Evening star., 1941-03-17
Tribe Confident
II Will Win Flag
Going Away
Peck Popular Pilot,
Club Doesn't Fear
Opposition Jibes
BY GAYLE TALBOT,
Associated Press Sports Writer.

FORT MYERS, Fla, March IL
1t may be taken for granted that
the Cleveland Indians are the best
balanced club in the American
League, with great pitching, fine
defense and potentially a world of
power at bat
What cannot be measured, how
ever, is their ability to shake off
the memory of the championship
they threw away in the closing
weeks of the 1910 race. A couple
of rival club managers have doubted
in confidence, that the Indians will
perform up to their strength, and
they are more worried about the
rising Yankee menace than they
are about the boys who fired" their
manager, Oscar Witt.
"All you have to do is look back
at the teams that blew a pennant," 4"
one of them said. ut isn't neces-
sary to look back any farther than
the Pittsburgh outfit of 1888, which
nose-dived into second place after
holding what looked a safe lead.
They finished sixth the next year
and they never did come back"
Tribe Is Confident.
This much can be said for the
Indians: From Bobby Feller right
down to the trainer, Max WeiSman,
there isn't a doubt in their heads
that they will bounce back and win
going away. They regard the Witt
thing as an unpleasantness they
had to go through, but they think
it's done and dead now and that
they can start all over.
The only thing about that is that
their playmateS on the other Ameri-
can League teams are not likely
to let the Indians forget anything.
There already are signs that the
boys are going to receive an awful
going over from such silver -tongued
gents as Art Fletcher of the Yanks
and Mule Haas of the White Sox,
and only time will tell how Hal
Trosky, for instance, will react to
this punishment.
The new manager, Roger Peckin-
paugh, appears to be as popular
with the crew as Witt was un-
popular, which is saying consider
able. If Witt talked too much, as
they charged at the time of last
summers insurrection, then they
won't ever find that fault with
Peck, whose idea of the nice, long
conversation is hello"
Pleasant Spirit in Camp.
There is a pleasant spirit in the
camp, with modest poker played
openly and a pre-dinner cocktail
no high crime.
The Indians will line up on open
ing day almost exactly as they
wound up their last disastrous cam
paign, the only change being the
substitution of Gerald Walker, OBJ
tanned from Washington, for Ben
Chapman in the outfield. And,
incidentally, the Indians point out
that Phil Rizzuto of the YankS had
better prove that he's better
shortstop than Lou Boudreau, the
Cleveland sophomore, before he's
called the best in the game.
Bobby Feller, of course, looks
great, and perhaps this will be the
season that he wins 80 games. A
coach of a rival club was discussing
the Van Meter thunderbolt the
other night.
"It was bad enough when he just
had that fast ball. But it got
much worse when he began snap
ping that curve across like a black
snake whip, and now, to cap it off,
he's getting smart out there.
FelIer Getting Smart.
ct used to call most of his pitches
on him, and he finally caught on
to it last year. AS he started his
wind-up he would give me a glimpse
of his fingers set to throw a curve.
Il would tip off our batter and
he would step into the curve, only
it would turn out to be fast ball
and would scare him half to death.
THAT doesn't need to happen to
batter but once and he quits
listening to his coaches"