Evening star., 1939-03-08
Pick Here Seen
AsM'Carthy's
Lone Worry
Club Appears Bigger
And Better Than
1888 Champions
BY GAYLE TALBOT,
Aeran;at.l 4 n-z. r- xr,..

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla, March 8.
The New York Yankees are here
again, gradually limbering up their
swelling muscles and preparing to
put on their annual rabbit drive in
the American League. Iknow it's
an illusion, but they look bigger even
than they did last fall while they
were betting the Chicago Cubs about
in the World Series.
In a way, it's harder to rig up a
story about them than any of the
other clubs. There is the same
problem, I suppose, in trying to de-
scribe the Grand Canyon. About
all you can say is: There she is, and
amt she beauty"
At each of the other American
League camps there is a worried
manager to tell you of his weak
spots, to discuss the possibilities of
his rookie crop, and to wind up
bitterly cursing the fate that placed
him in the same league with the
Yankees. There isn't much Joe Nc
Carthy can say except that it's nice
weather we're having and how is the
family?
Not Much to Worry About.
I told him didn't suppose he was
much worried about the prospects
OF winning his fourth straight world
championship and he said wait. that
he would do certain amount of
worrying if his club was 80 games
in front of the field. I told him that
sort of worrying never kept anybody
awake at night
AS matter of fact. Joe does have
one slight problem to iron out be-
fore the season starts. He must de-
eide whether Charlie Keller, the
super-rookie from Newark. should
take over left field entirely or divide
the position with George Selkirk,
who played it most of last season.
The best opinion around camp is
that Keller, who hit 1865 in the In
ternational last year will open the
campaign as regular and add
punch to the Yankee batting array.
II that's not murder IT'S at least
manslaughter. Keller is husky
kid, the Yankee type, with big
joints. He bats left-handed, but is
a dead left-field hitter.
Gehring Working Like Trojan.
The remarkable Lou Gehrig, pos
SCISSOR of the consecutive game re-
cord and on the verge of ecnpsing
several total" marks for runs and
hits set in the long ago by Ty Cobb.
is romping around first base every
day and working himself nearly to
exhaustion.
He stayed out there so long and
worked so hard yesterday he was
almost too tired to get his uniform
off" grinned Mccarthy. Louis
nearly 36, but think he'll be good
for two or three more years. There
was a lot of talk about him slowing
up and having terrible season last
year. If he can play another like
that for me I'll be satisfied.
Il saw the same thing happen TO
Tony Lazzeri. One year he slowed
up all of sudden to where every
body was talking about it. But he
still was a good ball player, and he
went along like that for several
years. We were lucky we had such a
great ground-coverer as Joe Gordon
to take over second base Just when
Gehrig slowed down at first. What
balls Lou can't reach Joe can"
Two Other Big Rockies.
Besides Keller, there are a couple
OF other big rockies in camp over
whom Mccarthy likes to run his
eyes and estimate their weight. One
is Warren Rosar. chunky catcher
from Newark who led the Interna-
tional League in batting last season
with 1897, and the other Joe GAL
lagher, 210-pound outfielder who
swatted .343 for Kansas City.
Just look at him." invited Nc
Carthy, nodding toward Gallagher.
isn't he the biggest man you ever
saw? He's a great ball player, too.
Yeah" I said. But what are
you going to do with Rosar and Gal
lagher-keep EN- around just to ad-
mire?'
well. I dunno said Mccarthy
"How'm I going to use Rosar when
I got catcher like Bill Dickey, the
best there is? I don't know abous
Gallagher, either because I suppose
Joe Di Maggie and Tommy Heinrich
will hold down center and right
field But isn't that Gallagher a
fine looker?"