Evening star., 1938-07-01
.KELTNER IS LONE
CRACK |NF|ELDER
Garden Talent Is Ordinary,
but Club Is Gifted With
Battery Strength.
BY FRANCIS J. POWERS.

Special Correspondent Of The Star
CHICAGO, July 1.-The New York
Yankees used to say. "Wait until the
sun hits Cleveland" Well, so far it
has been a very cool season, and may
be the Indians won't have their Gus
tomary sunstrokes. AT any rate, the
Tribe will be high and dry in first
place on July 4. and the old aphorism,
"the team on top on Independence
day wins the championship" still has
a very good percentage
No one would rate Cleveland as a
great team. 1t has fine catching when
Rollie Hemsley follows rules of the
w. c. T. U. and 1t has excellent pitch
ing with Bob Feller and Johnny Allen
rating as pristine stars. On the infield
TroskV is only an ordinary fielder h first
base. 'O'Dell Hale is on the slow side
at second and Lynn Larry is an erratic
shortstop. Ken Keltner, the freshman
third baseman. is the only one on the
inner line to deserve a star rating In
the outfield Earl Averill has soft
throwing arm and Solters, Campbell
and Heath are no better than average
fly catchers.
Bouquet Tossed to Witt.
Still the Indians are up there, look
ing down on the Yankees. You can
credit Oscar Witt. the new manager,
with the Tribes lofty position. Witt is
smart tacticis/, a keen judge of
playing form and man who can cod
die Or lash as the situation demands.
That Hal Trosky is having a great
season at bat is attributable to Witt
Heretofore. Trosky was long swinger
and dead right field hitter. Witt
shortened the players swing, and he
has been poking the ball instead of
winding up for home run every time
at the plate. Result is that Trosky
has been hitting frequently to left
and safely more often to right and
right center than when giving it a
county fair cut.
Keltner has been the surprise of
the Cleveland team A Milwaukee boy.
he had only two years of professional
experience before reaching the majors,
and as kid played more softball than
regulation baseball Witt wasn't at all
certain the youngster could make the
grade during early spring training. but
he was a fixture when the Tribe start
ed north out of New Orleans.
Keltner not only has fielded bril-
liantly but leads the tream in home
runs and has tidy 800 average. When
Kelner established a quick claim to
third base, Witt was able to shift Hale
to second and solve problem that had
troubled the team for several seasons.
Witt Harnesses Hemsley. go.
Witt has succeeded in handling Rol-
licking Rollie Hemsley and Hemsley is
handling Bob Feller better than he
ever was caught before. Confidence
in Hemsley has improved the young
sters control and all around perform
ance and he is almost certain to win
20 or more games this season. Johnny
Allen, a flrebrand with the Yankees,
continues to pitch sensationally and
the phlegmatic Averill is having the
best season of his career at bat.
This fellow Witt, who was allowed to
remain in the minors entirely too
long, seems to have what it takes to
be successful manager. As Witt
keeps the Indians ahead of the AM
erican League parade, Ty Cobb is one
fellow who can say, Il told you So"
Cobb saw Witt operate in the Pacific
Coast League and predicted his old
mate of Tiger days would be a success
in the big show.
The Indians no longer suffer a COM
plete collapse when playing on the
Eastern front, as was the custom for
many seasons, and they are more than
holding their own against New York.
The Yankees ultimately may beat out
Cleveland but they no longer can
rely on the summer sun to break the
Indians March. If Cleveland is halted,
New York will have to do the job with
bats and strong pitching.