Evening star., 1940-03-23
C Sweepstakes and Three Special Occupy Bowes Week End

Press Box
Terry Bold in Saying
His Giants Are Good
BY JOHN LARDNER,
Special Correspondent of The Star.
WINTER HAVEN, Fla, March %
(NANA0.-A man who stares so
boldly into the future that some
times the future gets insulted and
takes a sock at him is William
Harold Terry, manager of the New
York Giants, champions of the
world in 1888, 1886 and 1887.
Almost since the time he took
over the ball club from the late John
j. McGraw, Mr. Terry has been win
ming pennants in March, with few
well-chosen words. He was wrong
in '35: he scored in '36 and '37; he
missed again in '38. Last spring he
hauled in his belt two notches and
spoke as follows:
This is the greatest team I ever
managed Well win"
Destiny will stand for so much,
and no more. After taking one long
look at the ball club which William
glorif1ed with this spacious descrip-
ton, she wound up and hit the out
spoken fellow right on the jaw.
That was no pennant- winner she
seen Bill with. 1t was just second
division ball club.
Bonuro. SoIvo Made Terry
Look Greatly Wrong
Belatedly, Mr.. Terry admitted he
was wrong. He was wrong for
strange reasons, considering that
most of The time he is sharper than
the sharpest razor in Jack Black
burns arsenal. He took somebody's
word for it that Zeke Bonura was
great first baseman, and somebody
elses word for it that Manuel Salvo
would win him 20 games, and forgot
all he should have known about
George Myatt, his wishful third
baseman.
This team might have gone higher
than it did if Bill Jurges had not
taken it into his head to spit at
Umpire George Magerkurth on one
of those splendid July afternoons
when everybody feels good and all
the world loves lover.
Magerkurth replied by patting
Billy affectionately on the nose.
Both hands were fined, and Jurges
was suspended for 10 days. The
Giants went into tailspin from
which they never recovered.
But Terry never would have won
with those Giants even if Jurges
had not confused Umpire Mayer
kurth with his cuspidor back home.
They weren't made to win. The
pitching wasn't there, and Terry
had three big holes in his infield.
Does that sound like Terry team?
Uh uh. Pitching and an alright
!nf1eld always we're the strong cards
in the Terry system.
Gionts Have InfieIders
Quite Able to Field
So this year Memphis Will con-
tents himself with saying, THE team
that beats us will win the pennant."
Many critics go farther They say:
THE teams that beat the Giants
will finish first, second, third, fourth
and fifth"
Let us see what the Iron Chan
cellor has done about patching his
tires. The Giant camp is full of
inf1elders who can field the ball.
That shows that William reacted
strongly to those infield leaks last
year. Burgess Whitehead, a good
defensive second baseman, is no
better than an understudy to the
new flash, Mickey Witek, rescued
from the oblivion of the Yankees
Newark farm, where he was waiting
for Joe Gordon to die of old age.
Glen Stewart, at third base, also
can field. Jurges always could, and
Babe Young, the handsome youth
at first base, is three times as fast
as Bonura, though still no threat
to the memory of George Sisler.
In other words. this is a better in
held than the Giants had last year,
defensively.
Wltek and Jurges seem set. But
will the other boys hit-the boys at
the ends, first base and third, where
an inf1eld's hitting ought to be?
Bills Pitching Stoff
Not so Foney
Young must pull the ball far and
often to right to earn his oats.
Terry has yet to give Stewart his
formal blessing. The camp is crawl
. Ing with third basemen-Stewart
Myatt, Lou Chiozza and the trans
planted Whitehead Treason or not,
I think that Whitehead looks the
best of them.
So the infield still is mostly guess
work. The outfield is good if Otis
legs hold up and Joe Moore does
not collapse in sections around
Frank Demaree. Johnny Rucker,
up from Georgia, nephew of the
great Nap Rucker, is the best-look-
ing replacement-very fast, and
they say can hit some, though he
looks on the light side.
But pitchers? Terry has drawn
only two cards to his weak 1889
hand, right-handers named Bob
Carpenter and Roy Joiner, from
Jersey City. For the rest, it's Hub
bell, Gumbert, Schumacher, Melton,
10hrman Sa1VO and CoSt1er,,op
again. Gumbert is the ace. That's
the tipoff.
The club has the advantage of
manager who makes few mistakes
on the field. But once in a while
. he makes a mistake elsewhere, and
1 think he is making nra of tlaaso