Show OR the last six years if you feel F FOR strong enough to turn back the calendar to 1941 the cardinals and the dodgers have taken over most D of f the pennant interest in the na dional league by some odd add turn the cubs slipped safely into port in 1945 but even then the cardinals were breathing not riot fire on the their ir necks it must be ad admitted bitted that in most of the cardinal dodger pursuit r races a c e s the bed red birds from st louis have shown more wing power in the stretch they f had the extra but flut efm 0 s ter needed A year ago around this time the dodgers were seven and a half games in front of their cardinal pursuers but this lead wasn gasn t enough grantland rice las as they finished in a dead heat with the cardinals VA winning n the play off whatever happens happen 1 in the foggy future and all futures are foggy the dodgers have stolen the na dional league show up to this spot just before the season opened their manager be lee durocher waa was ordered to elba or st helena the napoleonic hideout hide out by happy chandler who right or wrong also was wrapped up la in a tog to this forced branch rickey to reach out and drag in burt shott shotton the mo most S t underrated manager in baseball who knew nothing about his team shotton stepped into the middle of a strange squad he soon lost his hi star pete reiser who still believes his head Is harder than a hydrant or a concrete wall then shotton began looking around for a pitcher who could travel four innings al most anyone who could locate the general direction of the plate A mild old timer shotton a mild country looking old timer the exact opposite of durocher like ole man river just kept rolling along the dodgers were shot the day of the bum bums was over the brooklyn attendance would take a dizzy dip but what happens the dodgers move out in front and the attendance fills the ball park despite a wet cold spring and a wetter colder june the dodgers so tar far under shotton have kave outplayed the bums dams and they have even keener fan support for brooklyn knows its baseball and brooklyn understands and appreciates preci ates the handicaps shotton has faced with chuck dressen and red corriden over in the yankee camp an old timer by the name of burt shotton deserves much more credit than he has received he has turned in one of the big jobs of the year the cardinals looking back to march and april appeared to have class the giant giants have had power the braves have had balance pitching and hitting but the doag ers remain the major threat the team to beat A few days ago I 1 ran across my old friend arky vaughan one of the best all around ballplayers you 11 see in many a year arky can play either the infield meld or the outfield and he is one of the best natural hitters baseball has known what holds the dodgers up upa I 1 asked A good all around ball club vaughan answered there s al ways somebody around to handle the job when we get in trouble this means pitchers outfielders or in fielders le iders we ve had more hard luck with reiser edwards and others than any other team but we keep hustling we U 11 ou thustle the cardi nals too we have a bunch of young pitchers who will be stars next year after all branca is only 21 watch hatten and barney robin son has turned in a swell job show me a stronger second base short stop combination than reese and they are winning ball ballplay play MS ars the dodgers are made up of winning ballplayers the yen to win every team and every ball player likes to win but the dodgers like the winning side better than anyone else I 1 can t understand why so to many people are surprised at the dodgers showing we might easily with better luck have been much farther in front it might be mentioned here that vaughan has been one of pie the stars n this dodger drive vaughan s hit ting and his all around play has billed a wide open gap and vaughan Is no longer a kid but now the cardinals are corn ing along and the cardinals have always been the team to beat they were ere 3 to 5 shots last april they were the sure things of an un sure game they still look to have the he class the experience the pitch ing and their share of f power but t is still a question as to whether hey can outrun the dodgers and he braves anyone who leaves or leaves heaves out the braves Is a trifle the yankees already have wreck td the american league race thi this a bigger world series pay W a this also mean means a keener finan dai interest tor for any national league VIM conf |