Evening star., 1947-03-17
Coan and Grace Show
No Signs Of Yielding
ToCIub' S Veterans
By Burton Howkins
Stor Stoff Correspondent

ORLANDO, Fla, Mar. lf.-A source
of elation for Ossie Bluege is the
excellent hitting of his Mats. Most
of them in six intrasquad and
regularly scheduled exhibited games
have compiled batting averages that
are fantastic and probably mislead-
ing, all of which is serving to COM
plicate Bluege's outfield plans.
The Mats manager has charted a
process of elimination course to
determine the construction of his
outf1eld, but nobody seemingly is
willing to be benched on that basis.
At the moment Gil Coan is making
good on his threat to retain the
left field job. He's Washington's S
top hitter with .636 average, or
7 hits in II attempts.
Gil's fielding has bordered on
atrocity at times, but his batting is
commanding attention and respect.
This year he is living to the lofty
build-up he received last spring
when he came to the Mats camp as
highly l1eralded rookie who had
swatted .372 in the Southern Asso-
citation.
Grace's Hitting Outstanding.
Hardly less spectacular has. been
the batting splurge of Joe Grace, an
outfelder whose offer to become a
catcher was spurned by his bosses,
Joe has accepted the snub in stride
and quietly is going about the task
of capturing an outfeld job. He's
betting a robust .412 and defying
anybody to wedge him out of the
lineup.
Meanwhile Stan Spence, whose
name was figured prominently in
trade talk for months, isn't per-
mitting it to disturb him. He's
hitting 1853 and yesterday delivered
a 3-run seventh inning homer as
the Mats outslugged the st. Louis
Browns, 1919, here before a crowd of
$500.
Outfelder Buddy Lewis will be
ready for duty this week, but it
probably will be part-tim employ
ment because George Case also has
been impressive. despite his one
hit in five attempts. George has
played parts of two games and
has been meeting the ball sharply,
but with little luck.
Vernon, Mancuso Aren't Hitting.
The only Mats who aren't hitting,
in fact, are Mickey Vernon, who
led the American League last
season. and Frank Mancuso. YER
non is the Mats worst hitter in
spring games thus far with a .167
figure. Mancuso displayed evidence
of coming out of his slump yester-
day by collecting two hits, lifting
his average to 200.
Shortstop Jerry Priddy Is a 800
hitter with nine safeties in IS tries,
while George Myatt is batting 1888
and Cecil Travis 1857. It's an i'm
posing array of averages the Mats
are presenting as the result of
amassing 20 runs in their last two
games against Detroit and st. Louis.
The Mats Dashed Ray Shore,
Clarence lott and Fred Sanford
for Is hits and fashioned a SO lead
which evaporated in the fifth inning
as shoddy fielding behind Bobo
NeWson allowed the Browns to lock
the score with 5-run outburst.
Spence's Homer Tied Score.
St. Louis clipped Bobo for another
run in the sixth and added two
more in the seventh off Walter
Masterson to take an 8-5 lead, but
Spence's homer tied the score in the
seventh. A walk to MaSterson, plus
singles by Case and Myatt and
Grace's long fly got Washington
two runs in the eighth, enough to
offset the one run scored by the
Browns in the ninth when Jerry
Witte walked and came around on
singles by Chet Laabs and Russ
Peters.
Nat Notes: Early Wynn permitted
only two hits, both luck-anointed,
in the three innings he toiled.
Most unusual play of the game de-
veloped in the ninth inning when
Mancuso and Masterson collided in
front of the plate attempting to
snare Les Moss pop fly. . The
ball caromed off Mancuso's mitt
into Masterson's glove. -. Walter
dropped the ball, however, and
Travis scooped it up and threw to
Vernon in time to retire Moss.
Pitchers Ed Kubuski, Charley
Hiden and Howard Martin were to
be sliced from the Mats squad
today, with all of them being as
signed to Charlotte. Outflelder
Jack Netcher also was to de-
part for nearby Winter Haven to
join the Chattanooga Lookouts.
Baseball Commissioner, Happy
(See HAWKINS, Page abb