By Vinny Spanelli
April 14, 1924—Waiting around for that dumb baseball equipment truck to arrive on Monday I thought it might be a good time for me to explain what us Phillie fans have in store for '24. ( Hey, I can write poetry and wasn't sure I could!) I know it was nine years ago when we last won the league flag, but that means we had a lot of time to figure out what didn't work and fix it.
Our pitching last year stunk something awful, but now we just got Hal Carlson, a good ball-thrower in a trade with the Pirates, and he should help make the rest of the hurlers more stable. Jimmy Ring should throw many innings for us again, after supplying 304 of them last season. Whitey Glazner, Bill Hubbell and Clarence Mitchell weren't all that good, but I believe they will be better this time. Wait—my mama just yelled for me to come downstairs and brush the fleas out of the dog so I'll be right back...
Okay, I'm back. The captain of the hitters once more should be the incredible Cy Williams, who I almost got an autograph from once. In 1923 Cy smashed 41 homers, most of them over the short fence in right field at Baker Bowl, and I saw most of them in front of my eyes so I know he did it. He also knocked in 114 runs, and I'll be surprised if enemy pitchers don't run for cover and hide every time he swings this year. Also in the outfield will be Johnny Moken who hit .313 and maybe Curt Walker again except I'm not sure.
Manager Art Fletcher who seems real smart to me says that Walter Holke will play first base again. Walter used to be on the Braves and hit .311 for us last year with 31 doubles. We did have Cotton Tierney playing the second base, but I didn't like him much so I'm glad he's gone and that we got Hod Ford from the Braves to take his place. I guess we like old Braves or something. Heinie Sand plays at shortstop and has two big problems: He hits like a flea, and he calls himself Heinie even though his real name is John Henry. Seems to me like there's too many of these players with Hun nicknames already. My papa didn't die on that French battle field six years ago so we could watch these kraut-eaters every day.
I have to stop soon and get to bed so I can get up early for school and Opening Day, so I'll talk more about the Phillies team as I watch them. Also, don't forget there's no home games on Sundays because of the Church Day laws, so that will be a good time for me to put any of my new thoughts in order.
Tomorrow for the first game they will have extra streetcars running from here in South Philadelphia to the North neighborhood where Baker Bowl is, so I should have no problem getting to the field and finding Benny in time. I have never missed a first pitch in my life and don't expect to now.
Good night, reader-people!
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