OCR Text |
Show I SPORTUGHT - 1 Dodgers Can Steal Yanks' Thunder ' By GRANTLAND RICE : ' TN PAST YKARS the American League has supplied the runaway run-away teams, usually the Yankees. The Yankees developed the quaint habit of winning a pennant race by 12 or 15 games. The Red Sox adopted this method in 1946. But it was a different story in 1948 and 1949 when the Red Sox, Indians In-dians and Yankees went to the wire under a narrow the experience needed to make it a much more formidable array. If the squad doesn't get careless and swell-headed, it can win this 1950 flag by almost any margin It may pick. At least in ballplaying material it outclasses the National League. Scarcity of Stars "I happen to be a very keen-baseball keen-baseball fan," writes L. H. F. "I am one of some 20 million, at least. I happen to love the old game. But I must admit I get my biggest thrill from the stars from such players as Babe Ruth, Dizzy Dean, Carl Hubbell, Joe DiMaggio, Stan Musial and Ted Williams. "I hadn't realized until I read your column a few days ago that we were approaching what you might call a starless period. I hadn't realized .that when Joe DiMaggio, Di-Maggio, Ted Williams and Stan Musial leave the game, there is absolutely no one in sight to fill the gap. There are no other top stars in the game today. I can see no others in sight. I wonder why this is?" I put this query to a pair ot able baseball men, who also love the game. Their names are Ford Frick, president of the National League, and Toots Shor, who is always bulging with the correct answers. Both agreed there were no outstanding out-standing new stars in sight. There were no Wagners, Cobbs, Ruths, Lajoies, Collins, Gehrigs, Horns-bys. Horns-bys. Speakers, Jacksons, Frisches, etc., to replace DiMaggio, Williams Wil-liams and Musial, who are on their way over the hill. A few days ago, Dizzy Dean was televising a game. "He just give op five bases on balls In this inning," Dizzy said. "That ain't possible. Yon can't give five bases on balls in one inning. Hardly ever in one game." Of course the excited son of several sev-eral spots in Arkansas and Oklahoma Okla-homa was kidding. He knew a modern pitcher could give up 10 bases on balls in succession. t Yankee pitcher did last year six in the first inning of one game and four the next day. In our research we turned again to the past, and maybe found the answer. Or part of it. In looking over old records we found that such pitchers as Cy Young, Ed Walsh, Grover Alexander, Walter Tohnson and Christy Mathewson were pitching from 350 to 400 more innings each season. They were working in from 35 to 50 ball games, going all the way most of the time. Grantland Kice jn the -meanwhile, most National League races had been neck-and-neck or nose-and-nose, photo finishes or extra-Inning extra-Inning flashes. Now there is a very good chance that Branch Rickey's Brooklyn Dodgers will slip into the old American League habit. hab-it. Burt Shotton, an able manager, man-ager, has by all odds the best ball club in the league. For a long stretch he has the best ball club in either league. Now Branch Rickey is in a tough spot. In spite of the worst training trip in the two major leagues, a training trip arranged for profit rather than condition, his out-of-shape Dodgers moved in and took over the National League race in their first six games. They have the best catching staff in either league. They have the soundest pitching staff in either league. They have, by all odds, the best infield in-field in the National League, and possibly the best in both leagues. They have an outfield that is rated slightly under the Cardinals, the Red Sox and possibly the Tigers. Ti-gers. But they have a very good outfield that will hold its own. So the Dodgers are equipped with sufficient man power to win the National League race by 12 or 15 games. Thef have more than their share of youth and speed, legs and arms, skill and power with the promise of even better days. They have two possible star pitchers in Barney and Branca and they don't need either. They can do very well with Newcombe, Roe, Hrtten, Rams-dell, Rams-dell, and several more just about as good. Barney and Branca are merely velvet. In the wake of Branch Rickey's smart farm system, the smartest baseball has yet known, the Dodgers Dodg-ers tied for the flag in 1946 won it in 1947 were nosed out in 1948 and won it in 1949. This is a brilliant four-year showing. show-ing. Now this Dodger bunch has |