Evening star., 1951-07-17
Sixth-PIace Mats Test
bill Weeks Genius
AT Drawing Crowds
sy q s,eff Correspondent Of The star

ST. LOUIS, July 1.-THE pro-
motional cunning of Bill Veeckl
gets a stiff test in four-gamel
series starting tonight when his
eighth-place Browns battle the
sixth-place Mats in twi-nightl
double header. The Browns new
boss is said to be ready for the
challenge.
Eddie Eynon, the Mats secre-
tary, is accustomed to checks Of
slim proportions when he drops
into the st. Louis Office to pick
up Washington's share of the gate
receipts. There have been times
when the receipts wouldn't pay for
the groceries consumed by the
Mats, but attention-grabbing
Veeck may change all that.
Satch Paige Resurrected.
To encourage patronage In this
Iseries, Veeck has resurrected an
cient Satchel Paige. the slender
Negro righthander who was pitch
ing when most Of the Mats were
in kindergarten. He isn't sche6-
|uled to become part Of the act un-'
til tomorrow night, so Veeek will
have to come up with something
else to attract customers tonight.
He might even give away 500
bills.
The new owner already has
created considerable talk here
with his whirlwind tactics. He
has signed Frank Saucier. prom
Using rookie outfielder who re-
manned out of baseball rather than
accept the terms offered by Bill
Dewitt, former ruler of the
Browns. He has signed Paige.
given free soft drinks to everybody
in the stands, orchids to the ladies
and touched off a ton of fireworks.
Guessing Game on Manager.
Weeks objective, of course, Is
to get the Browns out of their rut.
but until he can accomplish that
he'll keep grabbing publicity II he
has to hold an atom bomb test at
second base. Right now, he's
keeping his name in print by pro-
noting a guessing game as to who
will succeed Zack Taylor as man
lager. Lou Boudreau. Joe Gordon,
Charley Grimm, Rogers Hornsby
and Eddie Stanky are among
those mentioned.
The Mats merely will be trying
to promote victories and Manager
Bucky Harris is up against it in
that department. He's dipping
into the bottom of the barrel to-
night and using Sandy Consuegra
and Fred Sanford as his starters
against the Browns Tommy Byrne
and Duane Pellette, a pair Of YAM
kee castoffs.
The Mats subsidized meekly to a
home run barrage by Luke Easter
and Al Rosen in Cleveland yester-
day as the Indians romped to a
3D. win. Easter blasted two
homers and Rosen one in 14-hit
attack against Julio Moreno and
Tom Ferrick.
Coan Keeps Streak Going.
A gathering of 1888 saw the
Mats grab a briefly enjoyed lead
in the first inning when Irv Noren
doubled and Mickey Vernon singled
him across. But from then on. no
Washington player reached first
until Gil Coan singled in the sixth
inning. The hit came after Steve
Gromek had retired Is batters in
a row and extended Coan's batting
streak to II straight games. But
Gil's one-for-four mark for the
day cost him ground in the bat
ting race.
Gil was leading the league yes
terday morning with .33587, a
Traction ahead of Ted Williams
and George Kell. Now Kell is in
front with .339 and Coan third
: with .3345, two points behind
, Williams.
The Indians took plenty of lib
erties with the Washington pitch
ing. Dale Mitchell's double and
Casters first homer gave them a
2-1 lead in the first inning and
they increased the margin in the
fourth when Moreno forced across
a run by walking Mitchell with
the bases filled.
4 Casters single and Rosen's
homer boosted Cleveland's edge to
81 in the fifth and Easter belted
: la three-run homer of Ferrick In
the sixth.
! The Mats were four-hit victims
Iof Gromek until the ninth, when
singles by Vernon, Pete Runnels
and Sam Dente produced The
final run.