will be the
gent who is managing them now
Steve O'Neill.
IN THE event of injury to Sam Hol-
brook, lone Washington catcher,
Johnny Stone. Jake Powell and Alan
Strange have volunteered to 60 behind
the bat :. incidentally, Handsome
Fitzgerald, a Washington sandlotter,
who has been catching in batting
practice for the last few years, re-
ported yesterday for bullpen duty.
Trosky pulled colossal boner in
yesterdays opener and it cost Mel
Harder the victory =. He singled to
open the sixth and raced to third on
Hale's one-baser, which Stone fum-