Evening star., 1946-03-04
BIuege Holds Bad Day
Not True Gauge Of
Sherry's Worth
By Burton Hawkins
Stor Stoff Correspondent

| ORLANDO, Fla, Mar. 4.-Sherry
Robertson, the lad the Mats boss
hoped would blossom into an &C.
ceptable third baseman, seemingly
has wilted as the result of one ago.
nizing afternoon. Sherry could have
shined his shoes with his chin after
committing five errors in an intra-
squad game last Saturday, but Man.
ager Ossie Bluege will present him
an opportunity to show it was all 9
mistake
1t is tribute to Ossie's tolerance
that Sherry for the present will re-
main. in Washington's first-strine
infleld. Bluege, in his playing days
one of the finest fielding third base
men of all time, isn't permitting the
horrible start to shove Sherry out OF
the picture.
1T was an afternoon that might
have happened to anybody says
OSsie. He simply isn't that bad
In fact, while he was having an
extremely tough time of it, he
showed me the best play he's ever
made when he came in fast for
Charley Roberts slow roller and
whipped him out. Maybe he got all
the bad plays out of his system in
one day and will steady down now
to give us some fielding like he un-
corked against Roberts.
Won't Toss Out Robertson.
Anyway, I'd be foolish to give up
entirely on him after one game
Remember Joe Cronin was terrible
when he first came to us and Joe
always was weak on a ground ball hit
right at him, but he developed into
good player. Nope, Robertson is
a better player than he showed on
Saturday afternoon and he's going
to have a chance to prove it.
Sure, Sherry is on the spot be-
cause we need a third .baseman to
give us a strong infleld,' continued
Bluege. But it's unwise to place
too much emphasis on one bad day.
jeff Heath, for instance, is a fine
outfielder and hitter, but nobody
paid much attention when he got
only one ball out of the infield and
made an error on Saturday. We
know jeff can do better, so we for
get about it. Sherry should be
given somewhat the same considera-
ton"
Robertson wasn't harming only
himself on Saturday, when he
dropped two pop flies. booted a
brace of grounders and threw low to
first base His low throw ricocheted
off First Baseman Joe Kuhel's
kneecap. Kuhel was forced to miss
practice yesterday due to the SWELL
ing, but is expected to return to
action shortly.
Myatt Must Stand Aside.
Robertson ignored every rule in
the book Saturday He lifted his
head a split second before fielding
grounders, took his eyes off descend
ing easy flies and was erratic in
throwing. In fact, he was spared a
sixth error when Second Baseman
Gerald Priddy leaped high to stab
a force play throw from Robbie.
that one sparkling bit of fielding
he displayed when he whipped out
Rookie Roberts. @e -,v.5
Meanwhile, George Myatt, Robert
sons competitor for the third-base
job, committed one error, but more
than offset it with a batting out
burst, which included home run
and two singles. 1t was f1ashy
start for Myatt and a miserable one
for Robertson, but Bluege is oper-
ing on theory that one intraSquad
game doesn't mean much and will
stick to Sherry at third base at
least for the present.
Pitcher Marino Chick Pieretti,
little lefthander who reported to the
Mats last night after a delay neces-
STATED by illness in his family, be-
lieves he'll be of more value to
Washington this season.
Il really feel as if I hurt the club
last year. says Chick Il injured
myself sliding in an exhibition game
in July and wasn't much good to
the team after that. When the club
needed me most I couldn't help
need little running now to get
in shape, but that won't take long
and when I am ready Id like to
get lot of work"
Gil Coan, the Mats sparkling
rookie outfielder, already realizes he
has stepped up notch from the
Southern Association When I saw
Gerry Priddy make that diving
catch of my liner in Saturday S
game" smiles Gil, Il said to my
self, Boy, you're in the big leagues
now I didn't see a play that good
all last year with Chattanooga.
Duke Stars Dominate