Evening star., 1941-07-11
Fe||er Great Aid
As Tribe Stays
Near Yanks
His Hitting, Hurting
Tell; St. Louis Beats
SIugging Gionts
BY BILL BONI.


Though they can turn out to be
duds lust as easily as high explo-
sives. there were definite indications
today that the Cleveland Indians
and ST. Louis Cardinals aren't going
to give up the pennant races without
a struggle.
At the moment, the battles are
lust as they were before the all-star
contest. with the Flew York Yankees
3la games up on Cleveland in the
American League, the Brooklyn
Dodgers three games to the good
over the Cards in the National. But
there's the hitch--the pace-setters
didn't pick up any ground.
The YankS, opening swing
through the West, got in five in
nings last night before it rained in
ST. Louis. That proved just enough
for Joe Di Maggie to run his hitting
streak to 40 straight and for Lefty
Gomez to blank the Browns, 10, on
five hits. At the same time, though.
the Indians were beating the Ath-
letics. 3-2. with Bobby Feller setting
the AS down on six Safeties and
then clinching victory No. II by
scoring the deciding run after betting
a triple in the ninth.
Di Maggie Hits at Outset.
Di Maggie. with storm clouds
looming overhead, bounced drive
off Shortstop Alan Strange's glove
for a single in the first inning. In
the next frame Joe Gordon lofted
a homer into the left-field seats, and
that concluded the festivities for
the evening.
Feller. honored on Bob Feller
night" by Cleveland kids who play
on the sandlotS, from which he grad
uated, was more liberal than in his
three-inning all-star stint. He gave
the AS six walks, three of which.
with an infield out, were good for
one of their runs. But he also was
in a hitting mood, for in addition to
his vital three-bagger he singled in
the second to help account for the
Tribes other two tallies.
In the other circuit the Dodgers
also we're kept from widening their
margin In one of the program S
two afternoon games they tanned
the Cincinnati Reds. 83, on Kirby
Higbe's second straight five-hitter
and timely hitting by Cookie Lava
getto. Billy Herman and Ducky Med
wick. 3
Cards Snap Losing String.
But the Cardinals stuck right on
their heels. In a wild-eyed, free
swinging contest that involved five
homers and eight pitchers, the Red
birds first ran up an 80 leao, saw
it disappear in one inning. then
came back with five more to blast
the New York Giants and end their
own flve-game losing streak.
With one exception all of the night
tits were eloquent money talks
testimonials to the popularity OF
baseball under lights. The night S
top crowd, 34849. was at the Polo
Grounds; 32,280 turned out to honor
Feller and watch the kid win the
99th game of his career; 17949 at
Chicago saw the White Sox down
Washington, and the lure of the Di
Maggie streak was strong enough to
bring II 682. second biggest crowd OF
the year, into st. Louis Sportsman
Park.
Only the National League Phillies
were unable to top 10000. Winners
of but 2 of their past IA games. they
were whipped, 6-3, by the Pittsburgh
Pirates before a gathering of 1880
Phils Bow i'm Eighth.
Nick Etten's home run got the
tailenders off on the right track and
Tom Hughes five-hit pitching kept
them there for seven innings. But
in the eighth the Pirates rushed over
five runs on three hits, three walks
and an error.
The other day game, also in the
National League, produced the neat
est hurting duel of them all. The
Chicago Cubs Vern Olsen came out
the winner, 81, over the Boston
Braves AL Javery, with Javery a.
lowing only six hits to Olsen's seven
but Olsen getting one of those six
to drive in the deciding run.
In the American League the Bos-
ton Red SoX were rained out at
Detroit. Thus Lefty Grove had to
postpone until today his bid for
major league victory No. 300.