Show BASEBALL n has known over sev IJ enty five spring starts but in all that time dr abner Double doubleday days s discovery has never before known the tangled knot that belongs to the national league race ot of 1947 As a starter the national league still has a 3 to 5 shot trading trailing the pack by many lengths with corn on the cobb and watermelon j just u s t around the corner eight national league managers are reeling around with the look that follows follos the arrival of a blunt inspru ment at the base of the brain they JS Grantlan dRice can t find pitchers who can protect a 5 or 6 run lead they find a flock of normally hitters swinging savagely at a clip lip often lucky to get a foul it Is clothing nothing to see pitchers hand out 4 or 5 passes in one inning forcing over important runs star pitchers are far behind the 50 50 mark struggling desperately to last three innings no one seemed to know whether the first division teams had slipped or the second division teams had moved far up there was no way to tell them apart except to keep won dering how the tail ends end cardinals stayed where they were as long as they were allowed to carry bats to the plate race now we have made a careful check of the long list of games played in re cent weeks and from this roundup it is impossible to locate a sure first division team or to name a team that can t win the pennant by breaking just a trifle better than even of course this bizarre state of affairs cant an t last much longer one or two teams are pretty sure to stumble over the lost element of consistency and move on forward but no one and can tell you who these teams will be the once ridiculed giants sud denly rushed in with the best of tense in either league backed up by greatly improved pit pitching clung picked by many as repeating tai tal lenders they have been the best all around team in baseball through the last few weeks mel ott is due a number of rousing cheers for the late stand his hired men have made against some rasping luck where the ball they have been playing most of may could easily win the national league flag tigers and red sox have made the american league race the more consistent scramble with the indians crowding in the bed red sox are far from their stampeding form of last season the tigers are now favored as the best team in the cir auit certainly the team backed up with the best pitching which is a pretty vital matter joe gordon as one could figure in advance has been one of the main factors in cleveland s chal lenge once more the gordon that ranked high among the best it should be tigers or red sox in the american league and you can do your own nominating in the now bewildered rival circuit cards should come back no one expects the cardinals to keep fluttering around the cellar and the swamps for any extended length of time but their earlier crash up has left the nat onal league race wide open any pretty fair ball club could step out and win this pennant against so much ragged and jittery opposition no flag winner has much to beat un less dyer s young men suddenly throw aside their winding sheets and play the ball they should have played from the opening pitch on copy paper they are still the class of the league in every department men of play but you don t win pennants on copy paper this 1947 national league pen nant race may not be the fanciest joust on record but it should make up in the way of action and upsets what it lacks in class and form giant power has been a spring sur prise so has improved giant pitch ing here seems to be a pennant that almost any team can win any team willing to hustle and work a little As he the old philosopher dizzy dean puts it there are a lot of good ballplayers balI players around but no good ball teams what looked to be a one club stampede has now turned into a four or five club scramble mean ing cubs braves cardinals giants and dodgers with such teams as the phillies reds and pirates still dreaming of the hour more than power the great majority link babe R ruth u t in a name with the word power they think of a pound giant hammering out more than home runs with a ball much less lively than the one in use today too many forget that the babe also had an all around skill a matter of touch and timing often approach ing the delicate a de that certainly matched h s power |