Show 1 www V mr 0 THERE were vague rumors under the he sunny skies of st petersburg back in march that something was lust just a little shy in the camp of the cardinals so far as any flaming team spirit was concerned these rumors have carried along into the starting season maybe they are true maybe they are not but if they are true th the e cardinals are going goin g to hear no gonfalon lc ic flapping in the next flurry of autumn winds for team spirit happens to be a vital part of any ball club no al matter how strong their individual u at play this brings up the L point as to what in baseball G cantland rant land teams rice history looking back 30 years belong around the top where the matter of team spirit is concerned here are just a few that I 1 can recommend from rather close contact 1905 mcgraws mcgrawsr McG raws giants with matty mcginnity bresnahan devlin dahlen donlin 1908 1906 the chicago white sox with fielder jones donohue isbell walsh altrock 1907 frank chances cubs with chance evers tinker kling 1914 the boston braves of george stallings with evers maranville rudolph tyler james gowd gowdy 1934 st louis cardinals with frisch pepper martin medwick dean delancey colllns collins durocher the old gas house gang 1936 1939 the N Y yankees 0 of f W whom hom joe mccarthy demands tea team m spirit even when he has to get rid of a great pitcher and a star outfielder the two leaders my selections from 35 years of baseball would place two teams on top in this respect the white sox of 1906 and the boston braves of 1914 neither was anything like a great ball club the sox then were known as the hitless wonders their team batting average was around they floundered most of the year and then under the crabby leadership of fielder jones and the almost raving upheaval of jiggs donohue at first they dame came along to win 19 straight bag the pennant from much better teams and then whip franl franl chances cubs who had won games that season and were supposed to be invincible that record of victories still stands but even such fighters as chance tinker evers and others had nothing to match the whirlwind assault of the keyed up sox I 1 recall asking hughey fullerton one of the best of the baseball sages about isbell at second heres a funny angle hughey said aid isbell cant hit bit a lick he cant run he be has johnny evers a bad arm and he is only a fair air infielder but he Is one of the greatest ball players I 1 ever saw isbell had brains and spirit to a high degree tile the sox were that brand or breed of team players in 1908 ed walsh worked in 68 66 ball games won 40 and saved 12 others it takes spirit plus an arm to carry this load about the braves of 1914 george stallings braves were much along the order of the 1906 white sox they were no great ball club they were around last place in early july they were supposed to lie be the he lea league gue e flop and then the vital spark arrived they began overhauling one team after another with rudolph ty ter ler and james working in order rudolph tyler and james rudolph tyler and james day after day week after week mouth month after month in addition there was hank gowdy back of the bat and there were johnny evers and rabbit maranville working at second and short two disembodied spirits two diminutive chunks of nerve brains and courage they won the pennant they had bad to face connie macks brilliant team that hat had won three pennants pennan tsa team that had bad bender and plank in the box and mcinnis ls collins barry and baker for an infield one of the great teams of all time but the braves beat them four straight the 1940 pennant chasers neither may bag a pennant this season but you wont stumble over any keener spirit than brooklyn and pittsburgh will show this summer leo durocher and frank frisch will handle that part of the job both demand hustlers still carrying along the flame of the gas house delegation the abe brooklyn dodgers demonstrated their bustle and spark by winning the first nine games odthe of the season included in this march were four shutouts shu touts and a no hit bit garite game |