Show Cellar May Nay Be Their Destiny By By GRANTLAND RICE RICE- A 7 BASEBALL community extended ex ex- tended is like any other big community There Is wealth and poverty living fairly close together On either side of the opulent first first- division Yankees and Cardinals In St. St Petersburg there are two strong tail end contenders at Tampa and Clearwater They are the R Reds ds and the Phillies There Is a broad rumor to the effect t that h at Chicago's Chi Chi- cagos cago's Cubs expect to leave their old oldY Y pals pIlls this season and move higher up into fourth fifth a or sixth place If 11 this happens the Reds at Tampa and Phillies at Clear Clear- Clearwater wa water ter should be bethe bethe bethe the logical candi- candi Grantland Rice d dates a ate t e s for the bottom spot This seems to be rather a shame Eddie Sawyer of the Phillies r rd d d Bucky Walters of the Reds are t two o popular managers and they have havea a number of good ballplayers ballplayers ex ex excellent ballplayers Here are a few who could help any ball club Reds Reds Reds-Ewell Ewell Blackwell Johnny I Vander Meer Ken Herman and Harry Gumbert all Gumbert-all all good pitchers Ray Lamanno Lamanna Ray Mueller Virgil Stallcup Stall Stall- cup Johnny Hank Sauer Danny Litwhiler and Frankie Baumholtz all Baumholtz-all all good ballplayers The Phillies Robin Roberts Schoolboy Rowe Blix Donnelly Curt Simmons Ken Heintzelman Hank Borowy pretty Borowy-pretty pretty good pitchers pitch ers ors Ed Dick Sisley Granville Gran Gran- ville vile Hamner Richie Ashburn Del Ennis Johnny Blatnik and Bert Haas pretty Haas-pretty pretty good ballplayers This doesn't Include a number number num num- ber of lively looking lively looking rookies who could help quite a bit bU But unfortunately for the Reds Ewell Blackwell their crack pitcher pitch er Is just recovering from a sore arm and a kidney operation The Phillies have too many young pitchers who still need more experience ence Blackwells Blackwell's early absence and his bis dubious fate is 1 a heavy blow to the Reds since the six foot six six- Inch star Is one of baseballs baseball's best He would be good for between 22 and 25 23 victories even with the pitchers who need experience Pitchers of this type are Just justa a trifle rarer rarer than a green Teen rhinoceros or a blue User tiger Branch Rickey said Bald privately last I summer that he feared the Phillies Phillies' Phillies Phil lies lies' youth around 1950 1050 or 1951 since owner Bob Carpenter is quite willing to spend any amount to get The Red Red Red-Phillies Finish Neither Bucky Walt Walters rs of the Reds nor Eddie Sawyer of the Phillies care to be labelled a tall tail end contender But what teams can they beat out The Phillies have a possible and even probable ble star in young Richie Ashburn who batted last season season season sea sea- son and and was the fastest man the league has seen in some years Ashburn was Injured after playing games but he Is 0 O. O K now and more than keen to prove his first year was no fluke The second year is always al ways the hardest He lIe easily may be one of the games game's future fu tu- tu ture stars The Phillies have another kid in Curt Simmons an expensive left hander who is only 19 years old Simmons won seven and dropped 13 games last season Robin Roberts won seven and dropped nine Roberts Roberts Rob Rob- erts only 22 22 is another possible star maybe better than Simmons from the Cubs will strengthen the Philly infield This team can be dangerous if it gets better pitching than it picked up through 1948 It is the type of team that wont won't win any pennant or finish in the first four but it can beat a lot of ball clubs and should be an improvement over last year The Reds have a great ballplayer ball ball- ballplayer player and one of baseballs baseball's finest citizens In Bucky Waiters Walters Walters Walt Wait ers but like the Phillies their strength Is too spotty It could be a different story 11 ii Blackwell could hook book up with Vander Vander Van Van- der Meer Gumbert and Raff They have a good power hitter in Hank Sauer with 35 home runs to his credit last year and a good third baseman in Grady Hatton Both the Reds and Phillies have good ballplayers scattered here and there but too many others who are not too able But the fact that teams as asgood asgood asgood good as the Reds and Phillies Phillie should be scrapping It U out for last place proves the balance of the National League Leape You Yon wouldn't think that six Ix clubs will trill beat out this pair and pair and maybe six clubs wont won't That's That only the way it looks as March buds are waiting to show and March winds are getting softer soft lOft softer er in the sun |