Of course, "MUD." means at least two things, but in this instance it denotes Man of Destiny. And that's just what Salvo is to the 1939 edition of Bill Terry's New York Giants.
Every year for the past four reasons, Terry has flashed a freshman pitching star for his Polo Grounds Gazelles. In 1935. Slick Castleman won 15 and lost 6. Harry Gumpert had his coming out party in 1986—11 won and 3 lost. In 1997, it was Cliff Melton, he of the sail-like ears, who clicked for 20 and 9. Last year's first-year ace was Bill Lohrman, his and 6 falling short of those previous years, but living true to tradition.
This year, it's Manuel Salvo of the Sacramento, Cal, Salvos. A mound giant if ever there was one, he shoots skyward 6 feet 4 inches and puts 210 pounds of weight behind his fast one.
For a half a dozen years he's been an outstanding Pacific Coast league pitcher, strike out king for two years past as ace of the San Diego Padres, conqueror of the Detroit Tigers' Freddy Hutchinson in their two meetings last year and today a full-fledged starting pitcher with a club that's won plenty of pennants with pitching.
Promising Man Everything about Salvo captured the experts' eyes during spring fraining—the steam in his fast ones, on the playing field on the hill. Certainly, his 1938 record is eloquent enough.
He was out of action for about three weeks in mid-season due to wrenched shoulder muscle. Despite missing that time, he went on to amass more strikeouts than any rival hurler. His 191 were achieved in 239 innings. The runner-up in that department, Dick Barrett of Seattle had his 188 strikeouts spread over 328 innings.
The day Salvo's strike out parade blazed past the century mark was a red-letter occasion. The date was Tune 22, the opposing team Seattle. and the opposing pitcher, Freddy Hutchinson—eventually the won-lost percentage leader of the Coast League, and until recently hailed by the Detroit Tigers as the American League's "Wonder Boy."
Senor Manuel not only registered his hundredth strickeout of the season, but he blanked Seattle for a 3-0 victory, his 13th of the year. The only date and game that equalled this one for thrills in Salvo's 1938 diary was his second meeting with "Wonder Boy" Hutchinson at Seattle Sept 16. Again, Salvo bested Hut-chanson, San Diego's 6-l triumph thing Seattle's last surviving pent hopes.
Italian Scout Heine Groh waited until he was sure the strike out king had recovered from his shoulder kink, and then laid the lucre across the board to make sure Salvo would become a Polo Grounder in 1939.
Just to make Groh and the Giants certain he was on the "fully recovered" list, the soft-spoken Salvo staged a comeback game Aug. 28, with a flourish, He flashed a three-hitler against Portland for his 20th victory of the year.
Both his parents are Italian and he has four brothers and two sisters.
His Coast League career began in 1936 with Sacramento but he shifted t" San Diego by way of the Boston Red Sox training camp. He wasn't "ready" then.
Now even the ultra-conservative Terry is convinced. In his best oratorical sale, the following "Terry length statement was issued "He'll do."—United. Press
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.