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Show SPOR TUGH T . This Casey Will Not Strike Out I By GRANTLAND RICE TNICK HYLAND, the Stanford--' Los Aigeles football philosopher, used to say and write that It wasn't so much ability and skill that made southern teams hard to beat as it was "pride of section." "It is still Dixie against the world," Dick said. There was the time the Georgia captain told Mai Stevens, Yale's coach, before the game: "'I don't know who'll win out we are noping to make the South proud of us." Yale didn't make a first down, even with Albie Booth. In the same way I believe it is "pride of name" that gives the Yankees a keen dark storm clouds. But they were also helped by the Yankees "pride of name." Haven't the Red Sox and Indiane that same pride? Not with one pennant each ln well over 20 years. Both have known too many defeats when the Yankees were mopping up world series in four straight games. That name Yankee has meant more than a mere word to both the veterans and the rookies who make up the Yankee squad. e e e Lonely Ezzard Charles It has become pretty evident now that Ezzard Charles will be a lonely man for some time to come. All that he has left is the winner of the Savold-Woodcock fight, if it ever takes place, and that isn't much to wait for. Charles has come to the top t a time when his division is completely devoid of anything approaching even second class quality. Gus Lesnevlch, a tired old man with legs belonging to 50 years of age, was not even second class. Gus had left all his class behind him with his fighting youth. He had started taking beatings from not very good lightweights before Charles sent him into oblivion. Charles had little chance to prove anything in his last fight. All he could prove was that today he is almost certainly the outstanding outstand-ing heavyweight left. All he had to prove last week was that he could hit a human punching bag at any spot or at any time but that his main ability belongs on the side of skill and not on the side of power. Ezzard Charles is without question ques-tion a good boxer who can use both hands effectively, but not in any crushing fashion. He la a good defensive fighter. Just how good he is still has to be proved. You can't prove much shadow boxing, and that is about all he has had to do. e A Varied Career Joe McCarthy of the Red Sox has proved that he believes strongly strong-ly in at least one well known motto: "Variety is the spice of baseball." Certainly no other manager has employed more winning tactics than the embattled farmer of Buffalo. Buf-falo. There was a day and time with the old Yankees when the taciturn McCarthy believed in knocking out all rival brains before July had rolled into August. Now he waits Grantland Itice baseball lift. They cccp remembering they are Yan-tees Yan-tees when the blue chips are down-such down-such as winning six of their first ?ight games with the Red Sox in Boston. Joe McCarthy has been forced to battle the prestige from other years he helped to build. When a bunch of us left St. Petersburg Peters-burg last March there was little to cheer about. You knew just one cheerful thing that Casey Stengel was doing a fine job with fine assistance as-sistance from Bill Dickey, Frank Crosetti and Jim Turner. Here is what you knew that Joe DiMaggio would be out a long time, maybe all season. That Yogi Berra was still a catching gamble, that the pitching was uncertain with Frank Shea unimproved and others on the wilder side. Would Joe Page be the pitcher of 1947 or 1948? You knew Phillips and Kryhoski were fair first basemen, but not too brilliant. Coleman, Cole-man, Woodling and Bauer were not seen too much. No one seemed to know anything about them. Certainly Certain-ly no one figured they were to help fill open gaps with so much success. When you looked at the Yankees Yan-kees and then looked at the Red Sox line-up and the Cleveland line-up you had to write off a carload of "ifs" to give the Yankees a good chance. If anyone any-one had said on the first day the Yankees are going to suffer suf-fer 50 injuries and ailments and accidents of a serious nature to DiMaggio, Henrich, Berra Lindcll, Porterfield, Brown, Stirnweiss, Keller and several others," any number of experts would have picked the second division for the Yankees. And no one could have blamed them. Stengel and his staff have accomplished ac-complished an amazing job in keeping keep-ing morale flying high against the |
