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Show comment on SPORTS By ED SIMS BASEBALL . . . The fortunes of any major league baseball team wax and wane with the morale of the players to a great extent. On any winning team there must be talent tal-ent to be sure but there must be more spirit. All of which brings to mind the plight of two once-great teams in the American Ameri-can League the world champion cham-pion Detroit Tigers and the : .Ul.. TVT . V-l, Vnnlrnnc What is behind the decline of these powerful combines' One of the answers is player trouble. Another is the Boston Red Sox. How much of the fading glory of both teams is a result of morale is unknown. But these things are known: When the Yankees shifted Joe McCarthy off the bench, something some-thing left the dugout with the great manager. Players who have starred in Yankee uniforms for years have been rumored not even speaking to the new pilot, Bill Dickey. Dickey is younger than the last manager and naturally doesn't command the respect from some of his fellow players that Marse Joe did in former days. But Dickey nevertheless was the logical log-ical choice and should make a good manager. There is other player trouble not stemming from the Dickey promotion. Some of the greats have been outshined by players on different differ-ent teams in the American League this year. Joe DiMaggio, who used to be called Mr. Outfield Out-field has offered the throne to Thumping Theodore Williams. Jolting Joe Gordon has seen his reputation as the best at the second sec-ond sack flit away to another Bostonian, Bobby Doer. Other great Yankees are today to-day completely over-shadowed by someone else's ability. In other oth-er words, the bloom is wilting. Some forecasters predict that a great number of once - great Yankees will be sold by 1947. That is a possibility. Their morale mor-ale is down, their performance is down. As a result, the team is down. What about the Detroit Tigers? The reasons are similar in some-respects. some-respects. Morale is far too low for another championship team. Some of the Tigers arc said to be so envious of Grcenberg they don't have much to do with the big fellow. Recently, a Detroit writer said cause of this was because Green-j berg had too many special privileges. privi-leges. He takes a plane when others ride the train. He gets more money than any one else. He gets this and he gets that. This year he hasn't been worth the super salary. Other players win nearly as many games as he does and get less than hall the ducats. Hal Newhouser doesn't even get as much as Grecnberg. Recently Rec-ently Trout teed off at Grcenberg in Boston sitting in the dugout. All that doesn't make for a winning win-ning team. Wagefield too comes in for his share of resentment. resent-ment. His salary is over-sized according ac-cording to many Tigers. After all the players are humans and the main concern to most of them is their salary, which is their living. liv-ing. Of course, they'd like to win the pennant too. It has been rumored that Steve O'Ncil will be gone from the Tiger roster next year. After all he is the one who is supposed to keep up . the morale, however hard it might be. Some of his strategy this year is puzzling. For instance why did he 'fail to pitch Newhouser in the series after the All-Star game? If Bos- i nn ic flio fpam in hpat snH TTfxr. houser is the Tiger ace, it doesn't make sense for him to sit the series out. Whatever the outcome, the Yankees and Tigers will have to change things around to win again. And they usually switch pretty fast when things start go ing wrong as they have this year. ONE MINUTE SPORTS QUIZZ 1. Who does Manager Duroch-er Duroch-er of the Dodgers predict to fight out for the National League flag? 2. What salary does Hank Greenberg reportedly draw? 3. What town has been pro-nosed pro-nosed other than New York for the next heavyweight title bout? 4. What great tennis player of yesterday came within one stroke of winning a major golf tournament tourna-ment recently? 5. What famous crooners are supposed to be interested in major ma-jor league baseball ownership? The Answers 1. The Cubs and his own Dod-I Dod-I gers. 2. Less than $60,000.00. 3. Detroit. 4. Ellsworth Vines. 5. Bing Crosby and Frank Sinatra. |