Show Casey Cased Keeps Faith With His Team Bv By GRANTLAND RICE THERE pHERE HERE WAS A moment late last I March down In St. St Petersburg when Casey Stengel was staring moodily into space He had sensed the fact that Joe DiMaggio would be out indefinitely indefinite indefinite- ly perhaps ly-perhaps perhaps for a all O ti sum summer mer Lindell ll r and Berra w were e ere r e eboth t both limping Char Char- Charlie lie Keller e r was i swinging without his old power W r J. Yankee prospects were about as dark darkas as the mouth of a aJ J railroad tunnel Grantland Rice So far as running run run- ning the team is concerned Casey said nothing can happen I cant can't be any big bust with my three coaches coaches Bill Bill Dickey Dick Dick- ey Frank Crosetti and Jim Turner Here are three great fellows who know their stuff I know they are all for me Ive I've never seen three men work harder They are the first on the field and they are the last to leave Then Casey smiled It means a alot alot alot lot to any manager to have the help of at such men he said They dont don't make mistakes I might might but but they wont The fact is that Casey has made fewer mistakes than any manager I know this season He lIe has had his team hustling and working overtime lIe He has bas picked the right rookies lie He has lost the tang his tongue once knew He lIe has been sympathetic sympathetic sym sym- pathetic in place of sarcastic He Dc hasn't tried to be funny at any mans man's expense c He lie has been beena a member of his own squad not an outsider Stengel has done a fine job And Andas as he says he has had the services services services ser ser- vices of at one of ot the best coaching staffs baseball has ever known I Bill Dickey would be a helpful soothing influence on any squad Bill knows what its it's all about and his advice is a big help Frank Crosetti Crosett is one of at the gamest infielders infielders in in- fielders the Yankees ever had He was always a hustling ball player He has been a big help So has Jim Turner a game 20 winner with the theold theold theold old Boston Braves Turner has has' turned in his full share So Stengel was right in pinning pinning pinning pin pin- ning a wild laurel blossom on each cach of his aids It was a nice move by Stengel a move other managers might not care to make Casey has known enough team grief to sink two or three managers But he has never shown any sign of ot losing faith in a club that has been the best in the league so far tar Yankees Sans DiMaggio A day or two ago I ran across a smart minor leaguer from tram other days We began talking about the Yankees without DiMaggio This reminds me he said of ol something that happened when I Iwas Iwas was playing ball We had finished the season before belore in fourth place But at the start o of the next season we lost our Only star He had a broken leg and was out So all the papers plastered us down in last place So we got together We talked things over We finally decided that even though this lost player was good he wasn't the entire club We decided to go out and prove it We fought and hustled harder than we ever did before We moved into first place The papers all al said we wouldn't be there long long long- o. o I not with our star missing That made us hustle all the harder harde I Ican Ican Ican can tell you this this this-If if wed we'd had our star we wouldn't have finished third As it was we won the pen pen- nant The old ballplayer continued to ramble on Theres a good chance the Yankee ball club subconsciously anyway h had a d gotten tired of hearing that Joe DiMaggio was the entire ball ban club After all aU there were Porterfield n B Byrne y r n e Reynolds and o 0 other t the h e r s there s-there there were Kryhoski and Phillips at first there first there w were e ere r e Coleman Brown and Johnson There was and is a fellow named Tommy Henrich close Henrich-close close to DiMaggio Dil in everything there everything there were Lindell and Berra Woodling and Bauer not Bauer not even a Cobb or a Ruth i could have been the entire ball bal club with willi all these fellows on hand Most of at them are first-class first ball bal players They must have felt the inside urge to show they could also play some baseball Heres another thing As good as Joe DiMaggio and Tommy Henrich Henrich Henrich Hen Hen- rich together are they are they were not as important as the pitchers Connie Mack once told me that the pitchers pitch pitch- ers were 70 per cent of ot any ball bal club With or without DiMaggio the Yankees had a fine pitching staff |