Show Kind Words for a Few Managers By GRANTLAND RICE H DESIRING to walk into trouble up to his ears can do so All he has to do is pick the manager of the year in baseball and then prove There have been several managers in both leagues who have bl would say average and 8 I cl or Rica There are three managers in the American League who deserve more than a few kind They are Red Casey Stengel and Steve There are also three in the They are Eddie Leo Durocher and Billy This means six managers out of 16 starters who were above average leaving only 10 out a routine or a Rolfe started with what looked to to be the best pitching staff in the Later on he had to use rare judgment to keep it working He always had a great especially on the offensive but only a fair infield and fair Stengel had to operate with his two Joe DiMaggio and Tommy below par DiMaggio was magnificent on his big Ordinary in Henrich was of little Casey had to lean heavily on Johnny a pretty fair but unheralded outfield and better than a pretty fair pitching Steve O'Neill apparently inherited He took over the Red Sox when they had just lost one of the greatest managers of all one of the star ballplayers of the Ted and were eight games out of first The Red Sox were promptly thrown overboard by the O'Neill applied some brand of soothing ointment that was more effective than any cure Tom Yawkey's hired men had ever In the National At this moment Eddie Sawyer and Leo Durocher have the call in the National Billy South-worth's case depending on the stretch The scholarly Sawyer was far in the lead until his young Whiz Kids started skidding first losing five games in a and then skidding a trifle in i But It was better than merely normal to take a young team and plant It in first place by a margin of seven games on Labor or shortly After when the right-club field was spread out in the assembled experts in a compact body picked the Dodgers on A few scattered votes went but the Dodgers were the There were five clubs given a St. Boston and New Sawyer's main once his young team moved into first was to keep them from getting the jitters or the which are too often the result of Inexperience roosting too It would be difficult to find a greater job than Leo Durocher haa given his Durocher a bad-looking ball club for the first month or The pitching was on the morbid The team couldn't locate Itself and back in June was 12 or more games There seemed little chance around July Fourth that the Giants would finish in the first They weren't any better than the Cubs or The arrival of Sal Maglie and Jim Hearn was the of But it can also be remembered that Durocher had a much better looking outfit It was a team that had improved in every And much credit for this Improvement must be handed to the With two weeks Leo Durocher could challenge Eddie The Giant always a star field was at his best after a poor He has had his best Billy Southworth has never been sensational this He has given his fans a good Putt Which is the most important the the approach or the Johnny drive for but we putt for Jim Barnes drive sets up the Hogan can handle all three day in and day Sammy Snead is a master with wood and but he only wins when he is putting well and he isn't as consistent around the Yet he tied Hogan in the Los Angeles It is seldom the average or even pretty fair golfer can blend his approaches and putts Into one good Once in a while he will get two of the three big patterns More often only one of the In this battle of the three big factors in a golf i 11 have to award the prize of importance to the It is more important than either the drive or |