Show I I Teams I By GRANTLAND RICE the passing of another world WITH series it might be time to ask this question what about the two pennant races next What has 1952 to In the National League there are only two clubs who should again stand They are the Giants and And the Giants will have to duck another eleven-game losing streak or sinking The other six clubs are from 16 to 33 games away from the That's a killing margin to wipe out in ne season- Hk The Cardinals were over 20 games away r o m 1950 This can't all be charged to Curt although part of it Robin Roberts had another big so the entire answer certainly wasn't The Cardinals finished a trifle stronger than the but their play against the Dodgers was entirely too sour to have them rank close to Chuck Dressen's I can't see much hope for the Cubs and They have so many wide-open gaps that filling half of them would be a big The American League would have been far better if it hadn't been for the near collapse of the Tigers and White The White Sox looked like pennant contenders up through Then not even Paul Richards could keep them aloft any The Tigers simply didn't have Art Houtteman's loss didn't help but there were other flaws that Red Rolfe couldn't You can be sure that Cleveland will start the 1952 race with the best pitching The Yankees will be The Red Sox cause looks almost An old team got much older down the It will be even older next There are few young on the club coming And what will the Red Sox use for The White Sox will They can be The who played better than ball the last five weeks will be much Jimmy Dykes turned in a Una The race should be again between the Yankees and I can't see the Tigers in there seriously menacing the The National League race should be another Giant-Dodger The Dodgers have too many good minor leaguers to be too far The Giants will be just as good next The Cardinals look to have some promise with young pitchers hanging around to I can't see much hope for the Reds and Spahn is no longer a It takes quite an imagination to figure clubs from 18 to 25 games off the pace closing this heavy gap within a year or The prospect for a close race ir the National League is league has too many Too few first-division You don't rebuild teams into pennant winners There are too few major league ballplayers around to plug up too many open Battle of the Boroughs The Battle of the meaning New York and was the past season's greatest The old game has never seen more dramatic looking as far back as early On August Leo Durocher's harassed and almost hopeless young men were games back of the That's an old But In the next 50 days the Giants won 37 out of their last 44 games for the incredible percentage of This was far beyond th pace the Boston Braves of 1914 If these Braves were the Miracle the Giants are the Double Miracle This stretch of the led by the hustling Leo Durocher and supported by his entire will never be It stands alone against a team rated in August as one of the greatest in League What about the They had been front runners most ol the Suddenly on September they were in second The Giants had won the afternoon The Dodgers were now the They moved up even On September the Dodgers were in second place for an hour or The Dodgers were trailing 6 to then 8 to Only brilliant defensive play by and Robinson saved their weary The Dodger infield is the best in with something to Campanella is a But even all this didn't offset somewhat ragged Dodger pitching wasn't but neither was it spectacular or The Giants were extra good since their springtime They had good pitching and good There isn't much you can say for the rest of the National in spite of the Cardinal's late Without a great pennant the National League is still close to the best in the |