Evening star., 1952-06-19
Rapp, Discarded
By5C|ubs, Hits
500 for Harris
Morrero HurIs Today
In Effort to Sweep
Series With indians
By Burton Howkins
Sfor Stuff Correspondent

NdIS, WHO are IuuCGlOn1Qg sur
prisingly well with lot Of re-
jected merchandise, still are
searching for a flaw in Earl Rapp,
who had been discarded by five
major league clubs before landing
with Washington. He says, "I
can hit anybody If I play regu-
larly." and his 500 average with
the Mats tends to support that
brave statement.
AS the Mats pursued q fourth
straight victory this afternoon
and a sweep Of the three-game
series with the staggering In
dians. Rapp had unloaded nine
hits in 18 attempts. He got two
OF his teams IL blows last night
as the Mats edged Cleveland, 80,
behind Spec Shea's six-hit pitch
ing.
Jackie Jensen, the golden boy
from the Golden Bears of Cali
fornia, unloaded four hits and
Eddie Yost supplied three, includ-
ing a two-run homer off Mike
Garcia in the second inning. But
while Rapp was surpassed in bat
ting accomplishments, he con-
tlnued the steady swatting which
is giving the club quite a lift.
Doesn't Figure to Last.
Rapp's terrific pace doesn't fig
ure to last. of course. He came to
the Mats as a .167 hitter at the
bargain-counter waivers price of
$4,000. He's an average outfielder
with a worse-than-average arm.
but with a bat in his hand he
has shown superiority.
Hes a real good hitter" de-
clareS Bucky Harris, who was gen.
eral manager at Buffalo when
Rapp batted 1925 there in 1946.
Bucky later saw Earl in action in
the Pacific Coast League and his
respect for Rapp's batting didn't
diminish.
Rapp dismisses his light hitting
with the Browns this season.
l"Hornsby (Rogers Hornsby. since
1lred as manager) didn't like me
and wouldn't use me-" Earl saws,
1t came as somewhat of a shock
to Rapp. who came to the Browns
from Oakland, where last year he
had batted 1922, and proceeded
to hit 1927 in the last month of
the season with st. Louis.
Those averages certainly indi-
cate Rapp can hit. He was signed
by the Phillies as a first baseman
after batting All with Swedes-
boro IN. j. High School. They
sent him to Wausau, Wis, in 194O
and he broke into organized base
ball with a .319 average.
The next year it was Jamestown.
N. Y, where he hit $40. Then to
HagerStown, Md, where he
slumped to .283. The next three
years belonged to the Army and
Earl Surged through Africa, Sicily,
Italy, France, Germany and Aus
tria with the 83d Mortar Bat
talon.
Came Up With Tigers.
After his successful season at
Buffalo in 1916, he was purchased
by Detroit, but he was back at
Buffalo in 1947 and hit .294. He
shifted to Seattle in 1948 and hit
.298. The Tigers peddled him to
the White Sox in 1949. After a
month in Chicago, where he bat
ted .260. Earl went to Oakland
and batted .344.
Rapp climbed to .347 with Oak
land in 1850, batting across las
runs, and after he batted 1924
With the same club for three
months in 1851 the New York
Giants purchased him. He went
to bat II times in two months
as a pinch-hitter, got one hit and
landed back with Oakland until
the Browns brought him back to
the majors.
Earl has slammed good pitch
ing. He has hit Art Houtte-
man, Freddie Hutchinson, Virgil
Trucks, Bob Feller and Garcia
since crashing the Mats lineup
and he doesn't figure to view
much more rugged hurting.
The Mats gave Shea an early
lead last night and he protected
it. Washington got a run in the
first inning after Yost opened
with a single. Rapp forced him
then Earl went to third on the
first of Jensen's four singles and
scored after Mickey Vernon flied
deep to Larry Dolby.
Mickey Grasso's double ano
Yost's third home run projected
the Mats into a 80 lead in the
second. That score stood unit
Shea walked Dolby with one out
in the eighth and AL Roser
! (See MATS. Page Cay
,INuts, 3: indians. z