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Show A LSw pce Ji ( THESE seem to be the proper days to study the basic foundations founda-tions of winni? competition. You can get one ;n .ver in the New York Yankees' dr. .-aig room from such fellows as Bill Dickey, Joe Gordon, Red Ruffing, Spud Chandler, Joe DiMaggio, Charlie Keller and several sev-eral others. i Opening their 1942 home campaign, cam-paign, the Yankees are facing the prospect of winning their sixth pennant pen-nant in seven starts. It might not happen that way. But that is how It looks. The Yankees have the bulge In hitting, pitching and fielding. That's a fair start. But they have something some-thing more. Something just as important. im-portant. In addition to their physical margin, mar-gin, which can't be overlooked, McCarthy's hired men are a team together. They spend 100 per cent of their time fighting the enemy not fighting each other. Or fighting umpires. You'll find no Individual Jealousy, no bickering, no squabbles, no high hats, no stars. I've picked up the true lesson of team play from the Yankee dressing room for seven years. Joe McCarthy stands for no bad actor no Individual who stands for himself above the good of the team. McCarthy simply passes this , type on to some other unhappy man- , ager, while he goes for team spirit, j More About the Yankees The Yankees have been charged with being colorless just a group of young business men handling a ' job. They keep in condition. They start no rows. They are all friends in a bunch. They are just out to win, and to be ready to win. They are a quiet lot. They are a team of stars who refuse to be accepted as stars. Just ball players. Their business has been playing baseball, and they play it better than any other team. You'd get a better understanding of this if you could mix a while with such fellows as Dickey, Gordon, Gor-don, Keller, DiMaggio, Chandler, Ruffing, Priddy, Levy, Hassett, Hen-rich, Hen-rich, Gomez, Rizzuto, and the rest. I asked Bill Dickey about the Yankees' lack of color. The tall catcher from Arkansas, Ar-kansas, who has f"' ri been around a slight t 'Vi matter of 17 sea- fffiM sons, here and i there, mostly with if Q, fj the Yankees, was IT j mildly indignant, t The Arkansas quail w- shooter gets only ' mildly indignant. - 'V, "Color?" he said. What is color? Is It ; , ! , , getting drunk and getting in fights? I Bill Dickey don't think so. "Color to me Is standing back of the plate and watching that Joe Gordon Gor-don make plays that I know can't be made. I've seen him kill off more sure base hits than anyone I ever saw. On one play you'll find him back of second base handling a hot grounder. On the next you'll see him somewhere In short right field killing another hit. "If they want color why don't they watch Joe DiMaggio play center field and make hard plays look easy? Or watch DiMaggio and Keller Kel-ler at bat when the chips are down?" Dickey on Color I don't believe quiet, easy-going Dickey knows how much true color he has. But Bill knows the main details of color, especially when he is talking about the Yankees. "Who has had the most color in American sport?" he asked me. "I'll tell you Babe Ruth, Jack Dempsey, Joe Louis, Bobby Jones, Ty Cobb, Walter Haben and Bill Tilden. But did you ever stop to think each one of these was a star performer one who had greater skill than the other fellows had? "You can't have color true color without exceptional skill. I still say the Yankees are packed with color on account of the different things they can do as hitters, field ers and pitchers. I believe the true baseball fan appreciates this. He likes to see a job well done game after game, better than anyone else can do it." I'll string with Dickey In this respect. A big part of color must be based upon performance under fire. I've never seen a colorful punk in any game. There are no colorful duffers in golf, no colorful dubs in tennis, no colorful third-raters third-raters in boxing. It may be we have stressed color, that was not directly hooked up with outstanding ability, too much. The Main Contest There is now one highly Interesting Interest-ing sporting scramble under way that has nothing to do with titles, pennants or championships. It concerns con-cerns a form of inner rivalry as to which sport will contribute most in the matter of winning the war. Will needed war funds get greater help from boxing, baseball, golf, tennis, racing, football or what? Joe Louis and Mike Jacobs sent boxing spinning well ahead In their army and navy relief shows and Ihey are I only warming up. |
