Evening star., 1938-05-18
TRIBE AND TIGERS
ALSO AFTER HELP
West Sees Chance to Nail
'Yanks as Disc0rd Hits
Champs Ranks.
BY FRANCIS E. STAN,
Stan Correspondent Of The Star.

BY FRANCIS E. STAN.
Stan Correspondent OF The Star.
DETROIT, May 18.-Yankee fans
have been booing Joe Di Maggie and
ta1s tip Is out that Giuseppe is popular
no longer with his teammates. The
champions are weakened at second
base, claim the experts, and Lefty
Gomez and Iron Horse Gehrig are
OH to bad starts.
But out here, where the West begins,
the baseball mob again is calling New
York the team to beat in this years
American League race and it follows
that plans are afoot to beat the YAM
KEGS. This involves, Of course, some
trades. Rumors are spreading thick
and fast in these inland way stations.
This condition, naturally. interests
Manager Bucky Harris of the Ma
tionals. If there is any trading going
on, Bucky wants to know about II.
For three weeks his Senators led the
league and people began to say they
had an outside chance to win the
pennant. forgetting that the heart of
a winning ball club is the pitching
staff
Bucky's staff. in five dismal, dolor-
Gus days. has cracked up. His
cinderella pitchers who were so
sensational in those balmy early weeks
of the campaign have stopped fooling
the hitters. Of what they have shown
in losing four straight games it might
be safe to say the clock has struck
midnight for the cinderella men,"
Harris Needs Another Pitcher.
Here in Detroit the Tigers are search
ing for pitcher. Detroit has one OF
the two best infields in the American
League and Washington has the other.
But the Tigers Tommy Bridges has
not shown anything and Schoolboy
Rove remains on the doubtful list.
Mickey Cochrane was fortunate in
making that trade for Vernon Ken
nedy. who has won S of Detroit's
10 games so far, but he still lacks the
pitching necessary to combat the YAM
KEGS. Cleveland, the only other West
ern club with a chance of beating out
the Yankees. needs an infielder and
an outfelder.
Harris, of course. needs pitching and
he could stand righthanded hitting
outfielder. preferably young. Bucky is
h,,t ho ic q
league waiver lists and sitting the ru-
mors carefully Washington definitely
must be considered among the clubs
planning to make deal before the
trade deadline on June Is.
Griffs Have Little to Trade.
The latest report is that Bucky is
trying to make a deal for Wesley
Ferrell. If this is true Harris has
given no indication. But the Tigers
are supposed to be mildly interested
and II Wesley is to be traded it is
cinch that Harris will demand a pitch
er and an outflelder in exchange.
It II with the Indians that Bucky
and Owner Clark Griffith would like
10 make trade. Cleveland has the
best pitching staff in the American
League, with Johnny Allen, Bob Feller
and Mel Harder presiding. But the
Senators haven't got what the Indians
want. which is an infielder, to trade.
Washington has a fine infield but
Messrs. Zeke Bonura, Cecil Travis and
Buddy Lewis are not for sale or trade.
If it involved getting good pitcher
like Harder, Griffith might be per-
suaded to trade Buddy Myer, but this
is only speculation stuff.
The sad, sad story behind these
trade rumors is that Washington has
nothing to offer and that when the
real dealing comes off. the Boston
Red Sox and the Cleveland Indians
probably will profit. The Indians
would like to have Eric McNair on
second base or at shortstop and the
Red Sox would like to have Harder.
A trade of this sort has been dis
cussed since last December and it
isn't exactly cold now.
Rain Break for Mats.
Meanwhile, Harris tail-spinning
ball club was to wind up its stand in
Detroit today and head for Cleveland
for another series scheduled for three
games. This is like hopping from the
frying pan into the fire. At the
moment the Indians are the best
ball club in the West and in their
own ball yard they are invariably
hard to beat, regardless of their
standing in the race.
The Mats got a break yesterday
when the second game of the Detroit
series was rained out Harris pitch
Ing staff has been sosely tried of late
and the first postponement of the
season may have helped the situation.
If the weather was clear Jimmy De
Shong was to pitch the Tiger finals
today.
The Cleveland opener probably will
find Wes Ferrell or Elon Hogsett in
the box for the Mats. Each has been
fairly successful against the Indians
in the past, or, it should be said, each
should be fairly successful. Hogsett,
a left-hander with the kind of a
motion calculated to bother the south
paw swingers of the Tribe. lost seven
out of eight decisions to the Indians
last year when he was with the
Browns.