Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1956-03-07
CHUCK LIKES ROCKIES MIRAGE So
Pal Cries for Dresser
And His Undyiing Hope
BY JIMMY CANNON

BY JIMMY CANNON
ORLANDO. Fla. Mar. z
(NANA). The morbid philos-
Iophers who denounce the young
as a shiftless generation should
consult Dick Tettelbach. This
young outfielder, who hit 300 for
Denver last year, is a consecrated
man. Ambition churns in Tettel-
bach and gives him a glorious
appearance. He dwells in a pri-
Ivate mirage where the Senators
are all big leaguers.
The Senators drowned in a
chilly night Of baseball last
year, but Tettelbach regards this
cold darkness as a permanent
and brilliant noontime. He seems
to recognize his colleagues as
the equals Of the other seven
teams in the league. It is as if
ITettelbach decided he might
cause a miracle to happen If he
remained dedicated to the prin-
Iciples he brought to this train
ing site with him.
Any employe familiar with the
performance the Senators gave
last year is entitled to succumb
to dependency and to yearn to
play ball in another place. The
Capital of this country has long
been a slum of baseball. Last
season the Senators drifted
around the league as if they were
being punished for their lack of
skills. Their manager. Charlie
Dresser. preserved an illusion Of
hope which he still maintains
He is a unique man who refuses
to surrender to regret, although
few guys in the sport have had
more temptations,
Dresser Impressed
We were sitting in the dugout
as the players took their cuts
in hitting practice. Dresser had
been schooling the pitchers and
7 hesitated to interview him. I
have known him for a long time
and our relationships have been
friendly. He doesn't complain
about criticism and enjoys man
aging a ball club more than any
one I know. was stalling. my
notebook in my back pocket,
when suddenly Dresser jumped
off the bench.
Look at that kid" Dresser
said reverently.
The young man stood on the
base line between third and
home. The batter hit a fly ball.
The kid tagged up at third base.
He watched as an outf1elder
caught it. He waited until the
ball touched the glove and then
made a quick break toward
home.
1--WE never seen that before"
the manager said.
We were silent as the boy
turned back to third base. He
kicked the bag and took a lead
and the batting-practice pitcher
wound up and threw to the hit
ter. The ball was struck on the
ground. The kid ran home.
"That's Tettelbach," Charlie
said. That's the first time I've
ever seen a kid do a thing like
that. He's practicing tag-ups.
He does that every day while
he's waiting his turn to hit. He
starts in on a ground ball. He
tags up on a fly ball. Long as
I'VE been in baseball, I've never
seen a kid practice breaking
from third. Maybe some of them
other kids will learn it."
Greatest Optimist
There will be no attempt to-
read Dressen's imaginative mind,
but it occurred to me that Tet-
telbach is the greatest optimist
in baseball.
Hes a good base runner"
Dresser explained. And he's a
line-drive hitter"
Unless Tettelbach, a Yale
graduate, strikes a lot of triples.
it is doubtful if he will be able
to use his knowledge Of third
base tag-ups. Not very many
Senators get around to third in
a season. I asked Dresser how
his Spanish was.
Same as last year." he ex-
planned. "Just $3.50. But Tettel-
bach speaks good English"
1t binders Dresser because he
isn't a linguist. He is chatty
fellow but is limited to his type
of shorthand English. The ball
club is populated by a lot, of
Spanish-speaking players from
Cuba and Central America. Last
year I was sitting with Dresser
in his clubhouse when Cuban
kid entered and seemed to be