Richards Wants Sox Players To Give The Old College Try: Rookie Manager Makes Good On Promise to Have Running Club With Plenty of Hustle, Daily Racing Form, 1951-06-12

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► Richards Wants Sox Players To Give The Old College Try Rookie Manager Makes Good4 On Promise to Have Running Club With Plenty of Hustle By MILTON RICHMAN United Press Sports Writer NEW YORK, N. Y., June 11.— Theres only one way to win your letter on the White Sox— and that is by giving it the "old college try." Sox first baseman Eddie Robinson says manager Paul Richards has only one unvarying credo. "All-that Paul ever asks of his players is that they keep hustling," Robinson declares. "If they do that for him, he never complains." One of the first things Richards stressed when he took over the White Sox reins this spring was the importance of "taking that extra base." Richards had made a close study of the White Sox 1950 records and discovered they often had contented themselves with one base where a little extra effort might have netted them two. "I wont predict where the .White Sox will wind up this year," he said, "but Ill guarantee that theyll do a lot more running than last year. If nothing else, well have a running ball club, you know what I mean, a club that gives it that old college try." Richards has kept his word and for the results he obtained ypU need only consult the American League standings in your newspaper today. No School Boy Discipline Although he insists on the old college try, Richards does not watch his players j after hours as if they were school boys. He leaves the matter of staying in condition up to the judgment of the individual player and has the reputation of being "tolerant." This does not mean, however, that he permits his players to walk all over him. Far from it. While managing Seattle of the Pacific Coast League last year, he demonstrated he could drive players, too. Seattle, composed of a majority of former major leaguers, got off to a* pitiful start and couldnt seem to win for losing. Richards read a riot act that blistered the sensitivities of virtually every player on the club and almost immediately Seeittle deserted the league depths. The freshman White Sox pilot can resort to psychology or force, depending upon what the situation demands. Detroit veteran Hal Newhouser says Richards helped him become a winner when he was catching for the Bengals not so long ago. "I used to get easily ruffled if one of the fielders kicked the ball around while I was pitching," Newhouser recalls. "I was my own worst enemy for awhile until Richards had a few talks with me and straightened me out. He was a wonderful handler of pitchers and a brainy catcher, besides." In the dugout, Richards is no rabble-rouser. He goes about the business .of managing quietly and wherever he has been, he invariably has obtained results. Around the American League, several opposing players have been heard to say: "Id sure like to be playing for Richards." It is the highest compliment a player from a rival club can pay to any manager.


Persistent Link: https://drf.uky.edu/catalog/1950s/drf1951061201/drf1951061201_2_3
Local Identifier: drf1951061201_2_3
Library of Congress Record: https://lccn.loc.gov/unk82075800