The Waterbury Democrat., 1941-07-26

Grove Gives Boys
 With The Bats
 Credit for '3OO' Game
BY TOM NOONAN United Press Stan CorrespOndent)

United Press Stan CorrespOndent)
 Boston, July 26-(UP)-It was 8 lousy pitched game, the boys with the bats won it."
 Those were the deprecating words Robert Moses (Op Man Mose) Grove used to describe his 3O0th major league victory; the victory that elected him to ever- lasting membership in basebalps Hall of Fame.
 The 41-year-old Scotch -1riShman from Lfonaconing, Md, who flung his first major league fireball for Connie Macks Athletics back in 1925, was not lying. His srnokeball has quit smoking. His southpaw cunning was not as cunning as us- ual. Only the booming bats of his Boston Red Sox teammates kept him hanging around long enough yesterday to outlast three Cleve- land pitchers and beat the Indians, 10-6.
 Happy as he was to break into the ranks of pitching irnmortals, the graying Grove was not content with is status as a mere novice in the list of 300-game winners top ped by Cy Young's 511 triumphs.
 Now I'm off for 400," he told newsmen who wanted to know when he intended hanging up his glove and calling for his fireside and slippers.
 Nearly Won Own Game
 A lousy pitched game from the standpoint of hits and runs, but Leftys words didn't tell the whole story. They didn't tell how or Man Nose took his Jumps and kept winging away. They didn't tell the courage it took to get up off the deck twice and they didn't tell the heartbreak Lefty must have felt when he almost won his own game in the seventh with smashing two-bagger to center, only to have a lead-footed teammate get caught sliding home.
 The Indians had Lefty reeling in the third when they punched seven hits for four run lead. His noth- ing ball had less nothing than us- ual on 1t and he looked weary and wan as he famed Larry Ros- enthal in the fourth to choke off another score after two more Cleveland hits.
 The Sox combined an error, two singles and two walks to get a pair of those runs back in the fourth and Ted Williams 18th homer with a mate aboard evened 1t up in the fifth.
 After watching his pitches belted for nine hits over the first four innings, O. Man Nose dug deeper into the bag of pitching tricks he has learned over 16 American League seasons, and held the h. dians to three safeties the rest of the way. But Lou Boudreaus hom- CT and Gerry Walkers triple were combined for two more runs in the seventh and again it looked like the showers for Lefty.
 Manager Joe Cronin already had decided to allow his ancient south- paw to finish if he wanted to, and he did. Jim Tabor's home run with Williams aboard evened the count and got Lefty's head above water again.
 Appropriately enough it was Jimmy Foxx, teammate of Grove in his hey-day with the Athletics, who supplied the payof punch for Lefty's 300th win in the eighth inning. Two men were on base when Double x" teed off on 8 fat 20 pitch served by Southpaw Al Milnar. The ball travelled 400 feet and was good for triple but Foxx sped home with run No. 3 as the relay to the plate went wild. Tabor locked it up then with his second homer.
 Over those last two innings, the Indians couldn't touch Lefty. He retired the last seven men in or der. About all Grove had yester- day was control. He walked only one man and famed six while giv- ing up 12 hits. Long Trial There was almost 8 world series tenseness in the air and the tenn perature was in the sos as Grove spat in his glove before starting i the 3 1-2 hour battle that ended when Lou Boudreau flied to cen- I ter field. Don DiMaggio dashed in and gave the ball to Lefty as a memento of his triumph.
 Sustained cheers from the men fans and high pitched shrieks from the 5000 ladies day guests fol- lowed Grove as police escorted him to the clubhouse through a horde of autograph seekers who spilled over into the playing field.
 "No matter what has gone before, this is the greatest thrill of my baseball career" Lefty said.
 The infant of the modern era 3OO-game winners still has way to go to match the records of Walter Johnsons 414 triumphs; Grover Cleveland Alexander's 373; Chris | ty Mathewson's 372 and Eddie Plank's 324, but he is now on the way.
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