Evening star., 1939-03-02
Rick Confident
Cuban Hur|er |
Will Be Help
Vet Catcher Studies
Spanish in Effort
To Develop Rook
By STAFF Correspondent Of The Star.

By Stan Correspondent Of The Star.
ORLANDO, Fla, March 2.-The
Roberto Ortiz Chovder and March,
ing Club, founded by the incurably
optimistic scout, Joe Cambria, and
officered by President Clark Griffith
and Manager Bucky Harris, reached
a new membership peak today.
One of the first and one Of the
most important to hop on the Ortiz
bandWagon was Catcher Rick Fer
rell. The slender veteran pulled on
uniform for the first time yester-
day, took long look at the rubber
armed Cuban fast-baller, and sighed:
ITS good thing bought myself
that Spanish dictionary. If he
doesn't make the grade then dunno
who will"
The day was marked. too. by an
order for Ortiz to throw only half
speed. Under a mercilessly hot sun
the pitchers paraded to the box in
rapid succession for batting practice.
Ortiz was one of them. Harris cau-
toned him to throw "easy."
Ortiz's Eyes Never Roam.
It may have been "easy" throw
ing for Ortiz, but he still was swift
enough to attract the attention of
Ferrell and the other veterans on
hand. Pitchers Jimmy De Shong,
Monte Weaver. Pete Appleton and
Outfielder Taft Wright. The ball
rode to the plate amazingly fast and
sang as it hurtled forward. Yet the
6-foot 3-inch Cuban apparently was
"just-a pooshing heet," as he ex-
plains.
I've never seen a pitcher who
looked so much like Dizzy Dean of
a few years ago." was Ferrell's first
comment. Hes got all the motions
of Dean, even to the windup. He
let's the ball go like Diz -. easily
and we'll under control"
Ferrell grinned. That's one thing
I'm going to like about this big
monkey" he said HE looks like
he'll never be wild and I can see
why already. Watch him wind up
and throw. See? He never once
takes his eyes off the hitter, or the
catcher. Anyway, he's fixed target
somewhere up at the plate and he
keeps his eyes right on it from start
to finish.
mot even our older pitchers do
that" concluded Rick. Weaver
doesn't do it. Neither does Apple
ton. And look how long they've
been around. Gosh knows Chase
and Krakauskas don't do it. Chase
yanks his eyes up to the sky and
Krakauskas often is looking down at
his feet"
Rick Makes Friends With Him.
Ferrell and. Wright took their
batting turns at the plate and did
well for the first time But nobody
gave Ortiz much of a going lover,
although, as we said, he was half
speeding the ball.
not hurt his standing with Messrs.
Griffith and Harris. The Mats had
been looking around during the
winter, trying to dig up Rudy York
Or Birdie Tebbetts of Detroit to do
the catching. When they failed
from this angle they decided anew
to groom Rookie Jake Early.
The rookie has looked fairly good
and still is a contender, but Ferrell
has improved his status if only by
the way he has taken to Ortiz. At
the outset Early feuded with Ortiz.
The Cuban is leery of Jake. On the
other hand Ferrell bought Spanish
dictionary two weeks before he left
for camp and spent half an hour
yesterday with Roberto, jotting down
the Spanish equivalents of curve,
fast ball, high, low, ETC."
Cuban Can Add, Too.
In fact, Rick even reached the
point where he worked out set
of preliminary signals with Ortiz.
To do this it was necessary to de-
termine if Roberto was able to add
figures so that he could participate
in f1ngerwaving code with the
catcher.
"Que es tres y tres?" suffered
Ferrell, ambitiously.
"Sies," replied Roberto.
''Sies," unused Ferrell, thumbing
through his dictionary. Lets see
.. sizes. Six, that's it. Good. Now,
que is dos y uno y quatro? Ocho,
swell"
Mr.. Ferrell's Spanish is very bad,
which goes for Senor Ortiz's English.
But they are trying and they are
bound to improve. And Griff and
Bucky are slapping each other on
the back and displaying high glee
over this unexpected turn of events.
In the meantime, Ferrell can be
put down as no dumbbell. If one
of the qualifications for holding his
job is learning smattering of
Spanish, Rick is going to be
enllixlaod