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. Thomasville Dodger skipper Boyd Bartley in his search for “starting: -pitchers- to=-g0.- along...with.. ace_righthander Ronald Wells might have uncovered one here Monday. “He is big Bob Virkstis, a lefty who has been used mostly in relief 80, for this season. But Monday Bartley started him against Tifton, in the second game of a twin-bill and, the 6’ 4”, 210-pounder from Grand Rapids, Mich., blanked the Blue Sox to post the first shut out for a ‘Thamasville moundsman this year. _. “Right now, I plan to try to use him again as a starter,” Bartley said, “But then he might be more valuable to us as a relief pitch er. We will just have to wait and see, bu he showed me a whole lot Monday night.” Virkstis has been one of the workhorses on the Dodger mound staff since the season opened. He has seen action in 11 games, the most appearances for a Thomasville pitcher. His only other start -‘before “Monday—night was-against—Fitzgerald_on_ April _28, and_the ‘Redlegs handed him the single Jess he has been charged with. His victory over Tifton left the big man, his teammates call him Moose, with a 3-1 record. That means he picked up two wins coming to the rescue of other mound corps members. He has been called on to pitch in relief with very little rest. He saw action in two different games one day and it has been nothing unusual for him to work, in relief, every other day. . __ For “a-player—his- size; -he’s the-biggest-on—the~Thomasville team, -you-might- think- that-a -burning fastball would be his main pitch ing assest. Virkstis has fair speed, but control, something very un usual for a left-hander, is his stock in trade. In 32 inning he has issued the grand total of only eight bases on balls, has given up 35 hits and struck out 27. That low base on ball-output spells control with capital “C”. “Yes, Virkstis definitely has good control,” Bartley said. “He's the kind of pitcher who doesn’t throw a strike right over the heart of the plate. He can work much finer than that. When he's right he can get the balls over the corners or almost anywhere he wants them.” Of course Virkstis has his short comings. If he didn’t he wouldn't be playing in Class D ball for the fourth season even though he’s just back from four years in the Air Force. “Virkstis is one of those pitchers who will be going along great and then the roof will start falling in on him,” Bartley said. “It happens real quick sometimes. He'll be mowing batters down and then they will start hitting him ,and that’s it.” _ Big Bob broke into organized baseball in 1948 at Zanesville, Ohio, and posted an 11-3 record that year. He went to Greenwood, Miss., in 1949 and won 13 and lost 10. He was going good at Greenwood in 1950, he had a 10-5 record, when he was called to military service. If he could have finished out the season he might have earned himself a promotion. But now after four years away from baseball he is almost having to start over again. But Virkstis is still young, he’s only 23, and he still has plenty of time to move a long way up the baseball ladder. It just might be that his shutout WI ibé w flipp... 6... .0 wigger and better things. At least he, Bartley and the Thomasville baseball fans are hoping 60. ~Here And There In Sports _-Florida State University football coach Tom Nugent had better keep an eye on his quarterback Lee Corso in case some professional baseball scout starts waving a contract in his face. Corso hit .400 for the Seminole nine this season. Many a college grid coach has seen one of his football stars gobbled up by organized baseball be fore his college days were over. Remember what happened to Flor ida's passing ace Heywood Sullivan? —Big Don Bisplinghoff, who won the Piney Woods tourney here in 1954, turned intome fine golf this season for the University of Florida links team this year. In six matches, he had an average score of 1v.7 per round. He won five of his six individual matches and the Gators, as a team, finished with a 7-3 record. At least one minor league baseball club is showing a big im provement in attendance this season. Orlando, Fla., in the Class D Florida State League attracted 9,500 paying customers to its first 10 home games this season. During the entire '53 campaign, Orlando drew only 19,000 people. The Columbus Cards may set a new Sally League record this year, but one they certainly won't be proud of. Through Sunday they had won only six of 27 games to give them a .222 won lost percentage. The lowest won-loss percentage ever set by a Sally Loop team was .247 in 1952 when Augusta finished with sour 38-116 mark. The Cards just might lower this record. —Here is one of those little incidents which must go into the “such -#s life’ department. The Sporting News reports Don Dempacy, former pitcher with the Pittsburgh Pirates and now a physical education instructor at a San Francisco Junior high was lecturing to..his class the other day. “Knowing how to jump and how to fall is important, Dempsey told the class. Than he stepped back, fell over a mat,and broke his arm. ...Gene Freese, the boy who won Georgia-Florida League Rookie of the Year honors at Brunswick in 1953 and is now a dating sensa tion, with the New Orleans Pets, has other talents. He is a pianist. Gene also has a baseball brother, George, who plays the violin. When thy are not blasting home runs, they are picking up some extra change as musicians. Bhattathcy (Albany Herald) Bowers says that both manager Russ Papert of Albany and Red Treadway of Fitzgerald tag the Thom yacville Dodgers as the team to beat in the Georgia-Florida League ‘row ‘that they have received new players. I must go along and rank, tie Dodgers as definite contenders, but the Brunswick Pirates wook l ike the toughest club I have seen the Dodgers play. The record ‘bears that out .The Dodgers have won only once in five starts ‘against the Pirates.
Newspaper Details
Thomasville Times Enterprise
Thomasville, Georgia, US
Wed, May 19, 1954
Page 4
Full Page
Clipped by
Ashley T.
USA 14 Jun 2026
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