Show RICE may have ve a better philosopher BASEBALL Blo lo in its midst than casey stengel mandarin of the boston braves but we doubt it during the past few weeks we have put in considerable time hurdling the divots divits of leading stars with casey in tow or vice versa along the western bartler border of bun kerland discovering each time new depths in the stengel philosophy A certain star woul would plunk one into a trap squawking bitterly when he found a casey stoned stengel did he asked mr stengel expect to find the trap studded with a flock of wooden tees suppose some of these birds had to play from places I 1 pick out from hole to hole it was vas no difficult job to swing casey back to baseball the inc draft he said can make these two pennant races a big scramble and im not referring to the yankees the main american league scramble will be to keep somewhere Bome where in sight of the yankees Fan kees any ball club that has dimaggio gordon and seller keller have to bother much but there can be a big bi scramble for second and third places we might find out for one example whether the loss of ted williams hurts the red sox more than fellers absence hurts cleveland the yankees suffer no su such ch destruction the way it is in life the breaks usually swing to the top not towards the bottom in the national casey looked for an ex even ven tighter race in the national league than 1941 had to show the dodgers and cardinals will be about as strong as they were a year ago I 1 believe the reds beds can be better with the pitching they are sure to get just a few more base hits can make this club a t tough 0 u g h contender back of walters riddle derringer and vander meer those are four rough parties to face in buc bucky walters y any series I 1 feel sure the cubs and pirates will improve maybe the giants I 1 hope we do we have some pretty fair kids coming along if they are not taken away in the draft this is where the scramble comes in no one can say now how many more players will have to go by midsummer and find few ball players turned down physically they are a pretty healthy lot one big trouble with baseball casey said is the little so many many players seem to learn they are usually big fast and strong and they appear to think au all there is needed to make a ball player doh oh here and there you find a rookie who Is keen to learn his trade to improve himself but you yon dont find fidd this sort often there are too many who either know it all or are too lazy to work at it in the hard way good baseball is a smart mans game this is why many an old timer will still hang on this season and more kids will fall fail back it should be a big year for the ve veterans t I 1 could use a fellow in los angeles by the name of J jigger statz who is 43 years old he is still one of the pest best outfielders in baseball and a pretty fair hitter bitter the 1942 season philosopher and psychologist stengel g el looked forward to a good baseball year the average human mind he said can handle only so in much lich trou brou ble and brooding it needs some form of release delease now and then the entertainment and the amusement baseball brings to millions will be badly needed and this can in n no way late interfere fere with war work of any am sort workers in war industries can use an hour or two here and there to rest their nerves and get needed relaxation all those needed tor for war service will be taken they have beeri been called in large numbers and they still will be called whenever and wherever wanted but there will be others left many others othera including older men with families not so many of these will be taken with so many unmarried younger men around and stars keep coming com mg along I 1 remember they once said nobody could take the places of wagner and lajoie then we had cobb speaker and jackson who could take their places then we had ruth and gehrig hornsby and others nobody could fill the those gaps but suddenly there were dimargio feller and ted williams also pete reiser a great first year man and that joe gordon is no doormat doorman around second base yes they keep coming com ing alon along 11 casey said the war will make a difference for a while |