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Show Ipbaking Released by Western Newspaper Union, "GROANS of pure anguish will make the welkin ring in several major league cities when the two most valuable players finally are selected by the nation's sports writers. writ-ers. In the National league, Brooklyn offers by far the greatest number of candidates for the much-discussed honor. hon-or. The Flatbush hopefuls include such sterling individuals indi-viduals as Pete Reiser, Rei-ser, Peewee Reese, Joe Medwick, Whitlow Whit-low Wyatt and Larry Lar-ry French. Should the com- neglect the Brook- ' lyn delegation infavor of Mort Cooper or Enos Slaughter of the Cards, or Claude Passeau of the Cubs, the fine Citizens of Brooklyn probably would take a firm stand against freedom of the press. And, as a searing thought, should Mel Ott of the Giants be given the nod, then the mighty screams from blighted Brooklyn would be heard the length and breadth of the land. Reiser, in that particular city, is looked upon as the No. 1 guy. More Candidates Quite a few players on other teams figure that Enos Slaughter deserves de-serves the honor Insofar as hitting Is concerned. Although Slaughter is a few points behind Reiser in averages aver-ages .328 to .323 as this is written the players figure Enos really hits a ball while Pistol Pete gets more flukes beating out a lot, of singles. Too, Slaughter has passed both Reiser Rei-ser and Medwick in driving In runs. Ott has a definite place among the candidates. The Giant manager, who still likes to be known primarily as a player, is turning out one of the best performances in the senior circuit. He's battling Johnny Mize and Dolph Camilli for home run honors hon-ors and leads the league (to date) In runs scored. In addition to his playing ability, the writers should take into account the excellent job he has done as manager. This extra chore was added to an already full-time job. As you may remember, Dolph Camilli, Dodger first baseman, was named the National league's most valuable player last year. He led the league in home runs and in runs-batted-in. The only player whose name appeared on every ballot, Dolph received 300 points as against 183 for Reiser. Chances are the balloting bal-loting will be considerably closer this year. The American League Things are no more definite in the American league. Joe DiMaggio won it iasi year in a close race with Ted Williams, .406 batting king of the league. In the 1941 balloting, Joe received 291 points as against 254 for Williams. Just a few weeks ago Williams appeared to have Ted Williams the award aU sewed up. It looked as though he might get the battting, home run and runs-driven-ln championships. champion-ships. But then Joe Gordon came along with a strong challenge for batting honors, plus an excellent extra-base extra-base record. Those factors, plus his standing as one of the greatest in-Bclders in-Bclders In major league baseball, made him a definite threat. There was plenty of wailing ir, 1941 when Williams failed to get the award. Many sports writers, players play-ers and fans believed that he deserved de-served it by reason of his amazing .406 batting average. It may be that the breaks will go his way this year. His close shave last season won't hurt his current chances. It is quite probable that Pitcher Ernie Bonham of the Yankees and Tex Hughson of the Red Sox will be given quite a number of votes. Some writers feel that pitchers are the forgotten men in the annual voting. vot-ing. Their yeoman services are all too often paled by the bright light which centers on the boys with the big stick and fat batting average. SPORT SHORTS C Football coaches on the Pacific coast are agreed that California's Golden Bears will win the conference confer-ence championship this year. CThe only unassisted double play by a major league outfielder this season was made by Dom DiMaggio of the Boston Red Sox. C The American league has won all three All-Star games played in New York. , ,., C The New York Yankees of 1941 set an all-time double-play record with 196. , . C Babe Ruth's lifetime salary in the major leagues totaled more than $896,000. . A Lefty Grove, Rube Walberg and George Earnshaw each won 20 or more games for the 1931 Athletics. CThe 1929 championship Chicago Cubs set the National league all-time all-time home attendance record with 1.400,000. |