Show ALVA LVA 1311 ADLEY was practically tho the only mon man in tho the recent derby day crowd tit at churchill downs who or thinking about tho the derby winner mr bradley was thinking and talking only about tho the cleveland indians you cant blamo blame him film for that mr air bradley Is president ot of that astonishing ball club it may bo be remembered in the past that tho the sinio same alva bradley has had moro more than his film share of baseball sorrow tito oscar vitt episode was ram tho the starter that was tho the year cleveland blew u pennant it should have won by a dozen games then bob V fellers departure into the he service was no great help and tho the boss had to aa gamble able on a 21 year old manager wh who had tio no feller around naturally mr bradley was not looking on tho 1042 campaign through any rose tinted glasses ile ho was all prepared for tho the worst for him there were no bluebirds over tho the white cliffs of dover 11 or cleveland e then the incredible suddenly happened as tho the indians took to the warpath karpath war path about Bou boudreaus drears we had full faith in lou bou dreau from the start mr drad brad ley said ill admit none of 0 us looked for any such early surge dut but lou worked like six horses uil thil 5 W N agn A U ALVA BRADLEY spring and his men worked with him lie ho had not only their respect but also their friendship boudreau been out of college long and lie he brought the old college spirit back to our club lie ile re fused to let bob fellers loss get him down in any way the other pitchers knew they had to take up we me stack slack at this I 1 point id like to td say that none of us aro are claiming any pen hant the main idea is to hustle all the way and win all the games we can they say we are playing far beyond our real ersol strength something tor for time to tell tho the big change it was waa easy enough to see in the indians training camp at clearwater fla that boudreau boudriau had done a high class job in the way of switching Clev elands mental attitude there were no longer any troublemakers around there were no sore heads boudreau set up an informal clubroom where the bunch could get together to read loaf or play cards out on the field they were all hustling none harder than the young manager whose attractive personality was no small help even that far back boudreau said 1 I dont know where well but I 1 can promise you well have a team trying hard every second of every game no one could figure then with feller absent that tho the ex cx illint star blar was to get the pitching his bis team has gotten in the first startling starting weeks nor quite lie the heavy hitting bitting but boudreau boudre nod his team have at least sh shown own what a new spirit can do to a squad looking ahead it will take another month to get the truer picture of the two pennant races despite the present club standings the brooklyn dodgers and the new york yankees are still the two teams to beat late in may last spring the yankees were seven games out they picked up 20 games on the indians from that point on before the season leo durocher figured that dodger power would lc be more than cardinal pitching could meet lea had bad no na great respect for the st louis attack which so far been on the devastating side but ut the cards are still a better hitting ting team than their present markings indicate and they hey still have all the pitching any team needs the cincinnati reds got away slowly this spring and they been flaming baus balls of alre so far but they also have better pitching than they have shown and a better ball club once it moves into its normal stride if 11 any outside team is 13 to crowd out one of the top three rated by form it should be frank frisch and his bis pirates they can hit their share and if the pitching holds up they will be a threatening factor the main test cor come e until the athlete has been baked out in live five or six weeks of summer sun |