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Show J I I Spmkins of Sports . DeanThrough? No One Knows Final Sentence By ROBERT McSHAXE IReleased by Western Newspaper Union.) VAHEN the one and only Dizzy ' Dean pitches his last game of baseball for the Chicago Cubs and that can well happen in the not too distant future it will furnish a field day for every sports scribe in the nation. For the Incomparable Diz Is the sole Individual cast from that particular par-ticular mold. He is "Mr. Baseball" to hundreds of thousands of fans who can recite pitching records as readily as Junior can tear through the multiplication tables. Other men are more Important to baseball. base-ball. Even the most ardent Dean rooter would hesitate before calling him an elevating Influence In the baseball world. But none of them captured the public fancy as did Diz. It was only six years ago that Dean won 30 games as St. Louis captured cap-tured the National League pennant and the World Series. Today, the pitcher for whom the Chicago Cubs paid $185,000 in cash probably will be relegated to the permanent role of relief pitcher. 'One More Chance' P. K. Wrigley, owner of the Cubs, has given Dizzy a square deal. So has Manager Gabby Hartnett. They've been willing, so far, to give "just one more chance" to a spectacular, up-and-down, headline-making headline-making pitching career. When Cub officials first discussed the role of reserve moundsman for their great one, he had started in every fourth game since the opening open-ing of the 1940 campaign a program pro-gram planned to answer once and for all whether he could be depended DIZZY DEAN on this season. In his first start, against St. Louis, he was knocked out in the fifth inning, after yielding five runs and seven hits. The next game saw him beat Cincinnati on five hits. His next start, against St. Louis, saw him head for the showers in the fifth, after allowing five runs and eight hits. In his last game as a regular, every fourth game starter, the Phillies got to him for eight hits and four runs in less than five full innings. That record is a far cry from St. Louis Cardinal days. With that team he won 134 games during his stay of seven years. The Vagaries of Diz Dizzy and Manager Hartnett seemingly operate on a day-to-day basis. When things are going right with the great one. Gabby is the salt of the earth and a joy forever. When no silver lining can be seen peeping through the dark clouds, then Gabby, in Dean's opinion, is a second rate manager of a third rate team. For the most part, however, Gabby has looked with philosophical resignation on the outbursts of his moundsman. T- . . i . ucu s escapades, adventures and holdout sieges have furnished startling star-tling sports (and even front) page copy for many a year. Diz is the only player in existence who has enjoyed the unforgettable experience expe-rience of being bitten by a telephone. tele-phone. His early-season tirades against Hartnett were superb. Even Gabby must have been proud of his pitcher's pitch-er's originality and forthrightness when he felt he wasn't being given a fair chance to demonstrate his comeback. Now Dizzy is close to the twilight of his career in the big leagues Owner Wrigley has not indicated what disposition he will make of Dean. In fact, he hasn't even indicated indi-cated that he will get rid of him But chances are that Diz won't grow old with the Chicago Cubs. Value Received? "With the record he's made I don't know who we could trade him to now," said Wrigley. "Right at this time we haven't any deals involving in-volving Diz under consideration." Whether or not the owner of the Cubs thinks that he received full value for his $185,000 is debatable But the fact remains that the magic words "Dean to pitch" pulled a lot of spectators through the turnstiles turn-stiles at Wrigley field during the past few seasons. |