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Show ) J l ,fMTUVD ! Y j BASEBALL has grown restless. . Especially in the spring. This time they will be playing and training as far apart as Hawaii and Cuba. Teams will be shifted all over the spring map. The Giants move from Miami to Phoenix and travel as far westward west-ward as Hawaii. The Cleveland Indians In-dians shift from Clearwater, Fla., to Tucson, Ariz. The Yankees tour Cuba and sections of Central Cen-tral and South America before landing at St. Petersburg, Fla. The Dodgers leave Florida for Cuba and other Latin GrantlandEice turf. The new slogan ought to be "Join a ball club and see most of the world." The Cardinals are firmly set at St. Petersburg, the Red Sox at Sarasota Sara-sota and the Tigers at Lake Wales. The Yankees hit St. Petersburg around March 12. The Reds report back to Tampa. Arizona gets its first big league training test with the Giants at Phoenix and the Indians In-dians at Tucson, where a warm, dry sun ought to help. But we like the training idea of the Cardinals, Red Sox and Tigers best. They go directly to one spot, from which point they have only a short traveling range to meet high grade competition. Smart ball players begin working out their legs before spring training starts through golf or hunting. Ball players could use better legs. Watch a pitcher after he hits a triple. He winds up at third, puffing like a volcano and it often takes him an extra inning or two to retain re-tain his pitching form. The Cardinal System The St. Louis Cardinals have the best idea of the qualities that go into the making of a good ball player. Their farm system was arranged ar-ranged on the general idea of giving giv-ing experience to young players who could run and throw. For the past 20 years the average Cardinal could run and he had a good arm. Hard hitters or big hitters who were slow, rarely stayed around. Ball players with bad arms were not wanted, no matter how good they might look otherwise. The arms of Terry Moore and Country Slaughter in the past have been as deadly as twin rifles and both were extremely fast on their feet. When a Cardinal starts from first to third he usually makes it. And when some rival starts from first to third he is quite often cut down short of the bag. Branch Rickey and Sam Bread-on Bread-on were the pair who worked out this selective plan and now Rickey is using it for his Dodgers. Experience Experi-ence is a big factor but a brace of young legs and a young throwing arm are also useful. Dodgers Are Younger Eddie Dyer and Durocher are both banking on speed and good arms this season. The Dodgers have this advantage they are younger. More than one Cardinal star is now deep In the veteran class and speed doesn't increase with the years not even with a Terry Moore and an Enos Slaughter. . . If Robinson makes good at third, er wherever he is used, his addition addi-tion will increase Dodger speed. Teams in the National league hoping hop-ing to crowd out either Brooklyn or St. Louis will need more speed than they have shown so far. A large number of ball players can get in better condition and stay in better condition than many do. For any daily competition that runs through 154 games demands the best sort of physical condition. This can be obtained much better by sticking as long as possible to one spot, rather than through extensive traveling around. College and Pro War There is now an underground, undeclared un-declared war between the colleges and pro football which may break into the open any day or any week. The colleges are charging that the pro leagues are taking away star football players, who have from one to two years left for college football a direct violation of pro-promises pro-promises not to take any man who is eligible for the college game. The pro leagues are charging that college football coaches and college col-lege athletic associations are holding hold-ing players in coDege, or trying to . hold them, long after their classes have graduated. This argument or feud of course dates back to the war. I happen to know that when the war came along, many southern coaches were something more than mildly upset over the fact that Army and Navy had taken away their best players. Unless he actually wants to finish fin-ish a college education above everything every-thing else, I can see no reason why a man of 25 or 26, especially those -with families, should stay on in college col-lege to play football. Under these circumstances. I would say that he is entitled to leave college and get the best job available. |
