Evening star., 1938-03-14
SCHOO[BOY ROWE
APPARENTLY DONE
With Arm Still Sore Tigers
Pennant Hopes Due
to Be Shattered.
BY PAUL NICHOLSON,
Associated Press Sports Writer.

HonoSAACeO IiCSS opOl u WIjbST.
LAKELAND, Fla. March IA
Schoolboy Rowe has his bobber up
and his heart set on a pitching come
back with the Detroit Tigers that will
crash the New York Yankees from
their pinnacle Of baseball greatness,
but the tragedy of an ailing arm
still plaques him.
What's the use of fooling the pub
lie? The big fellow. who lugged the
Detroit Tigers on his back to two
straight pennants. holds the answer
to the Tiger pennant hopes, and the
answer is mo" At the age of 26. the
beginning of baseball stars prime
of life. the Schoolboy is as washed
up as Cy Young or old Pete Alexander.
His is one of the greatest tragedies
in all baseball history.
The Schoolboy is a grander man
than ever this March as he labors
to come back. Instead of the hope
less pessimist he once was, he is smil-
ing through. He knows the futility
Of his hopes as we'll as Mickey Coch-
rane or Trainer Denny Carroll. He
even tries to conceal his true condi-
ton from manager. trainer and him.
self. but the seemingly inevitable is
there. His arms pains him after a
short workout and the walnut-size
knot in his shoulder refuses to let him
break loose with his once magnificent
sweeping pitches that made him one
Of the greatest pitchers OF them all.
Trainer FOretold Trouble.
Il throw until feel my arm is
getting sore again and then quit. -
explains the Schoolboy. as those who
have been with him through baseball
greatness and despair listen and want
to cry. Il feel great, great all over.
but that hitch in my arm still bothers
me. But / know it'll 60 away after
few more workouts and then I'll be
all set"
Trainer Carroll. the man who pre-
dicted the tragedy three years before
it happened. mods encouraging assent,
but he knows that he. like every one
else. hopes he's wrong.
Without Rowe, 1t is hard to figure
the Tigers any better than they were
last year. Most observers. in fact.
agree the team was better Oh with
Outfield Gerald Walkers punch at the
plate than they will be with Vernon
Kennedy's pitching-that Cochrane
will rue the December day he traded
the hard-belting outfielder for the
White Sox pitcher who goes in for
automobile trailers.
Actually. the terrific punch of the
Tigers is the most overrated product
in Florida. They have only three
real hitters-Charley Gehringer. Hank
Greerbsrg and Rudy York-and only
one 300 hitter in the outf1eld-Pete
Fox. hardly enough to scare "Two-gun
Lou" Gehrig and his high-riding
Yankee mates The left side of the
infield should be fast. but as weak at
the plate as a glass of grape juice.
Kennedy in Tough Spot.
Barring unlooked-for or almost SEN
sational progress. Mickey is bound to
suffer something like l54-game
headache with his pitching staff. The
staff rates to consist of Kennedy. Ell
den Auker. Tommy Bridges, Roxie
Lawson and Cletus Poffenberger. sub
stantially the same that finished sew
enth last season. On the earned-run
basis. Kennedy and Lawson finished
strong going the other way in 81,
Kennedy finishing forty-eighth and
Lawson fiftieth. and II Kennedy
doesn't get started early. you can feel
sorry for him. as the Tiger fans, en-
ragged because their pet, Walker, was
traded. will make life miserable for
the former White Sox performer.
The Tiger management seems to be
the lamb of the maior-minor league
pitching market. anyway. Last year,
for instance, Connie Mack traded Bill
Doyle, Alton Benton and two others
to Memphis for Pitchers Lynn Nelson,
National League cast-off, of all
things. Nelson won four games for
Connie. And yet, the Tigers turned
right into the market and purchased
Doyle and Benton on the theory they
had what it takes to make cham
pionship team.
The 1898 Tigers? Nope, not yet.