Crusher

With the American League pennant odds even-Stephen at "6-to-5 and take your pick," the first-place Detroit Tigers limped into Washington last week for the payoff. Lefty Hal Newhouser (won 22, lost 9) had the miseries in his back; Slugger Hank Greenberg was out with a sprained ankle; Sparkplug Eddie Mayo had a wrenched shoulder.

The base-stealing pitcher-rich Senators, only a half-game back in second place, were set for a kill. Manager Ossie Bluege's razor-sharp club had won ten of its last thirteen games.

At the start, the script read true to form: Newhouser's arm lasted only an inning; Greenberg, pinch-hitting, hobbled to the plate and slapped into a rally-ending double play. But other Tigers supplied crushing ad libs.

After they drove knuckleballer Dutch Leonard (16-7) to cover--Leonard pitched the Tigers out of last year's pennant--40-year-old Doc Cramer broke up the party with a game-winning triple. Score: Detroit 7, Washington 4. In the nightcap, Rudy York shrugged off the menace of high-walled Griffith Stadium (the Senators have hit only one homer there all year) by belting his 18th. That helped Dizzy Trout (18-14) realize an iron-man promise to win five games in two weeks. Score: Detroit 7, Washington 3.

Irishman with a Combination. Nothing mattered much after that. Detroit split the next day's doubleheader. Washington, with only six games left to play, was a gloomy four games back in the lost column. Any combination of six, either Tiger wins (out of nine to play) or Senator losses, would do the trick.

Now the Tigers could really enjoy their fan mail (see cut), and Manager Steve O'Neill could breathe easier. He had been holding his breath for three months as the Tigers grimly held their first-place grip. A down-to-earth Irishman, O'Neill had done much with little./-

There were two key plays in Manager Steve's pennant drive. Last spring, he wangled Roy Cullenbine from Cleveland, laid it on the line in a single pep talk and got him squared away to the business of banging 17 homers (third highest in the league) and batting in 89 runs (second highest). And O'Neill had long since named his trump card by plucking veteran Catcher Paul Richards from the minors to handle Pitchers Newhouser and Trout (40 victories this year, a record 56 last year). . . .

This week, the National League's first-place Cubs and four-games-behind Cardinals begin their final five-game showdown.

/- Only three of his wartime-style regulars --Newhouser, Trout and Greenberg (a better first baseman than outfielder) --could be sure of 1946 jobs. Probable 1946 lineup: Outfielders Dick Wakefield, Barney McCosky, Pat Mullin; Hank Greenberg 1b, Anse Moore 2b, Billy Hitchcock ss, Pinky Higgins 3b; Birdie Tebbetts c.

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