The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1936-02-18

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szA7gszxM Louis. Chicago or
Philadelphia may
Williams pull surprise"
But on the mat
ter of the championship itself, Mr.
Cronin, as you will note, is a forth
right, fearless prophet. He also pre-
diets that some time between July
and September, weather permitting,
there will be heat wave in the
Middle West
At that the chances are Mr..
Cronin will have been proved sub
stantially correct when the baseball
returns are tabulated next fall. The
winning number surely will be fur
nished by one of the first four
named teams. Most of the critics
seem to think the race lies between
the Tigers and the Red Sox. The
betting men have established the
Tigers as favorites to make it three
In a row, aided and abetted. one
might add, by Mr.. Schoolboy Rowe
himself.
Playing 1t Safe
Mr.. Cronin has elected to play it
safe by including the YankS and
the Cleveland Indians as serious
contenders, and to play it doubly
safe by refusing to pick winner.
The affable young man may be
honestly puzzled or he may be side
stepping difficult assignment for
diplomatic reasons, It's hard to tell
from this distance, especially with
all those intervening mountains
blocking the view.
Well, reading between the lines
in the Cronin document of astound-
ing disclosures, you sort of get the
notion the young man agrees with
the betting men that the Tigers
are the team to beat. He is OBJ
viously impressed with the added
strength AL Simmons promises to
give the champions.
The Tigers won two champion
ships with bad outfields,' writes
Mr.. Cronin. 1T would be silly to
try to discount the value Simmons
presence will make in their out
field next summer. note Simmons
has been in the South for weeks
conditioning himself. I'm afraid
this means he will have one whale
of a year."
That Master Stroke"
1t Is the opinion of Mr.. Cronin
that the Tigers executed a master
stroke" when they bought Simmons
and thus kept the Yankees from
getting him." He seems to imply
the Yankees were after the former
White Sox outfielder but were out
r1aneuvered by Mickey Cochrane.
.. Anyway, Simmons will help
the Tigers a lot and on paper they
are the one team that doesn't need
help"
The outspoken Mr.. Cronin doesn't
have much to say of a revealing
character about either the Yanks
or the Indians s.yond intimating
cautiously that both teams are
members of the American League,
the players wear shoes and eatwith
knives and forks, and both parks
are securely fenced in. About his
own Red SoX he is a trifie more
voluble, though scarcely an out and
out chatter box
II can't say whether we will start
rolling this year or not, but when
we do start we should go along for
some time. BY that / mean we are
getting together a powerful ball
club, laying the groundwork for
profitable future. and If we get up
there we may stay there for several
seasons.
Naturally We figure to be stronger
this year than We were last. Fell
lows like FoxX, Cramer, Manush and
Marcum just must help your ball
club Whether they will help enough
10 put us on top is something else.
It so happens however that pitch
ing is che of our problems"
No Worry Over Veterans
The Red Sox had two pitchers
last year, Lefty Grove and wesley
Terrell. a couple of rejuvenated
come hackers. Grove has been
LIlIOWlIlS bildt LII DdAA VI Allo AOl
sixteen years. and, like initiation, Is
no longer a kid. Ferrell's arm went
back on him so far couple of
years ago he quit pitching and tried
to become an outfielder. Yet both
men had great seasons last year.
Can they do it again?
Mr.. Cronin indicates he isn't at
all worried about Grove or Ferrell.
He seems to think they will pick
I'D where they left Off and again
set the pace for the staff. They are
going to need help" admits the Red
Sox manager, land If Marcum,
WEIGH and Osteimueller can give
it to them, our staff will be good
enough"
With respect to his pitching. his
would seem to place Mr.. Cronin in
the position of a man drawing three
cards in game where he knows he
needs full house to get anywhere;
but at least he has the consolation
of knowing it can be done even il