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Show ijiiiiiiimiiiiimiiiiiiiiiiiiiiimMiiiiMtf i SfLzahinCj, By ROBERT McSHANE E ZZ RlaMd by W,rnt Nw(popr Union nlllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllilllUr TMlE Cincinnati Reds will win the 1 National league pennant, followed fol-lowed closely by the Brooklyn Dodgers, Dodg-ers, and the New York Yankees will nose out the Cleveland Indians for top honors In the American league. At least that seems to be the consensus con-sensus among the nation's sports writers. Four hundred of them, picking pick-ing the pennant races for a recent Issue of a national magazine, named the Yanks and Reds with the Docig-era Docig-era and Indians ruiuiers-up. The Cards and the Red Sox were given third place. However, if you disagree with that early season analysis, forget it You cn find any number of authoritative prognostications more nearly in line with your own thoughts on the subject. sub-ject. For Instance, one Chicago sports writer picks the Cubs to win the 1941 National league race ahead of at least two better teams, possibly three. His reasoning is a bit tricky, but believers in sun spots, ground-hoe ground-hoe shadows and technocracy will have no trouble gTasplng the situation. situa-tion. He points out that the Cubs have won the pennant every three years, beginning In 1929. And they haven't won since 1938. Hence It's their year. Two Good Reasons Maybe there's something to his belief. The Cubs won with the best team in the league in 1929 and 1932. But in 1935 and 1938, Lady Luck was the most Important person on the club roster. Then, too, the Cardinals are getting get-ting the nod in several quarters. They need only pitching to justify any claims made for them, and some observers are becoming more optimistic, about that department. Going into this season we're of the opinion that the defending champion Reds are due to repeat in the National Na-tional league without too great a struggle. And we'll string along with the Cardinals for second place, though the Dodgers will have considerably more to say about this than ourselves. our-selves. The St Louis outfield is the best in the league, boasting such willing and capable workers as Terry Ter-ry Moore, Enos Slaughter, Don Padgett Ernie Koy and Harry Walker. The Dodgers are the question mark of the senior circuit. Dolph Camilli and "Cookie" Lavagetto are a couple cou-ple of aged performers who aren't expected to be of any great future service. But Joe Medwick looks stronger than ever and young "Pe-wee" "Pe-wee" Reese is a whirlwind shortstop, short-stop, strong at the plate and lightning light-ning on the bases. Cubs for Fourth? From here on the going is even more muddled. But right now the Cubs look good for fourth place, followed fol-lowed by the Giants, Pirates, Bees and Phillies. The American league race should be one of the most exciting in years. The Yankees and Indians promise to make it a close fight both teams are set for a great season. All in all, the Yanks are well balanced. bal-anced. The outfield combination, consisting of Joe Di Maggio, Charley Char-ley Keller, George Selkirk and Tommy Tom-my Henrich, would make any manager man-ager deliriously happy. Bill Dickey is a top notch receiver and a threat at the plate. The Indians are at a disadvantage in that their hopes are based largely on the arm of one man Bob Feller Manager Peckinpaugh figures him to win between 25 and 30 games. Remove Re-move him from the lineup through injury or by the draft and the Indians In-dians would be little more than just another ball club. Hank and the Draft The Detroit Tigers are worth third place nomination. Even though Dick Bartell and Charley Gehringer may not repeat their 1910 performance, the Tigers can look to Eric McXair and Frank Croucher. Hank Green-berg Green-berg and Rudy York could make a grammar, school team dangerous. The Tigers can only hope that the draft doesn't nab Hank too soon. They need his batting power too much. The Chicago White Sox rate no better than fourth place. But Manager Man-ager Jimmy Dykes is extremely fond of upsetting applecarts. The Red Sox should lead the second sec-ond division clubs, followed by St Louis, Philadelphia and Washington. It is not likely, though, that the clubs will co-operate to that extent Indeed, it is entirely probable that a first-division team will be forced to swap places with one of the latter four clubs before the season has ended. . Proving, all over again, the futility futili-ty of long range guesses. Sport Shorts ft Stan Hack of the Chicago Cubs was the hardest man in the National league to double up last season. He hit into only three double plays. C. The University of Georgia beat Auburn 30 to 4 in the opening Southeastern South-eastern conference baseball game this year. C Florida reaped a record revenue of $2,402,773 from pari-mutuel betting bet-ting this past winter season S33.000 of which will go to each of thr ate's 67 counties. |