The Washington times., 1936-05-18
ewBaCkstop
Is Surprise
Package
BY FRANK BUCK" o,NEILL


that emergencies do not develop
men, but merely discover them.
Take for example the cases Of
Walt Miles, catcher; Red Kress,
second baseman and Buddy
Lewis, third baseman. In the
case Of Kress it may be said
that this is something Of q re-
discovery.
Well, all right, no rebuttal is
offered. Discovery or re-diScovery
as the case may be, Kress is
doing about everything you could
ask Of a ball player. Miles is
doing the same.
Lewis presents a somewhat
different case, but really an
emergency discovered him. The
Griffs were in dire need of
young third baseman and he
filled the bill.
Miles is the most surprising
development of the trio. He was
bought this spring when PreSi-
dent Clark c. Griffith decided
that Bolton might need a reliable
relief catcher. Miles reported,
but his early work was nothing
to inspire over-confidence. He
could receive, but his batting
form was not too good.
Hits Hard
In Chicago a few days ago Boil
ton was injured and Miles rushed
into action. In the mines inning
with the bases loaded he missed
a triple by inches and finally
struck out. But it whaS been diff.
ferent for the last three days. In
st. Louis he made six hits in nine
times at bat and yesterday made
two in four trips to the plate to
bring his average to SIS.
"Tf he doesn't get hurt, I'll
never get back in the game" said
Bolton this morning.
Kress, the flame-haired veteran,
goes blithely along hitting the ball
with might and main and paying
no attention to Myer, beyond al
ways passing the time of day with
the erStwhile batting king. Of
course Myer will be back in the
lineup pretty soon. But you can't
get KresS out Of there while he's
blasting down fences. He got a
long home run yesterday and q long
single.
You know the story Of Lewis.
He is the toast Of veteran ball
players who have seen him in
action. It would surprise no one
if Lewis were picked on the Ameri'
can League aIlStar team.
You can't say that Jess Hill is
lacking in courtesy. No sir. The
left fielder stepped over to a box
in the ninth inning and thanked
a fan for interfering with Geh-
ringers blast to the left field
fence. It stopped a run for the
time being.
If the Griffs keep on playing
the Tigers very much longer there
won't be any Detroit team left.
Powell broke Greenberg'S wrist
and hurt Mickey Cochrane. This
afternoon Russell split Lawson's
finger with a line drive.
Linke Fails
There was nothing the matter
with the Griff attack. But 1t so
happened that Linke couldn't stop
the Tigers, and the Griffs could
score only one run In their haH
Of the ninth inning.
Pete Appleton will go against
the Tigers today. Crowder will
pitch for Detroit. Buck NewSom
is in line for duty tomorrow when
the series closes here and the
GriffS fit across the lake to battle
the Indians in their own wigwam.
| Buddy Lewis has learned a lot
in his short major league career.
He broke up what looked like a
certain double play with a slide
that threatened to carry Charley
Gehringer right out into left field"
Even the American League UNI
pireS are talking about d Mag
gio's great arm. There Is little
doubt that he is the kingpin IN
that branch Of play.
Consider the breaks Of baseball.
Buddy Myer, batting king Of 1888,
is on the bench cheering for Red
KresS as the "Cinderella-man"
blasts down fences. Red got q
home run and the longest single
of the day. His drive hit the
fence, but he was out trying Tor
a double.
Bucky Harris is scanning the
averages Of the Southern Associa:.
ton. There are a couple OF
pitchers down there who nave
shown something more than aver
age ability.
Powell hit the left field fence
for a single, way out yonoer.
Goose Goslin cut down an extra
base on the drive.
AL Simons cracked a home run
: just to show that he still packs q
lot of power in his wing. HIS
: blow came in the first inning Win
! Gne1iVa ~ FiYsck hasa