(Yesterday's entry contained an error regarding the side of the plate from which Sam Rice batted. Rice was a lefthanded batter. Our thanks go to Val Kell (who else) for catching it. While it is embarrassing for me to have to admit I missed the error, it is presented as Deveaux wrote it. I am not going back to yesterday's post and correcting the error because to do so would make Deveaux's text nonsensical. Instead, I apologize for the annoyance, and offer only the timeworn excuse: "Deuce happens!")
Joe Cronin would observe many years later that he wished he'd never agreed to play and manage at the same time. Having had to deal with players, management, and the press, while maintaining a high caliber of play on the field was an exceedingly tall order. After this season, Cronin would nearly reconsider and ask to step down, but would decide not to. That would be something he would always regret.
For the fifth game of the World Series, the New York Giants would evidently be going with Hal Schumacher, winner of game two. Cronin, who'd used four starters, as opposed to Bill Terry's three, opted to break his own pattern and bypass Lefty Stewart, the starter of the first game, and to go instead with General Crowder, the righthander. This seemed, in the eyes of more than a few keen observers, to defy logic. Firstly, Cronin would be playing right into his opponent's power -- the Giants' two best hitters, Bill Terry and Mel Ott, were both lefthanded hitters. Secondly, Cronin had thought enough of Walter Stewart to start him in the all-important first game.
While it was true that Stewart had gotten shelled early in the first game, Crowder had hardly done any better in game two. Given that he been handed the ball less often than had Crowder during the regular season, Stewart had done just as well. Nonetheless, Cronin had more confidence in Crowder during the year, and regardless of the righty-lefty matchup, it would be the General who the Senators would follow into this last battle at Griffith Stadium.
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