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Show WHATEVER happens to base ball through 1944, you car write it down In advance as tht game's greatest all around gambit since Abner Doubled ay had his fan tastic dream. This goes not only for the two ma Jor league pennant races, but alsc for the individual averages, including includ-ing pitchers and hitters. With the draft now working busilj and effectively day by day, buildinj up the reserves thai VJK A . f35 - K3a U i -Jhm will be needed latei on, no one can possibly pos-sibly tell what will happen from week to week or frotr month to month. Army and navj experts tell us the European war wiU certainly move intc 1945, with the Japanese Japa-nese climax set nc GrantlandRiee Into than 1946. Ii this happens to be true, and it seems to be the best guess in sight, the drain on man- power will be well beyond anything we have known so far. It may seem to be a rather futile matter and a minor argument tt bring in baseball at such a vital point In this nation's history, but the fact remains that millions are still following what Is left of baseball, Including In-cluding a large percent of the 11,-000,000 11,-000,000 Americans now In army i navy service. Only pay a visit te any camp or talk with the returning wounded. In addition to the two pennant races they also want to know who will be the leading pitchers and the leading hitters among those left in the various training camps. "Don't you think," a wounded sergeant ser-geant asked me, "that Mort Cooper should win at least 30 games with the weaker hitters he will have to face?" "What about those Yankee pitchers?" pitch-ers?" another asked. "Bonham and Borowy and Donald should mop up." "Some of these left-over hitters should reach .400," another said. "This ought to be a big year for any 4-F regular." Rather Tough Queries Once again there are two sides to all these pre-season arguments. There are some good pitchers left such as Mort Cooper and Whit Wyatt, Rip Sewell and Ernie Bonham, Bon-ham, entries from the Cubs and Reds, etc. They won't have so many good hitters to mow down. But on the other side they won't have the hitting hit-ting and the fielding support they have had In the past. The Yankees were poison for a pitcher. But they have lost, or will soon lose such men as Charlie Keller, Kel-ler, Joe Gordon, Bill Dickey, young Johnson, most of their dynamite. If Spud Chandler is available he should lead his league again. He should but what about the holes in his support? Plus a few of those timely Dickey -Keller -Gordon -Johnson hits that will be missing all or most of this season. Not overlooking overlook-ing 2ir defensive strength? The same angle will apply to Mort Cooper, Whit Wyatt, Rip Sewell and other leading stars from other seasons. Anything Can Happen As we have observed and remarked re-marked and guessed several times before, this is the season where anything any-thing can happen. It is no secret to remark thai class has taken a heavy fall. This is the way it should be in the vital spot of the world's greatest war. It Is the uncertainty of these two races, the uncertainty of any winning win-ning sides, the nncertainty of any leading stars, that give the two big league races their chance to catch public Interest. Racing alone has shown that this is the greatest gambling age of all time. To all the service men who write us, and to all who ask direct questions ques-tions concerning what might hap- pen, we can only ask a respite of a few weeks until the training season is further along and there is a better chance to find out Just what men each league and each team has. This can never be any final Judgment Judg-ment with so many men to be called from week to week or from month to month. But there is at least the early spring promise of a dizzy scramble, which might carry out more general interest than two one-sided races, such as we have had in the la si tew years. Some Favorite Old Timers Most of baseball's top stars are in war service. But there will still be a few old timers left who are worth looking over. In this list you'll find such veterans as Pepper Martin, Mel Ott and Jimmy Foxx. Martin and Foxx have come oui of retirement. They are not wha( they used to be, I'd stnl like to sec them play again. The Pepper remains re-mains one of baseball's colorful personalities, per-sonalities, on or off the field. And that's saying a mouthful. |