Evening star., 1941-07-08
Terrific Hittinu,
Cagy Pitching
Are Opposed
Cool, Clear Weather
Due to Lure $4,000
To Detroit Park
Rv GAYLE TALBOT.


DETROIT, July 8.-The two finest
talented teams in baseball, bar alb
solutely none. tore into each other
at Briggs Stadium today in the ninth
annual all-star game between hand
picked specialists of the National
and the American Leagues.
The American League is supposed
to have the more terrific hitters.
the National League the slightly
more clever pitchers. This partly
is hangover from the days when
the American League had Babe Ruth
and Lou Gerhig to 90 its batting
and the National League had Carl
Hubbell and Diz Dean to do its
pitching
They are gone now. all of them.
The Babe is retired and corpulent.
and Gehrig is dead. Dean is radio
announcer. Hubbell is on the Ma
tional League squad. but he is
veteran who pitched only two davs
ago and consequently cannot be
counted upon for duty today.
Slugging Still Respected.
The heroes of the first all-Star
game less than a decade ago mostly
were on the sidelines when the
shooting started today. This is how
fast baseball changes and shifts
Yet the American League remained
strong favorlte because the bows
still respected its superior batting
power.
The weather promised TO be cool
Tor this time Of year. and clear
Briggs Stadium figured to be COM
fortably filed with more than so oOo
lanS. Many more would have liked
10 attend the local citizens say, but
Tor the fact that the assembly lines
are running night and day and not
all can get off.
Del Baker manager-for- day of
the American League "supers,"
choSe Bobby Feller of Cleveland to
ieao on. AS he explained. he would
De cope to do otherwise. Feller
win 10 victories and only 4 losses
Tor the season, is baseball's greatest
current pitcher.
HiC NollOIldl Ie3guerS the
lead-of pitcher promised to be Whit
wyatt, with record of l3 won and
Z lost for Brooklyn. Rumors last
night said that Wyatt did not feel
so good, but Manager Bill Nc
kechnle of the Nationals was count
ing on Whit nevertheless.
American League Leads.
Inc score, up to today. was five
victories for the American League
against three for the Nationals in
the ail-star series. However. the
Americans slugged their wav to
comparatively simple triumphs in
the first three ENGAGEMENTS and tho
Nationals have been doing all right
since.
Alter Feller either had breezed
through the first three innings of
todays game, or, on the other hand.
had got his bumps. Manager Baker
intended to use Thornton Lee of
the Chicago White Sox. a talented
left-hander. Beyond that, Baker
refused to go.
II were ahead can pick any,
body. If we're behind by that time
1t won't make much difference he
said.
That's the enhancing thing about
an alI-star game. Nobody is allowed
second mistake. The first one
usually is fatal.
Walters Second Pitcher.
Deacon McKechnie intended 10
use Bucky Walters as his second
thrower and then trust to prov
ldence. Walters still Is. for this
writer's money, the best pitcher in
baseball today when the chips are
doWn-and no disrespect meant to
Bobby Feller. Bobby probably would
be the first to cast his vote for
that, because Feller is that sort
of boy.
Both managers had some tough
choices to make in their line-ups
besides their pitchers. They found
themselves glutted with riches. so
to speak, and last night the best
either would give out was "tenta-
tive lineup.
Many of the players took yester-
day off and did not arrive here
until late last night or early today,
and the rival pilots felt they wanted
to have heart-to-heart talks with
their men before deciding finally
who would take the field. They
were meeting at the stadium before
noon today.