Evening star., 1938-07-09
BOTH MUST MISS
. FRAGILE AGE J|NX
Deans and Rowe Examples
of How Careers Are
Being Blasted.
BY GRANTLAND RICE.


NEW YORK, July eff young
Johnny Wander Nicer isn't the best
looking kid pitcher the game has seen
in many years, he at least will be good
for an argument along this line. At
least no young pitcher ever came to
quicker or more spectacular fame. His
two no-hitters in row were enough
to lift him over the pick of the firing
line.
His seasons average proves he is no
part of a morning glory, and then
came his work against the heavy artil-
lery Of the American League in the
Cincinnati show. Here was the clos
ing answer for kid carrying the
burden of the noisy ballyhoo into the
no-man's land Of trouble.
Back around 1891, another kid blew
into action from Paoli, Ohio. He came
to Cleveland with hay still hanging
from his farmers hat He flattened
out the White Sox with three hits on
his arrival. From that start, he moved
along to more than 500 major league
victories. The name is Cy Young,
and he's still around. Pitching arms
were not so fragile in those days
They talk today about 20-game win
ners. Old Cy won 20 or more games
a year for more than 20 years.
The Fragile Age.
The great hope now is that Johnny
Wander Nicer doesn't become a part of
this fragile age. Seabiscuit-War
Admiral - Lawrin - Dauber - among
the horses. The two Deans-School-
boy Rowe-Lee Grissom-plus a flock
of other pitchers who were headed for
the peak until various kinks began to
assail their elbows or shoulders.
You wonder how so much of this
could happen when you look back over
the careers of Cy Young, Matty, Alex
ander. Walter johnson, Nap Rucker,
Rube Marquard, Hoss Radbourne,
Miner Brown and others who stuck
around for Is or 20 years without ab-.
sorbing bad shoulder or a rickety
elbow
1t may be Wander Nicer has enough
fiber to join this old-time march
through the seasons. The kid came
along at time when he was needed
badly for more baseball color, and it
would be tough act to have him join
the colony of the crippled or the legion
of the lamed
A majority of the games greatest
pitchers have been long time workers.
Among the greatest you must name
Johnson, Mathewson. Alexander and
Cy Young. This big four averaged
around 20 years. Add one Robert
Moses Grove to this list. He had a
sore arm for. season, but the flame
ball came back and today Grove is in
the middle of his greatest campaign.
Dazzy Vance and Nap Rucker are
two others. Ed Walsh could have car
ried on as long as anyone else if the
White Sox hadn't forced the big fellow
beyond all reason the year he pitched
66 games. won Al and saved 10 others.
Ty Cobb still ranks Walsh as the
greatest five-year pitcher he ever saw.
Grove, born in March. 1900, is on his
way to his 39th year. This isn't what
you'd label flaming youth" in big
league baseball. But the flame still is
there when his fast one slips across.
What About Feller?
Bob Feller still is the youngest of the
budding stars, and, after a short span
of screaming, he came around under
better handling. He is strong and by
now he should know much more about
the art of pitching
Both Wander Nicer and Feller have
the stuff needed to carry along with
the best in the game. Both need some
luck
I still recall the two Deans-6 feet 3
each-each 100 pounds of wiry lanki-
ness. with almost perfect pitching
motions-apparently good for another
dozen campaigns. Schoolboy Rowe
was the best all-around athlete in
basehall-6 feet 4. 1875 pounds
pitching model. But something hap
pened, and the curtain fell on a melan-
choly scene.