The guardian. [volume] (Boston, Mass.) 1901-1960, 1955-12-10
Red Sox Now Need
Left-Handed Ball Park
Continued From Page One

at first
Each and every one Of them were powerful right hand
ed suggers who took dead aim the short left field wall
whenever they came to bat
1t was their uncanny ability to bounce doubles on
the wall and drop into the net that drove rival
And though this deadly right-handed power did not
win the sox multitude of pennants, it made them all
but nvncible home and usually found them in photo
finish for the pennant late in September.
So if you really want to know what's wrong
with the Red Sex, il might be well to note that
the smuggling, right handed infeId has gone, and
puny left handed htters have taken their
places.
Instead of Higgins and FOxx and KeM at third
the Sox now the Ieft-handed batter Grady
Hatton. And, to make long story short, they have
left-handed hitting Billy Klaus at shOrtstOp left
handed hitting Billie Goodman at second base and
left-handed hitting Mcky Vernon first we
hope.
And if you add left-handed hitting Ted Williams in
left field you readily understand why the sox haven't
been winning many games as in the old days.
Pitching? We would say 1t has grown stronger in re-
cent years instead of deteriorating.
The great" staff which is given credit for winning
pennant 1946 had Hughson Micky Harris and
Ferriss When you get through mentioning those
three names, you must call for your thinking cap to-
name the rest
All that talk about those mighty Red sOx pitching
Remember the afternoon in the Yankee Sta
dunn when Joe Mccarthy called aging sore
HughsOn to relieve Ellis Kinder in desperate
attempt to win the game which decided the PEN
which we lost?
Remember the afternoon at Fenway Park
when the only pitcher Joe Mccarthy could find
ready for the pIay-OH game with Cleveland
old Denny GaIehOuse?
Great pitching stats, Nothing Of the kind.
the hitters deadly field hitters
through most of every season carrying fra pitching
staff on their shoulders.
We've had fine Red soA pitching stats in recent years.
Mel Parnel, McDermot Kinder, Kiely, Sullivan, Nxons
Brewer, Hurd, and into the night
Put any of these five the mound the stretch
behind Cronn Foxx Kel Higgins Doerr ct AL they'd
shameless of American
But all of sudden the right-handed sluggers have
disappeared and in their places these puny portsde
hitterS who into ecstaceS whenever they manage to
reach the left field wall on second bounce
When last looked the sox had five left-handed
hers out of eight the team exclusive Of their pitchers
Meanwhile the chummy left field wall is still there
but only the of rival managers their
lineup with rght-handers when they reach the park
Knowing Joe Cronin, we seriously doubt that
he will allow his Red Sox teams to play under this
handicap for long
The sox now fundamentally, ball team of
left-handed spray hitters. And for the most part
through necessity
| williams and Vernon have the power to clear
that distant right field wall into the bull pens But
not HattOn or Goodman Klaus
Now if the sox management were to bring that right
field wall in few yards and move the left field wall out
few yards you'd have ball park ideally suited for
the personnel hand
You might get the argument from some fans that
the present Sox lineup is only temporarily until such
time the talented rockies in the farm system
ready to bring up.
That my friends is strictly case Of whstng In the
dark must keep mind that the sox are printing two
rockies to take left field when Ted williams decides
to quit
They are Gene Stephens and Fay Throneberry Both
are left-handed hitters.
Moreover, down in Louisville the Sox are boastng
about chap who is their Of She rookie crop His
name Is Marty Keough, and If he doesn't become regu-
lar this year they say he's cinch to the outfeld
at Fenway Park the year after.
And this young Keough boy must inform you, is
a left-handed hitter also
The entire pattern Of future Red SOx team
seems to be founded an array Of fast-n moving,
spray hitting Ieft-handed batters
But nowhere in major league baseball could
they be more out Of place than at Fenway Park
it is stands.
We may be all wrong. Trades may already be in the
wind to replace the array of rghthanded batterng
that thrilled Red Sox fans for many years
But the many kind words being said about Klaus and
Vernon, Stephens and Hatton and Keough are not the
words of baseball management that has any such plan
In mind
1t is our belief that Joe Cronin flashed the Yawkey
bankrol to every in the league in an attempt
to buy rght-handed smuggling team for Boston failed
Wnlch leaves MIN with the alternative Of building his
future clubs the cream of his rookie crop And
so happens that in most every instance the best Of
his rockies southies.
For year So Cronn may delay making any dras-
tic changes in the distances fences TO see If an
other Kell Higgins or Doerr can be discover
ed somewhere in the farm clubs or on the sandlots
Failing in this, you expect some big news about
shorter right field fence to aid his lefty spray htter
at Fenway Park
If you recall some of last summers box scores Il
usually required five six hits for the sox to score
couple of runs
Not the greatest pitching stats Of our time could
win pennant on this type Of offensive support
Cronn knows it.
Furthermore Cronin has fine taste for long ball hit
ters Which should give all Of hope that before too