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Show I MCE Jj Jrtr A THIS may be disturbing news for Larry MacPhail. who doesn't disturb easily or softly. Sam Breadon. owner of the Cardinals, says this 1942 collection might be the best Cardinal team of all time. "We had a great team In 1926 the year we trimmed the Yankees," Sam remarked. "We had another great team In 1931, and still another an-other in 1931 when the Gashouse Gang with Dizzy Dean and Pepper Martin were riding high. But it wouldn't surprise me to see this bunch we are looking at now turn out to be our all-time top. TUJs Is certainly the best pitching staff we ever had, and one of the best all-around all-around teams in every department." "MacPhail says his Dodgers are much stronger than last year and after a few early flurries should never be headed," we told Breadon. "His Dodgers had better not have too many early flurries." Sam said "Brooklyn has a good ball club, but we have a better one. We have bet ter pitching and more speed. And if our club had any more spirit it might explode. Billy Southworth has the entire squad hustling to the limit and I can tell you now those Dodgers will be seeing Red Wings in their broken dreams this summer. sum-mer. They'll be after those Dodgers from the first game to the finish. Everything Necessary "Look this ball club over," Breadon Bread-on said. "We have all the catching any team needs, and the best pitching pitch-ing staff in either league, so far as ,both quality and quantity go. "You'll be hearing from this kid Pollrt all season. He isn't 21 yet, but he works like a ten year veteran. He hasn't blinding speed, and he hasn't any back-breaking rurve ball. But he is smart, eool, cunning and a tough fellow to brat. "And Pollet isn't the only one We have at least ten high-grade pitchers, although one or two could use a little more experience. Mun- J - v i". ' 'f i r o. i h . 1 ' .' A , i & .:''! A Li'Zjj SAM BREADON ger has a world of stuff. You know about Warncke, White, Cooper, Lanier, Shoun and Krist, who won all the ten games he pitched last year. "Trade our infield for the Dodgers? Dodg-ers? Nothing doing. Hopp and Sanders are both good first basemen. base-men. Crespi, Marion and Brown are ball players of top rank. They give us one of the best infields we ever had. "In my opinion, Terry Moore defensively de-fensively Is the finest outfielder 1 ever saw. He can cover all the ground that Speaker or DiMaggio or anyone else ever covered and maybe may-be a few yards more. And Moore Is also a .300 hitter. He Is a ball player who has never received the publicity he deserved. If Terry hadn't been hurt in the stretch last fall we'd have been going away from Brooklyn at the finish. "Enos Slaughter is another fine outfielder. And keep your eye on a kid called Musial. Hopp can play the outfield as well as first base. And Hopp can hit and run." These are the disturbing items we think Larry MacPhail should know about. Sam Breadon gives MacPhail Mac-Phail credit for being one of the smartest showmen, promoters and handy guys baseball has seen. But Breadon has an idea that MacPhail Mac-Phail has underrated this Cardinal team, and the Dodger chief with Leo Durochcr may be in for a number num-ber of nervous shocks. It Might Have Been "I don't think they quite understand under-stand just what would have happened hap-pened to the Dodgers if we had had as many of our regulars in action as they had last year. It might have been distressing quite distressing. It might not even have been close." From here we turned to the spirit of Cardinal players through the years. They have been the Notre Dame of baseball. "We've looked for two things," Breadon said, "speed and spirit. We want ball players who love to play baseball, who like to hustle and who are out to win. Last year the Cardinals Cardi-nals were crashing into frnres, dugouts, dug-outs, anything In the road, to win a ball game. "In that Southwest, country from where many of the great ball players play-ers come, baseball is the greatest game In the world. Football Is next. Most of them, like Dean and Martin and many more, come up the hard way. They know how to take a beating and come tearing back." i |