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Show Plf VJl GMimAND 1 "TpHE Pacific Coast league believes it is a major league and should be so recognized. Part of this belief will come true In a day not too far away. At least, no 1 fa, one can deny that Frank Lefty O'Doul of San Francisco and Casey Stengel of Oakland are big league managers, slightly better than the average brand. Casey believes the Pacific Coast should be set up as an in-dependent in-dependent big I STENGEL league. "Where do most of the stars come from?" he asks. "Joe DiMaggio, Dom DiMaggio, Ted Williams, Ralph Kiner, Ewell Blackwell, Joe Gordon, Johnny Pesky I could keep on all day. Why Is the Coast league surrounded by Dig league scouts? They are thicker iian ballplayers." I asked Casey who were the best men coming up this next spring. "You can keep your eye on two," he said. "Chesnes and Fitzgerald, Doth with Pittsburgh. Chesnes can pitch, play the infield and outfield and hit plenty good. He is one of the most valuable all-around ballplayers ball-players I ever saw. The only hitch Is that he finished last season with a sore arm. That won't hurt him in Ihe infield or outfield. "Fitzgerald is a fine young :atcher who will improve and soon be a star. These two players cost Pittsburgh plenty. I believe Chesnes and Fitzgerald, under Meyers, will oe two valuable men. Prospects for Season "The new owners in Pittsburgh are out to get a winning team and given a little time I know they'll arrive. It probably won't happen this year, with the Dodgers, Braves, Cardinals and Giants in the way. "I'll give you a team that can win that National league pennant," Casey said. "I mean the Cardinals. It they get only fair pitching this season, they still have the best ball club in their league. They can also use one more good catcher. Their pitching wrecked them a year ago alien Pollet and Dickson blew so badly. They'll have a better staff this season and will be hard to beat. "Another club that will cause a lot of trouble will be Cincinnati. Blackwell alone can upset a pennant pen-nant race, even if he can't quite win one. This Cincinnati team isn't bad at all. Neither is Boston with Spahn and Sain around. They were great pitchers when I was managing the Braves. They are even better now. The race in the National should be one of the best In many years." Stengel is quite happy on the coast, and his jousts with Lefty O'Doul have lured in many a customer. cus-tomer. "All we need at Oakland," Casey said, "is a ball park about twice or three times as big. We'd fill it." AAA Value of Concentration The long cavalcade of golfers, which started from Los Angeles, will cover terrain from the Pacific to the Atlantic across Arizona, Texas, Louisiana into Florida then up the coast through the Carolinas and finally to the Masters' tournament tourna-ment in Georgia. It's a long, long hike and a tough way to make a living especially for 80 per cent of the parade who must pay their own way and don't cut into the money any too often. Every shot can be worth from $100 to $1,000. Those with a chance to win know it. "The toughest part of the trip Is to keep on concentrating," one of the leaders said. "You can concentrate only just so long, then something snaps. For example, you come to a shot that calls for a No. 3 or a No. 4 iron. You are not certain which. The right thing to do is to say this needs a three iron or a four iron and forget the rest of it. But the odds are you'll be undecided when you hit the shot maybe trying to press a four or spare a three anyway any-way still wondering." "The pressure is terrific," Locke added. "Recently I bad two 70s four under par for the first two rounds. That isn't bad golf. There is-nothing is-nothing wicked about it. Yet I was eight strokes back of the leader, who by then was 12 strokes under par. There are times when you get a feeling of hopelessness of 'what's the use?' four under par yourself and eight strokes from the top." Too Many Good Ones There are few golfers in this pack who can approach the old consistency consist-ency of Jones, Hagen and Sarazen on big days. But there are any number num-ber who suddenly can turn and rip a course to pieces Ben Hogan, Demaret, Mangrum, Dutch Harrison, Harri-son, Snead, Furgol, Palmer, these and many others who suddenly can get hot and burn up things and later cool off. "This concentration hits you hard- I est on the short side," one veteran campaigner said. "On short pitches, ; chips and putts you need touch and timing, full control. If you are a little jerky here, you are gone. Full Bhots don't bother us too much. It's those short ones that demand smoothness and touch. |