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Show Released by , JltSlStJ" A LMOST a year and a hall ago James Luther SeweU aroazed his business associates and acquaintances ac-quaintances by resigning as coach for the Cleveland Indians to manage man-age the more or less hopeless St Louis Browns. The Browns were threatening to skid Into last place in the American league, a spot not wholly unfamiliar to them. They hadn't finished in the first division since 1929, when they battled their way to a glorious fourth place. In 1941 the Browns Hnished in a sixth place tie with the Washington Senators. Although tar from good, that was as high as they had finished any season since 1931. Over a peri, od of 11 years, five very smart operators op-erators had tried to build the Browns into a first division dub. The list included Bill Killefer, Rogers Hornsby, Sunny Jim Bottomley, Cabby Street and Fred Haney. They didn't meet howling success, to put It gently. The Browns, under Luke Sewell, have snapped out of their lethargy. For the first time ln years they are not battling to stay out of seventh or eighth place. While they haven't been a pennant threat during the past season, they have been tough competition for such clubs as Cleveland Cleve-land and Detroit. When Luke took over, the club lacked players and money to buy them. Prospects were anything but-heartening but-heartening but Sewell had the confidence con-fidence born of ability and experience. experi-ence. - Studious Catcher Luke came up from the University of Alabama to join the Indians in 1921. The managers under whom he I served as a player taught him a lot of baseball. They Included Tris Speaker, Jack McAllister, Oscar Vitt and Roger Peckinpaugh at Cleveland; Cleve-land; Joe Cronin at Washington and Jimmy Dykes at Chicago. Luke was shrewd enough to absorb ab-sorb the most valuable lessons each mi... n. linn i uiimiiii.ssi p ii.mnwii w.i. LUKE SEWELL i man had to offer. He discarded those tactics which didn't meet with his approval, substituting others of his own. That he has been successful success-ful is evidenced by his team's standing. stand-ing. When he first took over he wasn't too pleased with the attitude adopted by some of the team's veterans. They took defeat for granted. Luke told them plainly he expected them to fight for every game, regardless of the score. Rookie of the Year Luke could but doesn't claim credit for the transformation of Outfielder Out-fielder Chet Laabs. Chet, who formerly for-merly had a hard time taking baseball base-ball seriously, turned into one of the most dangerous sluggers in the league. Vernon Stephens of the Browns is Sewell's own nominee for Rookie of the Year. "If you see Stephens every ev-ery day you've got to give him the No. 1 spot among the new players," Luke claims. "He won't concede so very much to Pesky In the field and when It conies to driving in runs he's right up there with Joe DiMaggio, ' Charlie Keller and Bob Doerr, chasing chas-ing behind Ted Williams." It was back in March that Jack Doyle, Broadway price maker, placed the Browns in tne nrst aivi-slon. aivi-slon. Sentiment didn't guide him In making this decision. He figured the presence of Sewell would do much to Improve the St. Louis club's league standing. Good catchers often make good managers. Doyle, who overlooks very few points, probably prob-ably was thinking of that when he announced early this year that the Browns would be the surprise club of the year. The Browns' best season was that of 1922, in which they won 93 games and lost the pennant to the Yankees in the stretch. George Sisler hit .420 for the Browns that year the best season average he ever accumulated. Ken Williams led in homers with a total of 39, and in runs driven-in with a total of 155. Success is a matter of comparison. The 1942 Browns, Judged by the standards of the past decade, are no less than a miracle team. ' Buy War Bonds- |