Indianapolis Times, Indianapolis, Marion County, 27 January 1943 — Page 7
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)
, 13-Year Career With Yankees
3
~ with ‘the inimitable Stengel. After
of 1775, El Goofo bpasts:
“to go off on tangents.
. I was born, back in.1910, my Irish
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WEDNESDAY,
WEDNESDAY, JAN. 27, 1943
Vernon (Lefty)
El Goofy, the Wise-Cracking Clown of New York, Winds Up
By OSCAR FRALEY United Press Staff Correspondent NEW YORK, Jan. 27.—Senor Vernon (Lefty) Gomez, the goofy Castilian whose southpaw slants helped the New York Yankees to seven pennants and six world championships, was sold up the river to the Boston Braves today for an estimated $10,000. The 32-year-old Spanish-Irishman thus ended a 13-year career with the Yankees, during which his antics became legendary and his blazing fast ball made him one of base- | ball's ace souhpaws, In that pe-|pitchers—but one of its poorest finriod he won 189 games and lost 101. jshers. In almost all of his 15 vic"El Goofy, a wise-cracking baseball | tories he needed late inning help clown, was purchased from the San! from Johnny Murphy to hold his Francisco Seals in 1929 for $35,000.! jong. He was a star of the-Yankee mound | jgast year he wen six games and staff from 1931 through 1939, but [ost four and did not see service had been on the market since 1940, jn the world series as the Yanks when, suffering from an arm Injury, were dethroned by the St. Louis e won three and lost three. He! rds came, back to’ win 15 while losing| > oo five in 1941—but remained up for job as a watchman in‘a Lynn, Mass., sale. defense plant. " The Yankees secured waviers on him at the end of the 1940 campaign and almost sold him to Brooklyn. The deal fell through when President Larry MacPhail of the Dodgers insisted on a Safianal won more than 20 games a season— clause under which i Gomez would |21 in 1931, 24 in 1932, 26 in 1934 revert to the Yankees if his arm and ,21 in 1937. His best season did not respond to’ treatment. was 1934 with 26 wins against five Gomez became known in 1941 us losses and an earned. run average
one of the game's best starting of 2.33. J 8 =n =» Ts 8 0% Gom Make Up
Yanks, 1930, won two games and lost five. before being sent to St. Paul for experience. he came up to stay. Four times he
mez and Stengel M The Newest Comedy Team
By JACK CUDDY T United.Press Staff Correspondent NEW YORK. Jan. 27.—We envy the lads who will be covering the Boston Braves this year. Thev'll be riding “laughter limited,” guffawing constantly at the gags given off by that brand new team of wisecrackers—sStengel and Gomez. ’ Mister, there's a combination of Merry Andrews that may make the Beantown populace forget all about Abbott and Costello, Burns and Allen, etc. There'll be no rationing of laughing gas in the land of Cabots and cod. Whether Vernon (Goofy) Gomez has enough steam left in his portside flipper to help Manager Casey Stengel's penhant campaign we do not know. But Gomez's shift from the Yankees to the Braves certainly will provide Stengel with a perfect foil for his , dugout drolleries. There should be state-wide rejoicing throughout Massachusetts at today's . announcement that Lefty Gomez, the Yankees’ prankster pitcher, has been teamed
"one look at me, and ‘then said to my mother, ‘Let's call it quits.’ Ma liked Vernon better.” When Lefty came up to the’ “Yanks from the San Francisco club in 1930 he was fearfully underweight, packing only 150 pounds on a 6-foot-112-inch beam. Cheese diets didn’t help, so the Yanks ordered him to have his teeth yanked out and they paid the dental bill, which amounted “to $1500. After that Lefty assured reporters: “I'll stick with the club now. After putting $1500 in my mouth, you can bet the Yanks won't let my face out of
Gomez—the sight.”
gay caballero ia way—now is a resident of Lexington, Mass. Imbued with the Lexington spirit “I'm a minute-man now. || I'm on the mound one minute, jand under the
showers the next.” | Military Secret
During the | off-season, Lefty has been working in a Massachusetts defense plant. Buf it is still -.a military secret what defense the workers fashioned against his jests. Lefty's slants at life have been screwier than his heyday curves. When he first blew into New York, back in 1930, he rode through the “big apple” with the grotesque abanden of a sailor on horseback. This stringbean of a youth from Rodeo, Cal., slicked back his dark hair and treated Broadway to a ‘hodgepodge +f fireball pitching, cheese diets. night-spot romance and rib-tickling buffoonery: ] He once explained to his Yankee mates: “Maybe the name ‘Vernon’ that my folks gave me caused me I never And it wasn’t When
Career Highlight
Gomez had a bad season in 1935, and when contract time came next spring, the late Col. Jacob Ruppert sliced him from $20,000 to $7500. Ruppert relented after a bit after Lefty told him, “You keep the salary, Ill take the cut.” When the late Lou Gehrig came to the end of his “iron. man” string and was lifted from the Yankee lineup in Detroit, the Yankee dugout was mantled in grief. -But El Goofy relieved the tension: by remarking to Gehrig: “It took ’em 15 years to get you out of there. They get me out in 15 minutes.” One of. the highlights of Lefty's career came in Cleveland in 1940. He was batting against Bob Feller, the speed merchant. It was getting dark. Between pitches, Lefty reached into a hip pocket and pulled out a card of matches. -He lit one and held it up close” to his face. Umpire Bill Summers stopped the game momentarily and inquired: “What's the matter— can't you see Feller out there?” “Yeah, but I want to be damned sure he’ can see me,” Gomez replied.
| { | |
licked that name. my father's. choice either.
mother asked my Spanish father what I should be called. My father bent over the cradle, took
After the season he took a §8
Gomez. in his first year with the |}
The next year{ 8
| cided it would not be a '‘goat” for the “hot potato” legislatiom, and acted
{than any other—E., I. Higgs
former
JAN. 27, 1943
_ PAGE: 1
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Foces Pittsbu rgh
George Patterson, obtained by the Indianapolis hockey club from the disbanded New Haven Eagles, will see action tomorrow night when the Caps entertain the Pittsburgh Hornets on the Coliseum ice beginning at 8:30 p. m. A large percentage of the gate receipts will be turned over to the fund to fight infantile paralysis.
1 tion,
Tora lavade
Wabash Lair Friday Night
Clyde Lyle’s Rochester high school quintet, the last major cage team to fall from the ranks of the undefeated, gets a chance to reassert its hold on state recognition Friday when the Zebras invade Wabash in one of 16 top battles-of a 40-game card. Rochester, with 13 victories and only one defeat, is rated to wind up its season with four more triumphs’ to offset a one-point defeat to South Bend Central Monday night, but Lyle fears his bruised and tired cagers may meet trouble with Wabash, Peru and Warsaw. Ft. Wayne Central (11-1) faces Ft. Wayne North Side on Friday and Elkhart Saturday, seeking to draw closer behind the Zebras. The Central outfit may have competihowever, when Jasper, also with 11 wins and one loss; aims for twin killings over Bloomington and Evansville Bosse this week-end. Every member of Indiana's top10 goes into battle on the slate of more than 40 significant contests.
Jennings Back
Bill Jennings, who has been playing with the Detroit Red Wings, will return to the Indianapolis Caps for tomorrow night's tilt here with Pitts“burgh, Manager Herbie Lewis said today. Jennings will be
Go mez Sold To Boston Braves For $10,000 :
The Pittsburgh Panther Is Sprouting Its Claws Again
By HARRY GRAYSON | Times Special Writer :
PITTSBURGH, Jan. 27. — Pittsburgh hiring Clark Daniel Shaughnessy is evidence that the Panther’s claws are sprouting again. Given one clever ball-handler, Clark i and his modern i T with man-in-motion should do : well with boys from the hard coal region. | . Coaches and scouts who saw both say Professor Shaughnessy's Stanford teams quarterbacked by Frankie Albert had many more variations than the similarlydrilled Notre Dame varsity of last fall. > And contrary to popular notion there has been no de-em-phasis on Pitt material since
man and athletic officials got reiljgion in their attempt to gain admittance tol the Big Ten, and
» ” »
A call means _ the choking at its source of one of the mes powerful football formations ever concocted — the Pitt single wing developed by Dr. Jock Sutherland. A beautiful
Sutherland’s better clubs, comprised of lads| of nearly the same height and i executing the ; . end run that, became famous as the Pittsburgh sweep. Dr. Sutherland pulled out eterybody but the | water boy. t On cut-back plays and deep reverses, the old Pitt teams did not { round corners. They made difficult right angle turns on a dime, which | added to the deception. The opposition rarely knew where the play | was going. Mechanically perfect robots couldn’t have made the cut- | back go as well as did the finer Pitt backfields. | Dr. Sutherland believed a football was something to be carried
Clark Shaughnessy
Chancellor Jahn Gabbert Bow- |
made things |so unpleasant for: Dr. John Bain Sutherland that he resigned.
thing to behold was one of Dr.
Chapman Takes
Over Big Ten
| i | | | |
Scoring Lead
CHICAGO, Jan. 27 (U. P.).— | Tom Chapman of Iowa today took - the Big Ten individual basketball |scoring leadership, but the Hawkeye star's time at the top appears | limited. : | Chapman garnered 34 points in [two losing games. against Indiana | to boost his seasonal total to 94 | points and give him the league lead | by a narrow margin over Andy | Phillip of Illinois,” who was idle. Phillip is second with 92 points, The “catch” to Chapman's lead= ership is the fact he has played (six league games as compared with | four for Phillip. | Chapman finished third in the individual scoring race last season, behind Johnny Kotz of Wisconsin ( and Otto Graham of Northwestern, | with 188 points in 15 contests. That finish equalled the highest ranking | for an Iowa, player in the scoring table in 19 seasons.
Has Best Average
Phillip holds to the best points per .game average with 23 and has scored the most field goals, 40. Ralph Hamilton, Indiana ‘ forward, who ran wild in the opening game of the series with Iowa to bag 31 points and then came back with 21 points in the finale jumped from ninth to third place in the standing. He now has a total of 8T points in five contests. : : Ben Trickey of Iowa is fourth with 73 points and Allen Menke of
on the front line with George in the arm, not tossed around in the air, where the. other side had as pu Jus anh with 65 points. Both Patterson and Adam Brown. much chance of getting it as his own. ! jave played Ave games, . Les Douglas, another mem- Ei vin The 10 leading sli STE ber of the Caps who went to : I , | Champman, Towa .... 6 38 22 94 Detroit with Jennings to re- |® PITTSBURGH grew weary of being shoved around, and there is | Phillip, Ilinois ...... 0. ‘12 03 hi . # the little matter of the debt onthe Pitt Stadium{ Home attendance |Hamilton. Indiana ... 5 38 "11 « 87 place two injured members of . . ; Prickey, Towa *....... ¢ 28 17 73 : Y i dropping to 63,000 last autumn was the tipoff. In Dr. Sutherland's last | A. Menke, Purdue .... 5 -29 7 85 the Red Wings, will not be | | ; ; Ehl Purd 5 221 1s 59 back for the game | year, Pitt drew 76,000 people for the Fordham game alone. His out- |G minnesota... 5 18 18 34 : | fits attracted as many as 250,000 at home, Were bapner attractions Williams, Indisns roei 3 3 1p 1 Tr, wire on the road. > | Toren Toate i 20 9 49 :
PS
‘Trester Bill' Is Scheduled | To Reach Senate Floor Today
eral assembly—the bill to topple the structure of Arthur L. Trester's Indiana High School Athletic association—was scheduled to be tossed onto the senate floor “without recommendation” today. . : Failing to agree on the bill, judiciary “B” committee yesterday de-
unanimously to throw it into the | arena where ‘the senate could fight Trester with depriving Logansport it out in the open. lof the regional basketball tourna- | It appeared that one man more | ment as a “spite” measure against | (R.|him and his committee, proposed | Connersville) —had saved Commis-|an smendment to the bill that sioner Trester's IHSAA from drastic| Would insure more coach repre-
“Uniformly fine since 1869!”
action. Higgs, who describes him- sentation and take away some of in Indiana,” decried -the bill be-| tatorship.” cause there “was not a bit of" “I am not striving to get even against Trester except “letters from | favor of amending the bill to permit citizens and principals who refused his reappointment. But I would Higgs warned. the committee that, | public instruction have power to apif the bill was reported out favor-|point members of the board of conport, or I might ask a public principals thenfselves.” hearing.” w———— | ° year-old author of the bill and Red Ww g TE Springville high school In S op charges of “hearsay evidence” with | the assertion that proponents of : The Detroit Red Wings climbed to persons to come here and testify, within one point of league-leading but it would blacken the good league race last night by defeating | Chairman Clyde R. Black (R. the Bruins, 5-3, before 12,646 fans Logansport) who yesterday charged 8 ; | : Detroit broke fast with three goals | in the first period and then fought second win over the Bruins within! four days. Carl Liscombe gave Detroit a 3-0 first period edge. Buzz Boll netted | before Eddie Wares tallied for Detroit. Bill Hollett made it close third period solo but Liscombe clinched the game for Detroit with
self as “the first sports: columnist | Trester’s alleged “influence and dicconcrete evidence” to charges | with Trester,” Black said. “I am in to have their names mentioned.” like to see the superintendent of ably, #I might file a minority re-|trol, after they are elected by the Senator James Armstrong, 25basketball player. answered re B 2 B eo oston bruins | the bill “could have gotten lots of Boston in" the National Hockey | reputation’ of Indiana basketball.” at Boston Garden. | off a late Boston rally to score their Don Grosso, Mud Bruneteau and | two goals for Boston in the second when he scored for Boston on a a late tally.
Hank Lieberum Ts In Officer Class
The New York Giants professional football team has lost its right halfback for the duration with the departure for the U. S. Marine cory base at Parris Island, S. C.,. of Donald (Hank) Lieberum, who is to enter an officer candidates’ class, it has been announced here | by Capt. Ralph E. Boulton. officer | in charge of marine induction and | recruiting in Indiana. | Lieberum, who was graduated from Manchester college in- 1940, | has played with the Giants for the last three years. Lieberum’s wife, Margaret, lives in Pt. Wayne, Ind. His parents, Mr. and Mrs. Edward Lieberum, also live in Ft. Wayne,
Temple Beats Cola Labor Temple defeated Royal Crown Colas, 27-25, in a BushFeezle league basketball game at Pennsy gym. Cliff Reed, guard, was high Temple scorer with 10 points
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