Show r RiCE RiCES AS AS S FAR BACK as 1934 the rams ramI ram ram- s I pant spirit of the St. St Louis Cardinals brought them the title I of the Gas House Gang Their 1948 outfit hasn't a Dean Deah aboard tiMe aboard Me and Paul Paul a a Delancey Delancey Delancey Delan Delan- cey a Pepper Martin but it has hasI I much of the same spirit that has carried the team along so many mam years Spirit is almost as indefinable I as color but it lasts longer I Ican It Itcan Itcan can become a heritage which color cantAs cantAs cantAs cant As Eddie Dyer put it It was nothing but sheer spirit that carried our team from a bad last to second place last summer When we lost los nine straight games to sink deeper into the cellar there was every excuse excuse excuse ex ex- cuse to quit quit especially especially as we had so many sick or injured men on the squad But the team refused to quit and that gave me further proof it was about as game a bunch as asI asI asI I ever saw Ve r e have many of the same men on our squad this year that came from 10 games behind in August to win some six years ago Marty larty Marion Terry Marion Terry Moore Moore- Stan Courtney Courtney Slaughter Whitey some Kurowski-some some of our pitchers although weve we've lost Lanier Lanier Lanier La- La nier White and Beazley from that 1912 1942 squad But the same old spirit is still there Remember last spring in St. St I Petersburg Ducky Medwick was the conditioned best-conditioned man in camp and and one of the best hustlers A Alot Alot Alot lot of years had passed since 1934 I but but they couldn't affect his spirit Ive I've seen too many of our men out there hustling when they should have been in a hospital Ill urn admit we haven't the youngest youngest youngest young young- est team in the league but it isn't too old It still sUU has the spirit of six years ago when they beat the Yankees four out of five World Series games This is still an open race The big improvement in the Pirates and Phillies will make a difference And the Reds no longer will be a soft touch with Blackwell back Its It's a tough league league league-in in which to set up a winning streak There are too many good teams and too many good pitchers in your road This will be the toughest of all races Disappointing Red Reel Sox Last year it was the Cardinals This year its it's the Red Sox The Cardinals a to 5 on odds-on favorite still were trying to wiggle off of thelast the thelast thelast last place hook around this date last year The Red Sox would have been last at the quarter mark this season season season sea sea- son if the ignoble White Sox hadn't been in the same league the league the wor worst wont team in in big league baseball Yet the Boston ball club carries Ted Williams Bobby Doerr Dom DiMaggio DiMaggio Di- Di Maggio Johnny Pesky and Vern Stephens rated among the best men in in baseball All this plus Joe McCarthy Yet for the first six weeks of the race this club couldn't keep pace with the Browns tabbed as the tho time all-time jokes It might be mentioned here that the home support given the Browns has proved again this franchise must leave St. St Louis and let the Cardinals Cardin Cardinals Car Car- din ls have an exclusive roost The play and hustle of the once- once berated Browns have been one of the main sensations of the year But this isn't explaining the Red Sox One answer is shoddy pitching pitching pitching pitch pitch- ing but this cant can't be the only an an- They did far better last summer with about the same pitch pitch- ing The Red Sox dropped from second place in team batting to fifth fUth despite despite despite de de- spite Ted Williams' Williams consistent hit hit- ting Their first pitcher was in the spot in the league ranking and they have only one regular who was above But still they had the thc same staff as they had last year year plus Kramer and Kinder McCarthy Broods Joe McCarthy has nearly always been a aT T winning whining nning manager There is no other manager who broods as much over defeat So anyone can see the miserable spring and early summer the Buffalo leader has known to da date te Have his Red Sox dumped themselves themselves themselves them them- selves out of the pennant race That isn't the problem now The problem is can is-can can they finish in the first division Certainly none of this Red Sox misery can be laid to Williams At last reports Williams was leading the American league in individual batting and in in runs batted He was second in home runs He was well above his record of a year ago and hot on the trail of Ken Keltner of th the Cleveland Indians It couldn't be Williams But Doerr Stephens and DiMaggio were not too hot They are better than hitters Johnny Pesky Is also more than 60 points below his normal average The Red Sox have nothing like the tho team spirit carried by the Athletics the Indians or the Browns They lack the urge and the lift the lift the desire to win wilL They have looked dazed and bewildered in many games as if they still dont don't believe they have spent over sit she weeks headed for the tho thoc c cellar 5 4 tt r c. c t S r i. 4 |