The Waterbury Democrat., 1942-03-18
Soldiers Cheer Ted (3-A) Williams In Southern Games
By GEORGE KIRKsEY

United Press Staff Correspondent)
 Tampa, Fla, March l8.-(UP)- Pickups and putoutS in the Grape fruit Circuit:
 All major league ball clubs are making transcriptions for the War Department which will be sent by short wave radio to American Sol- diers from Iceland to Bataan and to ships at sea The Brooklyn Dodgers are the most popular club in baseball with the soldiers Every time an announcement is made over the public address system about Brooklyn at Grapefruit games in Florida the lads in khaki raise the roof.
 Ted Williams is still batting only about 800 in popularity with let ter writers over his draft defer ment, but the fans down here ap- plaud him every time he comes to bat When Williams played against the Reds in Tampa last Sum- day there were 1,752 soldiers in the stands and they gave Ted rousing cheer .. One civilian in the bleach- CTS made some uncomplimentary re- marks about Williams and about Q dozen fans near him told him to shut up until he pIt on a uniform.
 Joe Cronin won't be in the Red Sox lineup opening day John Pesky, the Louisville Rookie, will play short Cronin is getting in shape to pinch-hit and play only in an emergency Phil Troy, Red Sox Secretary, sends Tom Yawkey, Red SoX owner, 100-word telegram after each game summarizing what happened starting it off with either Twin" or Hose" according to the re- suit .. The worst looking ball club in Florida is the Detroit Tigers '. But even so, Manager Del Baker has confided to intimates that he doesn't care if Buck Newsom ever shows up.
 The Great Lakes naval training station will have one of the best baseball clubs operating this summer k. More than 100 games already have been booked for 8 national tour . Mickey Cochrane is slated to manage the club, and some of his stars will be Bob Teller, Sam Chap man, Benny Mccoy, Bob Harris (Browns) and Joe Grace (Browns |. Charlie Fuchs, Tigers rookie pitcher, is 'ball-headed' and looks something like Leo Durocher . seven wives of Cincinnati blal play CTS are going to have babies this summer and fall.
 Ival Goodman, Reds outfielder who played in oly 42 games last sea- son because of 8 double hernia, looks like 0 different ball player this spring and is due for big comeback Charlie Gehringer, now a De- troit coach, is working like blazes this spring and looks in good enough shape to play Bill McKechnie, Reds boss, is a double desert eater Joe Cronin, Red Sox pilot, loves barbecued spare ribs.
 Dom DiMaggio, diminutive Red Sox center fielder, his a ball APO feet on the fly for Q homer against the Reds the other day Lou Boud- reau, Indians youthful pilot, has been battling cold, sore throat and fever blisterS for a week and feels very tough Oscar Grimes, who might have beenhte Indians reg lilar first baseman, chose instead to battle for the second base job and try to beat out Ray Mack, Boud- reau's ex-roomie and pal Boud- reau told him to go ahead and wished him luck.
 Gerry Priddy will start the season at third for the Yankees but Man- ager Joe Mccarthy still thinks he ought to be a better hitter and is thinking of changing his batting stance When Roberto Estalella, Washington third baseman, got sick the other day he phoned Manager Buck Harris and said: i've got a little baseball growing by my cal" ." It turned out to be the humps .. Eddie Joost, Reds shortstop who has put on an extra 10 pounds and weighs ITS, is hitting the cover off the ball this spring Batting close to 400 nthe Reds first seven games,