Show PHE H E citrus crop took quite a ash i shellacking L 11 licking from rom the rather rough winter that assaulted F florida this season this was practically the s same ame winter that almost wre wrecked c ked Eri england gland and europe and was none too soft on the south the southwest and the middle west in the U S A but for oil all of that the pennant crop in florida is looking to one of its biggest years if you recall the facts acts the cardinals who trained at st petersburg and the red sox who ho trained at sar aeota won the two major pe pennants a year ago in th the e american league florida trained teams the red sox tigers and yankees ran in the national league they ran 12 1 2 according to al lang who iva was bringing teams to florida when connie mack was a rookie it will be the same this season red sox tigers and yankees will run again al teus tells you the cardinals will prove once more that st petersburg is the best training spot on what Is left of this globe florida stands pat this state will dominate the two leagues and well we U still have a few oranges grapefruit tangerines tang erines strawberries and what not let left over lang still figures the ya yankees akes would have done much better if they had come direct to st peters I 1 burg in place of using up their early training days in puerto rico and other latin american countries I 1 reason agree with him the main reason for a big league team coming south or heading westward is condition not exhibition games the main idea is to build up legs and arms to develop wind to get ready for the games that wait on beyond the middle of april you get that on turf and sod not in the air or traveling 0 on n trains the yankees were far ahead of the cardinals this thi time last spring in shape too early they are a full month past us eddie dyer told me but the cardinals were 20 games ahead of the yankees in late september ball players I 1 meet around here dont figure figue the yankees can come close to the red sox who aho are picked again to get another killing lump jump due to saner training methods at least partly not entirely the red sox also have much the better ball club no matter where the training site how can anyone tell about the yankees one veteran said who c could 0 u d have told you 10 or 11 ol of their b best e t hitters would tall fall off 30 40 or 50 pol points its who can say how many ol of I 1 these hese will bound back to where they used to be who can tell you how good joe dimaggio DIMagg lo the big man on the club will be their pitching was pretty good last year it was their weak hitting that wrecked them dimaggio a great ball player could be a big lift it if he is the ball player he was vas before the war maybe he will be I 1 know but having dimaggio in a slump is like having bob feller with an off year or ted williams batting or hal trying to win 15 or 18 games look how babe ruth carried the yankees so many years sure he had a lot of help but it was the babe that supplied the spark dimaggio makes a much greater difference to the yankees than the h hits its he m makes akes or br the runs he drives in or the great catches he can handle joe can lift or let down the entire club on the mental or hustling side plenty of possibilities the yankees are still packed with possibilities spud chandler Is still a grea great t pitcher rizzuto lindell Lu idell keller henrich johnson robinson and others have shown in the past how good they can an be when they are right with the exception ot of chandler and robinson most of the yankees were not too hot last year they have high class handling from harris dressen and corriden Corn den they ask for better but it is the ball player and the spirit of the ball player placer that gives you the answer the spirit of the yankees I 1 happen to knew was bad last season they were w ere a long way from the yankees I 1 used to know id like to see first how much fight and hustle they have loft left id like to see them with uth more of the stuff stud the cardinals and the dodgers have hae the hard luck lick breaker it has been a long time since I 1 saw spud chandler of georgia running blocking and kicking a against gli I 1 is i yale after leaving georgia si spud spent most of his time fighting off hard luck he was shifted here and there finally landing with the ya yankees he started several weeks week s b before e the spring training season but broke an ankle while running A year later he fielded a short b bunt with a quick snap that wrecked a ligament in his right arm |