- BILL DOAK LOOKS BETTER THAN EVER BEFORE IN CAREER
- HIS FORM IS MASTERFUL
- Cardinal Leader Points Out to Recruit Pitchers What Makes a Great Hurler.
March 27, 1920 Age 29
The St Louis Star and Times
SPRING TRAINING, BROWNSVILLE. TEX, March 27.
When Bill Doak reported for the season of 1919 he was only a shadow. He had had stomach trouble all the winter before and, when this began to show signs of leaving him, got himself embroiled in the auto accident which practically ruined the Cardinals’ chances in the first part of the campaign. This season, there is a different tale to tell. The Pittsburgher is in the best of shape and he admits it too, that he has been in years. He has all the pepper and ginger of a recruit seeking to impress Rickey with his baseball wares. He is among the first on the field and among the last to leave it.
Showing Against Athletics
While Manager Rickey realized that Bill was in great form, he made sure of it, when, in the fourth game against the American leaguers, played at Donna, Tex., he asked Doak to take up the pitching burden at the end of the fifth inning. Bill was more than willing to oblige and showed that what Rickey hoped was true. He mowed down the Athletics in fine style, using the doomed “spitters” now and then to the absolute befuddlement of the enemy hitters.
As Rickey is seeking control above all pitching assets this year, and as Doak is a hurler with the best of that ingredient, it is worth while to see just how the veteran went against the men who faced him. His first inning was the sixth and the tale of it is shortly told. After mostly clean pitching, but with one on in the ninth, Bill put on the gas and Witt fanned for the third out and the end of the game.
Rickey Is Delighted.
The boss of the Cardinals was frankly delighted, though not surprised at Doak’s showing. “Some people may not realize.” he said, “how much it means to us to have a pitcher like Doak in the condition he is in this spring. Everyone knows, or should know, that our problem is pitching, and that control is the thing which worries us most. We can cross Doak off the list of uncertainties right now. He is ready. Physical condition was the only possible handicap to Doak’s efficiency at any time. He is not the huskiest man in the world and, last year, showed plainly the effects of illness. This year, he ought to be – and I am confident he will be – one of the most effective pitchers in the National League.
Spring 1920 – Ladies in Frocks
