Evening star., 1952-03-17
|5FroIn Low Minors
furnish Surprise;
Mats Meet Yankees
By Burton Howkins
Sier SfeH Correspondent

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla, Mar.
1.-THE Mats, desperate for
pitching. are getting an amazing
amount Of it from raw rockies
who haven't been counted on to
stick yet are giving their bosses
reason to wonder II they aren't
prepared for the big Jump to the
majors.
Manager Buclky Harris seems to
he involved in the delightful situ-
alton Of being flooded with ex-
|ceptional talent among his new
|comers. He has seen five. pitch
|ers who were buried deep in the
minors last season give him cred-
|itable. sometimes astounding, per-
|formances against major leaguers.
1T doesn't figure, but it's happen
ing and Bucky Is blinking.
II don't believe I've ever seen
three Washington rockies beat .
major league team before" !" Har-
Iris said after Bunky Stewart. Buck
|Fleshman and Darrah Stone
stopped the Tigers. GA. at Or
|lando yesterday. II liked 'ern all.
Stone and Stewart can IRE that
ball and Fleshman has q sneaky
fast one and q flne change-up."
Happened Twice Before.
It's easy to see why Bucky Is
somewhat startled. The other
day he tossed Raul Sanchez
against the Red Sox and the
slender Cuban worked three In
|nings without permitting q hit.
Before that, he had seen Gerald
Lane blank the Athletics for three
Innings on two hits.
Then yesterday along came
Stewart and Stone, lefthanders.
coupled with the righthanded
F1eshman. to beat Detroit. Stewart,
q victim Of three runs and i've
hits in his three-inning effort,
was praised no less than Flesh
man and Stone.
."They all looked good to me,
said Gerry Priddy, the Tigers
second baseman. "I'd say Stewart
lis faster than the others, but the
kid who pitched second Flesh-
man) seems more polished
pitcher. They all look like they
thova a ra0l nI.ovana -
FIeshman. who had q 20-9 rec
lord with Charlotte last season, is
Ia towering 21-year-old from
lHyattSville, Nd. who currently is
assigned to Chattanooga. He
pitched three scoreless innings,
giving up only two hits.
Grasso Error Hurts.
Stewart, who encountered all
his grief In the third inning after
Catcher Mickey Grasso let strike
escape him with the bases fun,
Showed an eye-popping fast ball,
but q pair Of walks. Priddy's sin
Igle and Johnny Groth's double
with two on, following Grasso,s
|error, clouded his effort . bit.
The Mats bosses feel that Stone,
with control. could step into major
League company now. He walked
1.-TWO and q wild pitch set up the
Tigers only run OF him, with
Groth producing another double
latter Russ Sullivan walked and
took second on the wild pitch
lGroth accounted for four Of the
Tigers nine hits.
Stewart had a 15-2 record last
year with New Bern, N. c., of the
Glass D Coastal Plain League, and
|Stone won 8 and lost 8 with Erie,
lPa. Along with Fleshman, they
may require more seasoning. but
lat the moment they're splicing
the Mats camp with optimism.
The Mats touched up Hal New
houser for nine Of their 10 hits,
adding only one OF Ted Gray in
the three innings he worked.
Most Of the Washington hits on
Hal were a weird assortment OF
pop flies which fell safely, and the
only Nat to get two hits, Irv Noren,
wasn't proud Of them. Both were
bloopers.
| Meet Yankees Today.
GHasso. incidentally, was no
calm character. The fiery re-
ceiver had vowed he'd be friendly
with umpires this season, but he
was involved in a few stormy ses-
sions with Joe Paparella. plate
umpire, and on one occasion
slammed the ball to the ground
in an outburst which would have
removed him from the scene dur
ing the regular season.
4 Joe Haynes. Tom Ferrick and
Sandy Consuegra were scheduled
to face the Yankees here today
las the Mats sought to continue
their exhibition excellence
They've won four, lost one and
tiled one.
| The Mats move on to Clear.
water tomorrow to take on ths
IPhillies. They'll be idle Wednes.
lday, then meet the Red So1
Thursday, Brooklyn Friday night
lat Miami and the Athletics sat.
IlIrfiav and S,,,,day ~ vxyo.x noY,~