What They Said At The Time: Newark Evening News, April 3, 1937 (Part 2, Joe DiMaggio)
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BY FRED J. BENDEL
Staff Correspondent
(The previous excerpt noted that George Selkirk was leading the Yankees in Spring Training batting with a .415 mark. This passage continued that story…)
Joe DiMaggio lost ground when he went to the ninth to get a base hit, after drawing one pass earlier in the game. DiMaggio is now hitting .371. His hits have been good for seven runs driven home.
Joe was somewhat perturbed at the fact he failed to get a hit off the first two Tallahassee flingers, Robinson and Lowry, southpaws.
Di Maggio’s Trouble
“I have discovered that my average against left-handed pitchers was lower than against right-handers in the American League,” confided Joe. “I do not know why this should be. Ordinarily it is just the reverse with a right-handed hitter.”
“One of the few left-handers I really hit hard was Elon Hogsett, who has a great curve ball. I guess I’ll take a leaf out of Ty Cobb, my old master’s schoolbook and get hold of a southpaw to pitch to me mornings at home. They tell me Ty was helpless before Doc White, star southpaw of the White Sox, until Cobb practiced an hour every day against left-handed pitching. The he hit them like he owned them.”
