Evening star., 1938-03-03
FEW LIKELY STARS
ARE THRUST ASIDE
Cases of Pennock, Simmons
Show Great ShreWdnesS
in Picking Talent.
By GRANTLAND RICE,

California has the Cubs, White
Sox and Pirates. Florida has most of
the others-but they all have the
same job. viz, locating younger tai
ent. Only lucky few will survive.
AS Bill Kirk once wrote when a IA
natic asked him where all the star
rockies We're by April
Back to the Michigan hemlocks-
Back to the pines of Maine
Back to the bush that sent them,
Wearing look of pain.
Back to the plows and tractors,
Back to the sod they love
They bounce away from the big
league play
AS spitballs bounce from glove"
Some of them come up with the
wrong club where there's no spot
open. Others run into tough train
ing luck. John McGraw probably
turned back or traded more good ball
players than any other manager. He
made his mistakes-like any other
manager.
But in most cases McGraw simply
didn't think a cast-of player could fit
snugly into his plans, or else he had no
room for him. In the case of the lat
ter he would let him 60 and buy him
back when he needed him. Eddie
Roush, Buck Herzog, Henie Groh-
these were a few of the outstanding
ball players whom McGraw had in his
mitt and tossed away but went out
and got back when he could use them.
He knew how good they were when he
first had them. He just didn't have
any place to put them-or could use
them to get some one he needed more
at the moment.
Greenberg Shows Wisdom.
Actually it would be difficult for a
manager-or even bystander-to
miss really great ball player when
He may have certain cruditieS in his
style that can be worn off only by
experience. But his natural speed and
power stick out all over him.
Ross Young at Marlin - Travis
Jackson at San Antonio-Freddy
Lindstrom at SaraSota-Lou Gehrig
at New Orleans-Bill Dickey at st.
Petersburg-these were ball players
right from scratch. And, more recent
ly, Joe Di Maggie. Here was one ball
player who came up with unanimous
vote on the part of anybody who had
ever seen him play on the Coast. And
the day he showed at ST. Petersburg
there was no doubt in the minds of the
onlookers that everybody who had
seen him on the Coast had been right
about him.
1t happened that all these players
could be used right away o. within a
year or SO. But suppose, for instance,
that Hank Greenberg had come up
with the Yankees-Which very nearly
happened. 1t was cinch, right from
the time Hank began to clout his way
into prominence on the New York
semi-pro fields, that he couldn't miss
being a big league ball player some
day
But if he had come up with the
Yankees, what would they have done
with him? Put him in the outfield?
Possibly. Or traded him off? More
likely. In either case, big league
first baseman would have been lost
in the shuttle. Fortunately, Greenberg
solved the problem himself by reject
ing the Yankees offer and signing
with the Tigers, because he knew there
was no chance for him to dislodge
Gehrig.
Pennock, Simmons Fooled EN-.
There are. of course, exceptions to
the rule that anybody can spot a
great ball player the first time he
shows. Sometimes a manager is
laughed at for his faith in busher
that nobody else can see. They told
Ed Barrow, then managing the Red
Sox, that that wild young left-hander
never would make good. But he did.
His name was Herb Pennock-and |
Pennock would have quit on himself |
If Barrow hadn't refused to quit on |
him.
At the Athletics training camp, one |
spring, the ball players laughed at a
recruit outfielder who stood at the |
plate with one foot in the bucket. |
Some of the players, feeling sorry for
him, wanted to change his style. But |
Connie Mack told them to let the kid |
alone, because he had hit all right |
that way in the minors and he might |
hit that way in the majors, too. The
kids name was Al Simmons.
George Kelly was gangling, awk-
ward obbledehoy-neither mar nor
boy-when he came to the Giants, and
McGraw worked over him for four
years while everybody else snickered
at him. But McGraw refused to give
up on him, no matter how many times
he was assured by the raucous voice
Of the bleacher gods or the printed
word of the scribes that Kelly wouldn't
do. He stuck to kelly-and Kelly,
fred by McGraw's confidence in him.
became one of the best first basemen
the Giants ever had
Managers Not Prejudiced.
More than once have heard ball
player beef that he was turned down
by manager who didn't like him,
and, therefore, wouldn't give him
chance. I never believed it. Because
manager needs ball players, and,
whether he likes a recruit or not, he
Is going to give him every chance in
the world to make good, simply as
natter of self-protection.
He can make mistake on a recruit.
.ie can be guilty of inattention in a
given case, because he has too many
recruits to look over at once. But
ne isn't going to turn anybody away
that can help him-just because he
doesn't like the young man person.
ally.
And as proof of it. never heard a
oeef like that except from fellow
who was having hard time clinging
to a Job in the minor leagues.
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