Show CIO T RIME IME supposed to be endless also can work in a hurry it can make or break you in a week or a month or even in a day in the course of a year it can turn evereth ng upside down especially in baseball this thought happened along as we looked over the records of 1946 and 1947 as the roulette wheel of fate kept spin aing for one example a year ago mickey vernon of the sena tors led both big leagues with a batting average it vernon was reported that larry macphail had offered for vernon s con tract as at that time the yankees had no hard hitting first baseman in sight vernon is now around place among american league hitters not including over 50 hitters in the N L which would leave mickey in a spot close to the mark A year ago there were wordy ments as to whether bob feller of I 1 cleveland or hal of de troit was the greater pitcher bob feller is now in about place among the winners and hal new houser s ranking is in A year ago dave ferriss was on his way to wi winning nning 25 games at this writing dave occupies the spot on the pitching side A year ago howie pollet and mur mar ry dickson were the two cardinal stars cl close 0 se to the top pollet was a EL 20 game winner currently dick son has been in the slot and pol let down as low as place among those who throw a baseball for a living these are just a few of many ex amples to show what the old doc with the sharp scythe can slip you when he feels in the mood he can lift you up and he can also yank you down at even 9 greater reater speed he doesn doean t seem to care they go up and down old doc time Is a temperamental mug he doesn doean t bother about names or reputations he lets nature take its course I 1 interviewed him once and this is all he had to say As this old world goes roun and roun some go up and some go down this can happen in baseball more than any game I 1 know up and down down and up A year ago vernon hit above and george mcquinn was around now with vernon at mcquinn has been close to most of the year A combined shift of some points even more but there are always a few who hang on looking the old doc in the eye one of these is ted williams of the red sox there seems to be a vague idea around that ted has taken a dip this season I 1 d like to take the same brand of dip they have built up a defense against williams that was sup up posed to wreck him he may not be the annihilator of other seasons but he is still up there challenging tor for the home run title in the A L the batting leadership and the runs batted in honors I 1 would say that in an off year tor for so many stars ted williams is doing a great job ob other old timers so is joe dimaggio in spite of numerous ailments joe dimaggio is still the top artist in baseball A few of those who starred last season are still delivering one of these is kmer kiner of the pi rates who led the national league in the home run roundup a year ago and is likely to lead it again johnny mize always a power hit ter is still shooting bis his salvos so is hank greenberg but so far 1947 has been featured by stars unknown a year ago one is ewell blackwell of the reds with a 20 game season in his pocket blackwell has been rated far above feller and with a weak er ball club the tall and lanky one the human no I 1 iron has been the pitcher of the year another leading star is harry walker of the phillies eddie dyer one of baseball s smartest traded him to the phillies in exchange for ron northey at which point harry walker dixie walker s brother promptly took charge of the batting mark in both leagues working with a tail tall end ball club walker has been one of the season s star performers so has blackwell you heard few rumors about blackwell and harry walker a year ago but they have driven the stars of 1946 into the gravel ditch young yankee stars the team feature of the year has been the number of winning per formers george weiss of the yankee farm system has rushed to yankee help this list includes yogi ber ra frank shea allie dark clark vie vic rashi and a few others who have carried the yankees along with almost no advance build up the yankee farm system has been far better than that of the dodgers rated last spring as the best |