The Washington times., 1936-05-01
Injury Jnx
Catches
Tigers
By KIRK MILLER
Times Sports Editor

! COuIQ not endure.
! The American League team
which had encountered no
major injuries over two regu-
lar championship seasons, after
all is heir to the common ills
Of mankind and athletic ma
chimes. Hank Greenberg and
. Mickey Cochrane are today ex.
hibits A and B to substantiate
such an observation.
81 Throughout the season Of 1888,
1.-THE playing year in which Wash
ington hit a new high for whole
sale injuries and illnesses which
completely collapsed a team that
otherwise had q lot Of good ear.
marks, Detroit, with almost the
same team which Bucky Harris
had found inadequate, rushed on
to a league championship-albeit
defeat in its quest for the world
title.
Called a Lucky Team
That season Detroit was
branded by the scribes, Pharasees
and soothsayerS as lucky ball
club. They were romping through
the schedule without even so much
! TaS a hangnail. It couldn't keep up.
they predicted, as the flag days Of
I the campaign approached, but
| their well being DID obtain right
down to and through the world
serieS, that memorable set OF
\ games which saw Dizzy Dean
utilized as a substitute runner and
the recipient of a blow on the konk
8 as the result of fia' - :
! he was running to second in st.
Louis.
Even the Cardinals that year,
then, were overcoming mo"''o'n
which might have laid low any
other horde.
Dean shook off the accident and
took his next turn in the box,
thereby saving Frankie Frisch
from a mountain Of criticism
which surely would have been
Forthcoming had the untoward
incident resulted in Deans being
lost for the series.
Tigers Quite Intact
Meanwhile the Tigers were stay.
ing on their feet to a man, al
though a lot of us don't know yet
what kept Mickey Cochrane up as
he staggered through the final
games with spike wounds and body
abrasionS encountered in the hard
game he was playing behind the
plate.
Winter passed and the season Of
1885 commenced. The forecaSterS
were saying a year ago right now
that the Tigers were pressing their
luck. They were predicting that
somebody was gong to fall by the
waySide in one Of the many hard
fought games that the season held.
The injury jinx must be lurking
y somewhere under the stands or in
the dugoutS-but nay, the BengalS
finished the season well in front
of all competition and entered
their second successive world Sc
rieS as whole as the Bank Of
England. Two straight seasons
had passed without what might be
termed a really major casualty.
GambIed and Won
But misfortune's ugly head DID
appear in the Tiger ranks almost
as soon as the 1885 world series
was under way. Hank Greenberg
was the victim and spent most
of the series on the sidelines.
However, the inspired Tigers,
with Third Baseman Marvin
Owen on first and Herman Clifton
on third, went on through the
autumnal classic to the towns
first worlds baseball title. Coch.
rane could gamble in that short
remaining span on makeShifts. He
did, and he won.
And so, the current season
started some two weeks ago. After
q long winters rest which was pro-
1onged by a holdout campaign on
his part, Hank Greenberg, quite
sound from his misfortune Of last
october, reported for duty.
Law of Averages
Two weeks and i day after his
first paid 1886 performance, the
law Of averages got in its whack at
HankuS Pankus. It operated again
yesterday against Mike Cochrane,
catcher and manager.
In the second game with the
Griffmen, Hank stuck his hand
out to take a throw on Powell
from Owen, and instead Of stop
ping the toss with his glove. he
stopped it with his wrist and his
great string Of good fortune was
snapped.
In the third game with the
Griffs, Cochrane was lead limping
from behind the plate with bad
" bruised instep after the same
Powell came crashing home.
The law IF averages my friends,
Is q great factor in baseball.
Whether it operates on hits, runs
batted in, earned runs or trips 70
the infirmary, the law Of averages
is one thing you can't beat in base
ball.
You may beat it for awhile,
sometimes for long, long while,
as in the case of the Tigers, but
it'll catch up with you in the long
run.
Eth Hank!
Eth Mike