OCR Text |
Show SPORTUGHT Cellar May Be Their Destiny I By GRANTLAND RICE II BASEBALL community, ex- tended, is like any other big community. There la wealth and poverty living (airly close together. On either side ot the opulent first-division first-division Yankees and Cardinals In St. Petersburg, there are two strong tail-end contenders at Tampa and Clearwater. They are the Reds and the Phillies. There Is a broad rumor to the effect that Chi- iii Grantland Rice cago's Cubs expect to leave their old pals this season and move higher up, into fourth, fifth or sixth place. If this happens, the Reds at Tampa and Phillies at Clearwater Clear-water should be the logical candi-dates candi-dates for the bottom spot This seems to be rather a shame. Eddie Sawyer of the Phillies r Bucky Walters of the Reds are tvo popular managers and they have a number of good ballplayers excellent ex-cellent ballplayers. Here are a few who could help any ball club: Reds Ewell Blackwell, Johnny Vander Meer. Ken Raffensberger, Herman Wehmeier and Harry Gumbert all good pitchers; Ray Lamanno, Ray Mueller, Virgil Stall-cup, Stall-cup, Johnny Wyrostek, Hank Sauer. Danny Lltwhller and Frankie Baumholtz all good ballplayers. The Phillies Robin Roberts, Schoolboy Rowe, Bli Donnelly, Curt Simmons, Ken Helntzelman, Hank Borowy pretty good pitch-ers; pitch-ers; Ed Waitkus, Dick Sisler, Gran-ville Gran-ville Hamner, Richie Ashburn, Del Ennls, Johnny Blatnik and Bert Haas pretty good ballplayers. This doesn't Include number num-ber of lively-looking rookies who could help quite t bit. But, unfortunately for the Reds, Ewell Blackwell, their crack pitcher, pitch-er, is Just recovering from a sore arm and a kidney operation. The Phillies have too many young pitchers who still need more experience. experi-ence. Blackwell's early absence and his dubious fate is a heavy blow i to the Reds since the six foot, six- inch star Is one ot baseball's best. He would be good for between 23 and 25 victories, even with the pitchers who need experience. Pitchers of this type are Just a trifle rarer than a green rhinoceros or a blue tiger. Branch Rickey said privately last summer that he feared the Phillies' Phil-lies' youth around 1950 or 1951 since owner Bob Carpenter Is quite willing to spend any amount to get The Red-Phillies Finish Neither Bucky Walters of the Reds nor Eddie Sawyer of the Phillies care to be labelled a tail-end tail-end contender. But what teams can they beat out? The Phillies have a possible and even probable star In young Richie Ashburn, who batted .333 last season sea-son and was the fastest man the league has seen In some years. Ashburn was injured after playing 117 games, but he Is O. K. now and more than keen to prove his first year was no fluke. The second year Is always al-ways the hardest. He easily may be one of the game's future fu-ture stars. The Phillies have another kid In Curt Simmons, an expensive lefthander left-hander who is only 19 years old Simmons won seven and dropped 13 games last season. Robin Roberts won seven and dropped nine. Roberts, Rob-erts, only 22, is another possible star, maybe better than Simmons Waitkus, from the Cubs, will strengthen the Philly infield. This team can be dangerous if it gets better pitching than it picked up through 1948. It is the type of team that won't win any pennant or finish in the first four, but it can beat a lot of ball clubs and should be an Improvement over last year. The Reds have a great ballplayer ball-player and one of baseball's finest citixens In Bucky Walters Walt-ers but, like the Phillies, their strength is too spotty. It could be a different story 11 Blackwell could hook up with Vender Ven-der Meer, Wehmeier, Gumbert and Raffensberger. They have a good power hitter In Hank Sauer with 35 home runs to his credit last year, and a good third baseman In Grady Hatton. Both the Reds and Phillies have good ballplayers scattered here and there but too many others who are not too able. But the fact that teams as good as the Reds and Thlllles should be scrapping It out for last place proves the balance of the National League. Too wouldn't think that six clubs will beat out this pair and maybe six clubs won't. That's only the way it looks as March buds are waiting to show and March winds art getting softer soft-er in the sun. |