Prelude to Baseball

Toward the end of February, big-league ball players arrive at training camp towns in Texas and Florida, greet each other as if they had met the day before, settle themselves for after-dinner card games. Old ball players play black jack, hearts, pinochle; younger ones play contract bridge. In the morning, they all play golf. In the afternoon, scrutinized by a few urchins too young to caddy and a few townsfolk too old to pitch horseshoes, they hit fungoes, chase flies, trap grounders, play pepper games (players stand in a small circle, toss baseballs quickly back and forth). After two or three weeks of this, exhibition games start and the teams move north with the sun.

Training camps give pitchers a chance to get the kinks out of their arms, managers a chance to inspect new players, famous players a chance to demand larger salaries, the sporting public a chance to get worked up again about baseball. By mid-April, all of this has been accomplished and the big-league season begins. Experts can guess which are the best teams --this year, the Brooklyn Robins or St. Louis Cardinals in the National League, the Philadelphia Athletics in the American.

Rookies. All big-league clubs have "farms" from which they draw new players. The Brooklyn Robins have a new farm at Hartford, Conn, in addition to their old one at Macon. But they acquired their most unusual 1931 rookie from the Oakland club, Pacific Coast League. He is Catcher Ernest Lombardi, 6 ft. 3 in. high and 220 Ib. heavy with a huge nose and hands big enough to enwrap a baseball as though it were a walnut. The New York Yankees found a monster larger than Lombardi--Jim Weaver, a 6 ft. 7 in. pitcher with a woodchuck jaw. Easily the highest pitcher in the big leagues, Weaver has a good fast ball, fair control.

More extraordinary than either Weaver or Lombardi is Jerome Herman ("Dizzy") Dean, 20-year-old rookie pitcher on last year's champion St. Louis Cardinals. Like loud Art ("the Great") Shires, last year's Washington and Chicago freak, Pitcher Dean self-consciously copies the manners of Author Ring Lardner's fictional rookie baseballers, causing his luggage to be emblazoned by complimentary legends and boasting "there ain't no one can touch me when I bear down." Pitcher Dean stated he would win 20 games.

Old Players. George Herman ("Babe") Ruth, as all baseball fans well know, was once a high-grade pitcher. Many managers last week considered new places for old players. Most remarkable is the case of Mark Koenig, last year shortstop for the Detroit Tigers. This year he will probably be a pitcher. John Watwood, Chicago White Sox left fielder, may shift to first base. Lindstrom, the Giants' third baseman will try the outfield. Rogers Hornsby, new manager of the Chicago Cubs, may transfer from second base to first, moved famed Hack Wilson from centre field to right.

Games. The country's most famed religious sect baseball team is that of the House of David (Benton Harbor, Mich.), whose members believe in letting their hair and beards grow while they await the millenium, secure in the faith of their own immortality. Many famed ballplayers, when outmoded in the big leagues, might find solace and gain in such precepts by joining the House of David baseball team which netted $40,000 one season. Against the Brooklyn Robins last month, the House of David team scored two runs in the last inning after a rally led by bush-bearded Pitcher Herbst, but lost the game 9 to 10.

Last fortnight at St. Petersburg bewhiskered Pitcher Swaney held the Yankees hitless for four innings, but could not save his House of David teammates from a 5-to-0 defeat. Handicapped by a flowing false beard, Babe Ruth whammed no homeruns.

Girl. In Chattanooga, Tenn., Ruth was informed that the Chattanooga Look-outs had a female pitcher, Virne Beatrice ("Jackie") Mitchell. "How big is she?" he enquired. Told that Pitcher Mitchell was 5 ft. 8 in., slim, left-handed and 17 years old, Babe Ruth yawned. Said he: "I don't know what's going to happen. . . . I don't know what things are coming to."

The next day, Batsman Ruth swung politely at two of Pitcher Mitchell's pitches, then demanded that the ball be inspected by the umpire. Then he allowed a third strike to go past without swinging at it. Heavy-hitting Lou Gehrig also "struck out." Presently Pitcher Mitchell walked a batter, was taken out of the game. Said she, "I did not know Babe Ruth had a weakness, but ... I have . . . wonderful control ... I am the happiest girl in the world."

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.