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Views of ,. . SPORTBy RED SMITHBoy ManagerST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — A year sigro Solly llctruis was an inficlder on the payroll or the Phillies but not, he suspected, for long, In 15157 he had*batted a bristling .185 and showed promise of qualifing for a tribute that Ring Lardner had paid many years earlier to another athlete. (“Although he was n very poor hitter, Lardner wrote, irhe was also a very poor .fielder.”)Every time Solly passed tiedesk In (lie Phils’ hotel in Clear water be turned an apprehensive glance toward the mail boxes, fearing to discover a document reading: You are hereby notified that your contract has been assigned to the Terre Haute club. About the most he dared hope for was that his release might be delayed into May, for he needed something like 18 days to become an eight-year man in the majors and move up a bracket in the players’ pension scale.It was autumn before the release came, and bv that time he wanted it. In Hie meantime he had added more than ICO points to his batting average and the pale lager eye of Gussic Busch, questing for a successor to Fred Hutchinson as manager of the Cardinals, had come to rest on the Phillies’ come-biick-msn-of-1958.Now he presides daily over a sweaty ritual on A1 Lang Field here, trying to choose from a squad of 50 or so the 25 men most likely to make St. Louis a contender for the National Lore guc pennant. It is a squnlt;] of exlravangantly mixed description, ranging from beardless Ray Sadecki. a lefthandcd pitcher or 18 with one year of experience in Winnipeg, to biue-jowled Sal Maglie, who had worn out a dozen razors and hundreds of hitters before Sadccki was born,CONSIDERING that the Cardinals have only one player named Stanley Frank IJusial, not everybody would consider Hemus’ job an enviable one. Still, it’s I he job Solly has wanted since his rookie season with Pocatello, Idaho, in 134G. and if it’s no sinecure that will come as no surprise to him. Nothing in baseball ever came easily for him.“He was a heavy-legged kid from the beginning, Johnny Keane was saying, couldn't run much, couldn’t range far on the infield. He could hit, though, and he came to play. Keane was Solly’s manager in Houston in 1947. A veteran on the Cardinals' organization, he was the first' man Hemus chose for his coaching staff on becoming manager,“I've never gone all the way Keane said, ‘‘with those who say Solly couldn't run, field, hit, or throw, hut still found ways to beat you. Like they said about Eddie Stanky. I thought Solly did everything pretty well, eon-ltdcring the tools lie had to •tart with. He had to play his hardest every day and he knew It, and that’s how he played.Tb« one big doubt I had about him, I wondered whetherhe eonif] ever piny in real good twill with Hie arm he luid. 1 thought that might keep him down when they might overlook some other .linxiUilions bceau.se of his luistle. Also, I was always afraid he’d get hurt, the way ho played. When he slid into n Iwse he always came up with bruises, because that whs the way he had to slide.”“1 REMEMBER a play In 1948,” said Clark Nealon. Houston newspaperman. Solly was Playing second with Don Holhveg on first biise. You remember Bollweg — got up with the Yankees in time to become Cart Erskinc's Kith strikeout in that World Series game, Somebody hit a line drive toward right and Bollweg went for it. .Jumped for it,” Keane said. ^ Jumped for it,” Nealon said, “and just tipped it with his mill. He delayed the ball just that fraction, and it sailed awav out to right field with Solly after it. ile caught, it before if touched the ground.”No reason for him to be there. Keane said, because he didn't have a chance, But lie made the play. That's what i mean about him.Hemus played second base that year, Nealon said, and made a put-out at every base.” He raised his voice. “Solly. wh» hit that ball off Bo’llweg’s glove?‘'Noren, the manager said.And there’s lrv Noren out there now,” a guy on the bench said. Playing for Hemus.”MARTY MARION, tall and loan in civilian clothes, came in from the infield where ho had been offering advice to Julio Got ay, a kid from Puerto Rico whose batting style reminds Hemus — faintly an] wistfully — of Hank Aaron, .Marion is part owner of the Houston team now.Were yon Marlon's successor as shortstop with the Cardinals?” Hemus was asked.“Yes, Alex Grammas took the job away from me. The Cardinals paid SHW.ooo to buy him out of the Cincinnati organization and he beat me out of the job,Where did you go then?”Hemus wrinkled his round, snub - featured face. To the bench.” he said. “Grammas was traded back to Cincinnati and then this club got him hack last full and here lie is, my regular short stop. He always was a sure fielder. ! think he's a real good ball player. -You've got to like him,' a guy said. Like Gene Tttnney. He always names Jack Dempsey as the greatest lighter ot all lime.”
Newspaper Details
Florence Morning News
Florence, South Carolina, US
Sat, Mar 07, 1959
Page 3
Full Page
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Monte N.
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