Evening star., 1946-07-27
Rook Gets Garden job
Over Veteran Grace;
Travis Trips Tribe
By Burton Howkins
stor Stoff Correspondent

casting an eye to the future by an
nouncing Rookie Gil Coan will re-
main in left field for the Mats ever
when Joe Grace. .4l0 hitter in L
games with Washington, recover.
from a shoulder injury.
Both Grace and Coan, now nursing
bruised hand, have been inactive
recently due to ailments, but bott
have declared they'll be available
for duty in day or two. Grace re.
joined the club here yesterday, bu
Bluege's decision to stick with Coar
means Joe will be employed only a!
| pinch-hitter.
| That's rough on Grace" de.
clares Bluege, but Coan is such {
| fine prospect that it would be Grim.
inal to bench him. Gil will make
mistakes in the outfield and occa-
sionally he may be too daring or
the bases. but the only way he's 60
ing to learn is by playing every day
Grace, who came to the Mats as g
.227 hitter, has lifted his batting
average to 289, while Coan is bat
ting .278. Gil, however, was handi-
capped by a bad hand which pre-
vented him gripping bat properly
for week until he finally was
forced to rest.
Mats Need Some Batting Help.
Coan's return to the lineup will
be nice lift to the Mats, who now
are struggling along with three
woefully weak batters in their miGst.
George Blnks is batting I'll, Sherry
Robertson is hitting los and Jake
Early is crawling along at a .139
pace.
Robertson emerged from his pro-
longed slump last night to belt an
eighth-inning homer as the Mats de-
feated Cleveland, 5-4, before 1919
1t marked Sherry's first hit in % ef-
forts and was his fourth homer OF
the year. Mickey Vernon smashed
a home run in the sixth inning for
his sixth of the season. but the bat
ting beauty of the evening was Cecil
Travis. who Whacked across the win
ming run in the ninth with a pinch
hit single to right that fetched Ver-
non home.
Mickey Haefner. who was ham,
mered for l3 hits, remained the route
for the seventh consecutive time to
register his ninth victory, which
wasn't achieved through the Mats
fielding. They committed three er-
rors behind Mickey to complicate
his job
With the game locked at A en-
tering the ninth, Vernon singled off
Lou Boudreau's glove and Stan
Spence sacrificed. Binks was passed
purpoSely and Travis stepped up to
bat for Gil Torres. His single off
Steve Gromek scored Vernon and
gave the Mats their fifth triumph in
six games and their ninth in l3 con-
tests with the Indians this season.
Indians Put Up Fight.
The Mats nicked Gromek for run
in the second when Vernon walked
scooted to third on Spence's single
and scored as Binks drilled into a
double play, but singles by Jim
Hogan, Gromek and George Case
netted the Indians run in the fifth.
With two out in the sixth and Ro-
bertson on As the result of an error.
Vernon blasted a drive off the right
field barrier to give the Mats a 81
lead. but Hank Edwards triple and
Heinz Beckers long fly sliced that
margin to 3-2 in the Indians half of
the inning.
Robertson hoisted his homer
among the customers in the right
field stands with none on in the
eighth, .ut the Indians tied it up on
Edwards single. BeckerS double,
Boudreau's infleld out and Ken
Beltner's long fly. Travis, whose
pinch single won a 10 game for
Bobo Newsom at Detroit on We'd
nesday, nullifled that rally.
That crowd, incidentally, is a
tribute to Bill Veeck. new president
of the Indians who is leaving moth
ing undone in an attempt to WOO
Cleveland fans. Last night there
were no idle moments, what with a
15-minute fireworks display, a quar-
tet singing at home plate while the
pitchers were warming up and the
Indians band-playing in wigwam
in Municipal Stadium's centerheld-
footing between innings.
Case-Coan Encore Looms.
Veeck likes the idea of the Case
Coan 100-yard race at Griffith Sta
dium on August 81 so much that he
is planning a repeat performance
here on the Mats next trip, regard
less of the outcome at Washington
Both Case and Coan will receive
$500 for their sprint at Griffith Sta
dium and probably will get the same
amount from Veeck for running
here.
Sid Hudson was to face Red EN-
bree here today in a single game
with Newsom and Dutch Leonard
slated to fire for the Mats in tomor-
rows double-he The Mats and
Indians also will collide in double
header on Monday
Wash. ABB, H. Q. A; Cleve;. ABB H o A.
h N'C' h A y ~