Evening star., 1948-04-21
|No-Hiher About Only
Thing Missing From
League Openers
BY the Asseeioisd Press

BY the Assoeioisd Press
About the only thing missing In
yesterdays and Mondays major
league opening games was no
hitter.
Practically everything else hap
pened, to the delight of 331 .783 fans
who set q record for opening day
attendance.
As for the results themselves,
Brooklyn xneaked past the Giants,
7-6, in New York; the Cards shut
out Cincinnati, Al, in st. Louis;
Washington gained revenge for its
one-sided defeat by the Yankees
Monday: Detroit defeated the White
Sox in Chicago, So, and the Indians
sent q record inaugural crowd of
1888 home happy with q 40 tri-
umph over the st. Louis Browns.
In other games, the Philadelphia
Phillies had q successful home
opener as they whipped the Boston
Braves, 81. and Pittsburgh did like
wise with 80 win over the Chicago
Cubs. The Red Sox and PHILADELPHIA
Athletics were idle.
Is Home Runs Belted.
Here are some of the high lights:
Eighteen home runs were belted
yesterday and Monday-not an un-
usual number, but look what some
Of them produced:
Stan Spence, Vern Stephens and
Bobby Doerr hit theirs in succession
IN one tnning-a record-tying feat
but the Red Sox lost anyway.
George Vico, rookie first baseman
OF the Tigers. smacked one on the
first pitch served him In his first
major league game.
Tom Mcbride of the Senators
slammed one-with the bases loaded
in the first inning.
Mike fresh of the White Sox hit
one-his first in 7S7 games. He had
not hit a four bagger since 1910.
Previously he had hit only one
home run in 10 years in the majors.
Three rookies-Hank Sauer of the
Reds, Romanus Basgall of the
Pirates and Vico-hit homers.
Two pitchers-Allie Reynolds of
the Yankees and Rip Sewell of the
Pirates-joined the homer brigade.
Miller and Cox Star.
In addition to Spence and
Stephens, recent additions to the
Red Sox, Eddie Miller and Billy Cox
celebrated their transfers to new
clubs with homers. Miller. the for
mer Redleg, put the Phils ahead
with his homer. Cox provided the
winning margin with his two-run
drive.
Bert Haas traded by the Reds to
the Phillies during the winter. And
Lee Culberson, transferred by the
Red Sox to the Senators, did not
hit home runs, but each collected
four hits in his new uniform.
-Four teams started the season
under new management--and each
got licked the first day. The dis
appointed pilots we're Joe Mccarthy
Red Sox; Zack Taylor, Browns: Joe
Kuhel, Senators, and Billy Meyer,
Pirates. e. s,
Two rookie hurlers were entrusted
with opening day assignments. Lou
Brissie Of the Athletics won his
game with q -hitter.ss Howard
Fox of the Reds was blanked, al
though his mates made 10 hits be-
hind him.
Feller Hurls q Two Hitter.
Such old standbys as Bobby Feller
of Cleveland, Hal Newhouser OF
Detroit and Ewell Blackwell of Gin
cinnati came through handsomely.
Feller pitched one Of the two shut
outs that graced opening day. He
handcuffed the Browns with two
singles. Blackwell gave up seven
hits and one run. Newhouser al
lowed two runs and eight hits.
The other shutout was pitched by
little Murry Dickson of the Cards,
although he yielded 10 hits.
Two graybeards-Rip SeWell of
Pittsburgh, who will celebrate his
4Oth birthday next month, and
Dutch Leonard, 38-year-old knuckle-
baller-got opening-d day assignments
and made good. Sewell. besides his
homer, held the Cubs to six hits in
the Pirates 80 win. Leonard also
doled out six safeties In outpitching
Johnny Sain of the Braves.
In all n freshmen saw action. 16
in the National League. And
Dodger Manager Leo Durocher cele-
brated his return to baseball after
years suspension by having q run
in with Umpire Bill Stewart.