The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1941-02-20

49, annual salary of
cp. 5000 year for
" 1 ~ pay check calling
for $50 month. And this is to
happen after one of the greatest
years he had ever known. I'm
speaking of Hank Greenberg of the
Detroit Tigers.
There is big difference in what
the owner of big league ball club
can pay an outstanding star and
what our Uncle Sam can afford to
offer private soldier. In this case
the difference happens to be 100 to
l if you happen to get the wrong
number in the draft.
Greenberg, for example, is older
than either Bobby Teller or Joe
Louis, who are not exactly starving.
The spin of that draft wheel hap
pened to cost him $35, 1000 a year
which is the way it should be and has
to be in an existence which is now
a trifie cock-eyed.
Long Hank was on his way to
Honolulu when / ran across him in
speeding the floral beauty of Santa
Anita before taking a chunk of the
Pacific in his stride.
Okay by Hank
"As you know" he said, tI have
low draft number and I may be
called in June or early July. Which
is all right with me. From the
way things are moving there may
be lot more of US called out by
then than many people figure to-
day."
Hank is already looking in the old
P. of c., sometimes known as the
pink of condition.
''This season." he said, 81 hope
to be in the best early season shape
I have ever known. may not have
many weeks to travel, so / can't af-
ford to waste any time getting
started. I ought to be in good
shape, anyway, to play on some
army team"
There is a good chance that by
next summer army competition in
baseball will be quite sharp. And
there will be loud cheers from any
division or corps that happens to
bag the tall Tiger. 81
We'll have tough job this sea-
son defending our title" Greenberg
said. ''The two toughest opponents
we must face should be New York
and Cleveland. Bob Feller can
make almost any team look good,
but Cleveland has more than Teller.
Don't forget Boudreau and Mack at
short and second.
''The Yankees are sure to be bet
ter than they were a year ago when
they got away badly. Their young
pitchers will be ready to pick up
where the veterans begin to leave
off. Through 1910 they had become
fed up with too much winning. You
know that can happen.
while I still think New York and
Cleveland are the teams to beat,
the White Sox won't be far away
and you'll see a much better team
in Fred Haney's st. Louis Browns.
The Red Sox must still get better
pitching. Aside from that they can
play with anybody"
about the Tigers
what about the Tigers?" I asked
Greenberg.
Hank grinned. s'We were picked
to finish fifth or sixth or maybe sew
enth last April in the South" he
said. "Still we won the pennant.
I'll tell you why. l think we had
the finest spirit I've ever seen in
baseball. We hustled through every
inning of every game we played.
There was no time out for inter-
missions.
Don't forget we still have a good
pitching staff coming on, headed
by Buck Newsom and at least three
or four fine young pitchers. We
still have Rudy York's hitting and
his greatly improved play at first.
We have three infeld veterans left
who will be just as good as they
were a year ago. Why? Because
they are ball players at heart-be-
cause they have brains and spirit.
They are not through"
Suppose you are called away
early in June?" l asked.
''The Tigers are no one-man
team" Hank said. 'I'm just an
other fellow out there, doing the
best l can. You can never tell
in baseball. Don't sell us too
short"
Hank Greenberg is something
more than a fellow who bats over
.340-who drives In from $50 to $50
runs a year-who can shift from
fine first baseman to fine outfeld-
er In one quick season.
''Not only as a ball player" Fred
Haney of the Browns told me, "but
in the way of spirit. I'd like to have
nine Greenbergs on my team. / re-
member one year when he hit camp
ahead of schedule. He asked if it
would be all right to take a work.
out. He worked three hours day,
when he didn't have to work a sim
gle minute"
This again reveals the difference
between really great player and a
mediocre player. Ball club mana
gers have little difficulty in pointing
out men who could have been out
standing if they had worked hard to
improve their game.
Beyond all this Hank Greenberg
happens to be one of the most intel
igent athletes I've ever mown-and
I'll give you graduates from Yale,
Harvard, Princeton, Dartmouth and
Stanford as a starter. You can 60
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