Evening star., 1939-10-01

F WAS the fifth inning of the third game in
last years World Series Clay Bryant
- looked as though he could keep on forever.
He had pitched four hitless innings, sending
one after another of us Yankees back to the
bench.
We had won the first two games of the
Series, but when Bryant got the first two of
us in that fifth inning it seemed certainty
that he was going to pitch the Chicago Cubs
right back into the Series We were putty in
Clay's hands.
But then it happened.
With two out in that fifth inning, Joe
Gordon, our second baseman, laid his bat
against Bryant's curve and sent it screaming
into the right-held stands for home run -
the first hit and the first run off the gallant
young Cub highlander,
That hit was like the first crack in dam.
In rapid succession Monte Pearson lashed out
a single, frankie Crosetti coaxed base on
balls and Red Rolfe rifled run-scoring safety
into right field before Bryant could manage to
get that important third out. Even then the
onslaught was not over 1t continued into the
next inning and, after allowing three hits and
another walk, Bryant was led away to the
showers wondering what had happened and
why.
Bryants only consolation was the realiza-
ton that he was not the first pitcher whom
sudden disaster had visited in a World Series
game Nor would he be the last 1t is pretty
certain that sometime during the Series this
week some other unfortunate pitcher will flndN
that all the magic and all the mystery h144s
suddenly drained from his hngertips, an9N&3
will be shelled from the mound by batters "a
have been helpless only moment before. %sssss
When such thing happens, the general i'm
preston among fans is that the pitcher has
blown up" This is wrong. Pitchers don't
blow up - except on very rare OCCASIONS
When pitcher blows up, it means that he
has lost either his head or his heart. and it's
hardly reasonable to suppose that this can
often happen to the fellows who are able to
fight their way into the World Series.
In Bryant's case, he didn't blow up. He
slowed up You see, when a fellows working
against bunch of long distance larrupers like
the Yankees there's no letup in the lineup
for pitcher He's got to bear down with all
he got, all the time. After four or five innings
of grinding pay-of pitches across the plate,
he has worked the equivalent of full nine
inning game against an ordinary team on an
ordinary day. Thus it was with Clay Bryant.
He gave all he had, and there wasn't any more.
1t was the same way with Cliff Melton the
year before. The lanky young southpaw of the
New York Giants poured everything he had
into us for four innings of the second game in
brave effort to match Red Ruflng pitch for
pitch. Cliff was roaring along in fine style
until he suddenly ran out of gas in the fifth
inning. Myril Hoag, our first man up in that
stanza, doubled and before Manager Bill
Terry could draw deep breath Selkirk,
Lazzeri and Ruf1ng had singled in succession.
And Melton had to walk the long walk to the
clubhouse.
Neither Melton nor Bryant was guilty of
losing his head or his heart. Each simply lost
the ability to put the ball where he wanted
to, so the batters promptly started putting it
where they wanted to.
In my eleven years as big league catcher,
during which time have caught some of the
best hurlers in baseball - and batted against
most of the others - have found that loss of
control is usually the real reason for the COL
lapse of pitcher. BY loss of control don't
mean that the pitcher necessarily walks half
dozen or SO men pitCher can lose control