Show 1 I 1 I 1 I 1 WITH AITH the boston brayes braves of 1947 making threatening pennant gestures tor for th the e fi first rs t time iain since c e 1914 a somewhat inside story of tho the old stallings outfit might be worth telling in 1914 the braves under the fiery miracle man george stall ings were 15 games of oil the pace as late I 1 as july 4 and they were still last on na july 18 then tile the miracle of base I 1 I 1 I 1 balls ali miracles e A took 12 place as ill they ey went V on to win the PC pen t t I 1 nant and beat the athletics 4 straight B southworth So 1110 but part of the story ot of the braves of 1914 goes back to the spring training program of that year in ili the South to a pair of great competitors peti tors possibly the greatest that ever wore were spiked shoes their names were maranville and evers the rabbit babbit and tho the crab reading heading north that year I 1 stol stopped ped oh off for a few days at the braves camp in march tile the main idea was to call on a few old friends such as hank gowdy johnny evers and rabbit martinville intending to spend only a day or so I 1 hung around longer for it was the most interesting camp I 1 had run across in on an exhibition game that afternoon evers evera and bla ranville collided at second base each trying to cover I 1 the bag both seemed to be badly jolted but neither gave tiny any sign glen of being hurt I 1 noticed Ala ranville a few minutes mins I 1 later looking for some 10 lost s t object around second base I 1 what wore you looking for I 1 asked the he rabbit in the dugout later two of my teeth I 1 lie he said where my mouth collided with johnnys head I 1 les hes got a tough head A short while later E evers vers was hit on the arm with a fast ball ile he I 1 gave no sign of being hurt as ho he grinned and started for first base r they could take it another member of the braves was hit and he also showed no sign of any trouble although he carried a lump above his elbow here outside of the tha genial hank gowdy was a rather snarling tough group without too much ability the team had dick rudolph rudolp fi george tyler and bill james pitching but they had never looked like ilka johnson alexander and mathewson or feller newhouse shea abea and blackwell As far as one could see here was a ball club that might finish sixth or seventh or even eighth tho the squad that week had shown no power at all only some pretty fair pitching fig i I 1 that night martinville told me ma I 1 what wha was taking place 1 I lost two teeth ho he said anil and I 1 anever 11 never blinked two men wera a hit bit and they never rubbed their arms arms W weve elve made a rule on this thia cl club ab that nobody can show he be has been hurt no not even it if ho he gets a concussion no not teven even if ho he pets gets his block knocked off dont think losing aing two teeth was any fun it hurt rut but I 1 never never let anyone know it 1 I like that brand of baseball dont ever let lem cm know youve been hurt IR the victory drive alost I 1 lost considerable interest in this maranville philosophy when the braves were last on july 4 15 I 1 games away from tho the first place what about it now 1 said to the rabbit about that time I 1 just worming warming up he said just w warming a aming up watch us in th the 0 stretch it was from lato late july on that tho the braves headed bythe by the driving force of george stallings Sta lUngs p a great manager 9 a fighter from every known angle plus rudolph tyler and james went vent to work stallings told me later he lost four pairs of trousers sliding up tip and down the bench 1 I was full of bench splinters ll 11 he ha said 6 dick rudolph was one of the best and one of the smartest emart cst pitchers rs in 1 basc baseball ball history tyler and james came to his help day after day you got this refrain tyler and james I 1 they caught the giants in the stretch picked up 15 games on one of mcgraws mcgrawsr McG raws good teams a and nd then wrecked the athletics in four straight in the world series and all the athletics had was bender and plank ind and bush col I 1 lins mcinnis baker barry and what looked to be one 0 of f the great teams of all time a team that had won tour four pennants in five years it even a contest Southwort Ks les team I 1 now the braves of 1047 just 33 years later under the able direction of billy southworth another great manager are arc among the teams to beat these braves are ji a much better ball club than tho the i braves of 1914 but whether or j not they thOY can show the same amount of iron in their systems as this miracle squad offered against a forlorn hope Is another guess it often that any team has a Maranv marat iville llla and an evers evera on the tha earns squad I 1 two two blazing spots vit ol flame fame I 1 I 1 1 11 1 1 I 1 w A 1 WC V I 1 40 |