Evening star., 1938-03-24
NAT, HITTING .563,
BIG SCORING HELP
Al Feels He, Bonura, Rick
FerreI| Will Give Club
Right Power.
BY FRANCIS E. STAN,
Staff Correspondent Of The Star,

BY FRANCIS E. STAN.
stan Correspondent Of The Star.
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla, March
24.-No ball player in the American
League so heartily halls the coming
Of Zeke Bonura to the Mats as
Outfielder Al Simmons. The husky
Pole. probably the greatest right
handed hitter in history. touts Bonura
as one of the era's best matsmen.
Yet Simmons, supposedly on the
downgrade, seems to be girding his
loins for friendly duel with big
zeke. When you analyze the Wash
ington firms first five starts in the
grapefruit league there is only one Nat
who stands out He is Simmons, who
is sporting a fancy 563 batting aver
age.
The hitting of Aloysius has amazed
veteran baseball observers, who are
not used to watching AL bat in mid
season form so early. At the moment
he seems to be meeting the ball as
we'll as he ever did. In '16 trips to
the plate he has made nine hits, scored
four runs and driven across six. Not
even when Al was winning American
League batting titles with 1892 aver
ages did he excel in the spring.
Moriarty Predicts Big Year.
Umpire George Moriarty, one time
Tiger manager and now American
League umpire, is one diamond clini-
clan who is impressed by the tremen-
dous clouting of Simmons.
Mark my Words said Moriarty
yesterday at Orlando, Simmons is
going to have great year. l don't
mean he is just going to bat 300 He
is going to have a great year,
The arrival of Bonura. an event
which took place yesterday. meant
that Simmons would be dropped lower
in the batting order Al was due to
bat in the cleanup hole but now
Bonura will take over that spot and
Simmons will drop to the fifth hole.
Apparently Al doesn't mind. The
big fellow was slapping Bonura on
the back Yesterday and telling all how
much good he would do the ball club.
L played with Zeke for two years
with the White SoX," said Simmons.
Il know what good hitter he is.
He'll Go us lot of good. He'll give
us that right-handed punch we've
needed. If can keep going and
Rick Ferrell can hit his real stride
we'll have plenty of hitting on the
right side. Well give those handed
pitchers fits this year."
Stone to Be No. 3 Man.
The Griffs, here today to play Min
neapolis and try to break three-game
losing streak, may present a changed
batting order any day now. Although
he would not announce it officially,
Mane ger Bucky Harris called Johnny
Stone aside today ana told the big
outflelder that he would supolant
Buddy Myer as the No. 3 hitter.
Myer, when informed later, agreed
it was logical move, e pecially in
the spring" said Buddy. I've never
been able to hit in the spring of the
year. Stohey belongs there"
Spring or late summer, Stoney prob
ably will stay at No. 3. The new
Washington batting order, that which
will open the season on April 18.
will have Mel Almada leading off,
Lewis batting second, and With Stone.
Bonura, Simmons, Travis, Myer and
Rick Ferrell following. Meanwhile,
until Bonura gets in shape and this
new order goes into effect, the Mats
do not look as if they will win against
major league opposition. Beaten by
the Tigers last Sunday, 1870, and
trimmed again on Tuesday by the
Reds, 6-3, our side took another lacing
yesterday from Detroit. ga The
Griffs simply have neither the punch
nor the pitching.
Mats Blow, Tigers Win.
Harris got the pitching for the
first five innings, when Monte Weaver
was in the box. Against Schoolboy
Rowe and George Gill the Mats hoped
to a 40 lead.
Then Ray Phebus was inserted to
relieve Monte Weaver. OF him the
Tigers made three runs in the sixth
inning while Cletus Poffenberger was
stopping the Griffs cold. In the
ninth the Tigers showed across the
tying run on an error by Jimmy Was
dell and singles by Mark Christman
and Roy Cullenbine.
The Mats should have won in their
half Of the ninth. With one out they
filled the bases against Rookie Carl
Doyle, discarded Mackman. This
brought up Taft Wright, the hard
hitting rookie. but Taft only fouled
to Rudy York behind the plate. Then
Stone was tossed out by York, ending
the inning.
In the tenth Harris sent Joe Kohl
man to the box. Any day now Bucky
probably will send Kohlman to Char
lotte. Anyway, the Bengals jumped
all over Kohlman and scored five runs
in the extra inning to walk of with the
decision.