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Show IT MAY interest you to know what various ball players, scouts and managers think about the next two pennant races. Taking a general consensus, here is the vote in both leagues. In the National league, the Dodgers Dodg-ers are sure to be an improved team, with mnrp exDeri- ence and greater consistency in pitching. Youth rides faster from midsummer on. But the Cardinals are also much stronger than they looked to be a year ago espe- cially with George M. Cooper Munger and Johnny John-ny Beazley back to help out Pollet, Breecheen, Dickson Dick-son and others. The Cardinals look to be the class of both leagues. They have a young hustling star catcher a great pitching pitch-ing staff the best infield in baseball, with Musial, Schoendienst, Marion and Kurowski, and one of the best outfields. They have class and spirit. spir-it. They are not getting any younger young-er and there are still a few "ifs" connected with Terry Moore's knee, the arms of Kurowski and Slaughter, Slaugh-ter, Marion's back and Johnny Beazley. Beaz-ley. But so far, these highly important impor-tant cogs seem to be grinding smoothly. The serious experts I've talked to pick Billv Southworth's Braves as the serious threat. "If Mort Cooper picks up where he left off last year," one scout told me, "'the Braves can challenge the Cardinals and Dodgers. Cooper is a great pitcher not merely a good one. Southworth is two deep. Elliot will help a lot. The Braves can be a tough club to handle any time." Cubs for Fourth Place The Spring vote for fourth place goes to the Cubs. After that, it is anybody's scramble, with the Phillies, Phil-lies, Giants, Pirates and Reds in a hard drive to head the second division. divi-sion. But the experts are cagey enough to suggest that one of these might reach the first division. The Cardinals are the pick. "By all odds, the best all-around team In baseball," one veteran told me. "Only savage ill luck can let them down. They are all class. The Dodgers Dodg-ers will hustle, but they won't out-hustle out-hustle this Cardinal team not on the ball field, where they win and lose games." The Dodgers are packed with "ifs" Branca, Barney, Head, first base, third base and Pete Reiser. The only Cardirfal "if" is a few removed, and replaced, bones. The consensus in the American league circuit leans strongly to the Red Sox. I know the Tigers think they will beat out the Yankees. They don't think they can beat out the Red Sox but they figure there's a chance with better pitching, which they might get. And better pitching can pick up a lot. Yanks Need DiMaggip The collapse of Yankee hitting last ! year, plus the type of spring training train-ing they have employed, won't be any big help. Both the Red Sox and Tigers will leave Florida much bet-, bet-, ter conditioned teams. The injury j to Joe DiMaggio has been a hard blow. Joe is the Yankee spearhead. There will have to be a terrific upward up-ward lift on the part of the Yankees to beat out either Red Sox or Tigers possibly to head off the Indians. At this moment, the Yankees are not in any too high favor as pennant people. Russo could make a big difference. Yankee pitching can be O.K., as it was last year, but there must be a big change in Yankee hitting, Yankee spirit, and Yankee hustle. This refers to the Yankees of 1946, not the squad getting ready for 1947. But the 1947 Yankee squad must know by now how many games it lost last year through this wrecking fault. A few transfusions of Cardinal Cardi-nal blood could help more than a trifle. You can bank on Bucky Harris, Har-ris, Chuck Dressen and Red Corri-den Corri-den to handle more than their share of the plot, but they are not out on the field winning games. A Yankee revival could make a big difference, but this means practically prac-tically the entire team must play better ball outside of Spud Chandler, who is still their best pitcher after some nine years of major league service. Cleveland Has Hurler s The vote we have picked up gives Joe Gordon a good year, possibly a big year, with Cleveland pitching always al-ways dangerous. The Cleveland outfield, out-field, however, is below par. The Tiger infield isn't any too hot, although al-though Kell is close to being the best third baseman in the league. The main job, of course, is suppressing sup-pressing the Red Sox, with Ted Williams, Wil-liams, Tex Hughson, Bobby Doerr Dom DiMaggio and Johnny Pesky! The vote, at this moment, is Cardinals Cardi-nals vs. Red Sox. The next vote is Dodgers vs. Red Sox. The third vote is Cardinals vs. Tigers. But after all. there is a hot summer sum-mer on ahead, plug the grind of the stretch. |