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Show . SPORTLIGHT -. College Mind Boon to Baseball By GRANTLAND RICE ' The College Influence fpHE ADDITION of Red Rolfe, the distinguished Dartmouth alumnus, alum-nus, to the list of big league managers, man-agers, increases considerably the influence of the college mind on our national game. The list of college-trained managers man-agers now includes Lou Boudreau t-s of Illinois, Eddie X ' Dyer of Rice' Red ' '"j a. ' ' RIfe 01 Dartmouth 1 and Eddie Sawyer 1C Ct of Ithaca. This is ! f only four out of the 16, but it's at least rfs t" ; a lift from the old I " days when Jake Stahl of Illinois and ' " the Red Sox was Grantland Rice about the only collegian in charge of a squad. Stahl' s Red Sox beat the Giants in the 1912 World Series. It isn't beyond reason to see Boudreau's Indians and Dyer's Cardinals hook up in another world series. This, however, is no even-money even-money bet. In the American league, the Indians still have the Red Sox, Yankees and Athletics to subdue. sub-due. In the National league, the Cardinals . still have the Dodgers, Braves, Pirates and Giants to lasso and handle. The four college-trained managers man-agers must also overpower such non-college entries as Joe McCarthy, Mc-Carthy, Casey Stengel, Burt Shot-ton, Shot-ton, Leo Durocher, Billy South-worth, South-worth, Billy Meyer and Connie Mack a rather formidable troop. What teams are going to win the two pennants, anyway? . With nothing noth-ing better to do under a hot, steamy sun, we began interviewing ballplayers ball-players not the rookies to get their angles. After all, they had played against these teams and ought to have some slant on the subject. Their opinions were quite In-cresting. In-cresting. From American league camps, we found that about 65 per cent gave Cleveland Cleve-land the edge through stronger balance in pitching, hitting, outfield. Infield and catching. There's no doubt that Boudreau's Indians are the best-balanced outfit out-fit in either league. They have what should be the best pitching staff, a fine outfield, a strong infield and competent catching. The other 35 per cent went 25 for the Red Sox and 10 for the Yankees. I rate the Yankees much higher than this. They have the best outfield in the league, if Joe DiMag-gio DiMag-gio is O.K. They have the weakest infield of the three contenders, but powerful piuhing possibilities. The Red Sox are only uncertain in the box, where pennants are won and lost. Anyway, most of the American leaguers thought the Indians would win again. They thought so rather violently. They are probably right, as Boudreau is a smart, keen, hustling hust-ling manager who is going to stand for no loafing. Joe McCarthy must get better pitching and Casey Stengel Sten-gel must get better infield play, improved im-proved pitching and improved catching. Could happen. . The National League Vote The National league vote was even more interesting. We only had the Cardinals, Reds, Phillies and Braves to talk to. The Giants and Pirates are too far away. So are the Dodgers in their madhouse at Vero Beach. All the Cardinals we talked to picked the Cardinals to win by some strange quirk. The Phillies and the Reds were split among the Braves, Cardinals and Dodgers, with the Braves slightly in the lead because of Sain, Spahn, Dark and Pete Reiser's potential po-tential gifts. Also a fellow by the name of Billy Southworth, at least one of the great managers of all time. In a series of five games, the Cardinals would probably win four. But 154 games was a different story. Here is a 1940-1941 squad facing a 1947-1948 squad younger, sounder, with stronger legs and stronger arms. There is no such creaking and clashing of worn-out bones among the Dodgers that you hear from the Cardinal camp. The Redbird team must be rebuilt re-built quickly. It is almost through although still powerful and dangerous. They are a much better ball team than the Dodgers or Giants. But I'm not sure they can go the long route as well as the Dodgers can travel tra-vel the pennant road. Oddly enough, few ot the National Na-tional leaguers I talked to gave the Pirates or the Giants a chance. They liked the Pirates over the Giants. In a short series, they liked the Braves over the Cardinals on account of Sain and Spahn. |