TMTRSDAY, ARCIT 28, 1946
TEi MICHMIAN IiY
PACE THREE
TH2UTtSDAV, MARcH 28, 1946 PAOI~ THRF*
____I
fSTRI1KE 117W0
Bys, BOB LENT
Daly Sports Staff
EDITOR'S NOTE: This is the fourth of a series of eight columns written by
Daily sports staff members covering the baseball teamfs of the American
League and their pennant chances for 1946.
OF ALL THE BIG LEAGUE TEAMS, none will offer a better yard-stick
of just how good--or bad---wartime baseball was, compared to peacetime
play as the St. Louis Browns.
The Brownies, who hadn't finished in the first division for 13 years
prior to the war, finished two war-schedules in third and copped their
first pennant in history in 1944. This year they have basically the same
club that squeezed through to that flag so they should prove a pretty fair
measuring rod. Most experts have Ihem tabbed for the bottom half of
the second division, but they seem to discount for the Brownies main
asset . . Luke Sewell.
Undoubtedly one of the best pilots in the majors, Luke has given his St.
Louis charges a winning complex since taking over the helm and could
easily surprise the dbpesters with another winning ball club. The Brownies
don't figure to land a money spot, but they should be close behind.
Few of the "have not" teams can boast a one-two punch like Vern
Stephens and Walt Judnich. Stephens led the league in homers last year
and RBI the year before. Judnich banged out 55 homers in his three sea-
sons before entering the Air Forces and batted .313 his last year out.
Stephens has been the top holdout of the junior circuit but is a pretty
sure bet to be at short come opening day. If not, Mark Christman will co-
ver the spot.
Brightest star in the infield at the moment is the kid who will hang
his shingle on third base, Bob Dillinger. He can field, run and has been as
murderous with a bat as his notorious namesake was with a gun. When
"rookie of the year" honors are passed out in October, young Dillinger should
be staking a strong claim.
The right side of the infield doesn't shape up so well. The strange "dis-
appearance" of Dick Siebert left the Browns without an experienced first
baseman,
Siebert has announced plans to become a St. Paul sport announcer
and the St. Louis front office is screaming to Philadelphia for compensa-
tion over losing George McQuinn in the deal. In the meantime George
Archie and Chuck Stevens, untried ex-servicemen, have been battling
for first with the former in the lead. Second base is equally questionable
with Johnny Barardino holding the inside track.
READING FROM LEFT TO RIGHT, the outfield will probably be Al Zaril-
la, Judnich and Joe Grace. Zarilla has been pounding balls to the four
corners of California in spring practice and looks greatly improved. Grace
heads the right field corps mainly by virtue of a .309 batting; average his
last year with the squad.
Chief opposition for his job comes from veterans Glenn McQillen, Joe
Medwick, Chet Laabs, Milt Byrnes and rookie George Bradley up from
Memphis. If Mike Chartak is discharged in time, he should give Sewell added
punch in this department.
Frank Mancuso is looking more like brother Gus every day and rates
as the number one backstop. Sewell says he's 75 per cent better than he was
two years ago. He'll be aided and abetted by Myron Hayworth and new-
comer Hank Helf.
Pitching is the big question mark. If Jack Kramer can regain the
form that brought him 17 wins in '44; if Nelson Potter can follow up the
34 wins he notched the past two seasons; if Steve Sundra can take up
where he left off in '43 (15 wins); if Bob Muncrief's sore arm has healed;
a lot of "ifs" but the law of averages should prove a couple true.
Behind these question marks come Tex Shirley, Al Milnar, Denny Gale-
house, Al Hollingsworth, and Sam Zoldak. Best of the newcomers appears
to be Stan Ferens whose chief claim to fame is a one-hitter against the
Yanks during a brief stay before entering the service. Fred Sanford and
John Pavlick are a couple of lefties who may stick due to an absence of
portsiders in the Brownie boudoir.
All in all, St. Louis can hardly expect another city series, but the Browns
should cause their share of trouble along Pennant Drive.
Top Aces To Run in Relays
Thomason and
Mile Relay in
Chieago Meet
Woveine Quartet
IhaeIM Il~in iAga il
By BILL MATNEY
Some of the nation's most out-
standing track stars will assemble
under the same roof Saturday, March
30, for the Annual Chicago Relays,
and represented among the group will
be Michigan's Bob Thomason and
'he mile relay quartet of Val Johnson,
Bill Haidler Horace Coleman and
tIugh Short, with Herb Barten as al-
ternate.
Seventeen-year old Thomason will
be entered on the 1000 yd. run, com-
peting against such big name stars
is Fred Sickinger of Manhattan, vic-
tor in eight straight races before his
upset defeat by Bill McGuire of 69th
Regiment Armory last Friday night
in the K.C. games at Cleveland; Bill
^lifford of Ohio State, surprise win-
ner of the Big Ten Mile title; and
oossibly McGuire.
Michigan, Illinois Duel Again
Michigan's mile relay will again
accupy the leading role in a duel
with the red hot Illini combo of Bill
Buster, Bob Rehberg, Marce Gonzal-
z, and Herb McKenley, the most im-
>roved runner of the year. This quar-
,et has broken three mile relay re-
:ords so far this year, and will gun
for a 3:18 record pace on the fast
2hicago track. In winning every race
in which it has entered, this relay
eam has established itself as the top
luartet in the country on the basis of
its times.
Considerable interest wil be center-
Ad around the duel between Claude
'Buddy" Young and Eddie Conwell,
_o-holders of the world record at 60
yards: The battle was expected last
week in Cleveland, but Young did not
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compete in the dash. Breaking out of
the blocks also will be Billy Mathis,
Conference champ of 0:6.2 calibre
fomp Illinois, Barney Ewell, who
also has a chunk of the world stan-
dard, and Lloyd LaBeach of Wiscon-
sin, another sprinter who hangs
around the 0:6,2 mark rather consis-
tently.
Doubt Young In Shape
Several armchair experts have stat-
ed that Young will not be able to re-
gain his speed of former years due
to the fact that he played football
last fall with the bruising Fleet City
Bluejackets, and put on extra weight
in the process. Buddy, however,
thinks differently. This race will be
the first test as to who is correct.
With such speed demons as El-
more Harris, Cochran and Herb Mc-
Kenley slated for the special "600",
officials are dusting off the Ameri-
can record of 1:10.2, held jointly by
the late John Borican and Michigan's
Hugh Short.
Harris, representing the Shore
Athletic Club of New Jersey, will put
a perfect record on the block. He did
not compete last week, at which
time Herb McKenley galloped home
in the fair time of 1:14.3. The former
Morgan College speedster has hit 1:12
already this year and will be favored
to maintain his undefeated pace. Roy
Cochran held the American indoor
quarter-mile record of :48.2 until Bob
Ufer lowered it a tenth, in 1942 shar-
ing it with McKenley as of March 9.
Banker's Mile Tough
Until last week, track fandom had
little hope of seeing miler Les Mac-
Mitchell defeated or even seriously
pushed. Then little Ed Walsh, sopho-
more miler from Manhattan, served
his 4:11.4 notice that all might see.
It is significant, since MacMitchell
has not approached that time as yet
this year. Nothwithstanding, Les will
be favored to retain his diadem a-
gainst comparable opposition offered
by Notre Dame's Bil Leonard, Drake's
Ray Mack, Tommy Quinn, formerly
of Michigan Normal, Dave Williams,
from Camp Campbell, Kentucky, and
Walsh himself.
Forrest Efaw, ex-Oklahoma Aggie
distance man, and current king of
the two-mile roost, will have it out
with Fred Feileh of Drake. Feiler
however, is expected to eat cinders
from the spikes of the spindly Efaw.
Hi tters Sharpen
Eyes in Lengthy
oidde, To Pace Attack
Coach Ray Fisher took the empha-
sis off pitching and gave his hitters
a chance to sharpen up their batting
eyes during yesterday's practice ses-
sion at the Ferry Field diamond.
Varying the practice routine, Fish-
er dispensed with the usual intra-
squad game and substituted a sort of
batting round robin. A squad of
previous season letterwinners, plus
pitcher Ernie Block, formed the bat-
ting order for the bulk of the session.
The boys hit and ran the bases until
three men were out, then they cleared
the bases and started a new inning.
The veterans found rookie pitching
pretty much to their liking and they
hit often. Bob Nussbaumer, Jack
Weisenburger, and Tom Rosema
topped the attack, Nussbaumer com-
ing through with a homer and a
double.
The second squad didn't bat as
long as the veterans, and they faced
the slants of "Pro" Boim and Cliff
Wise. Jack MacDonald and Jack
Tallet, a duo of left handed hitters,
banged out two hits apiece to pace
the rookie attack.
With three on base, MacDonald
caught hold of one Boim's pitches
and slammed it out into right center
field, but Joe Sobeleski, veteran cen-
ter fielder went far back and snagged
it.
Another outdoor session is sched-
i led for today.
Undefeated
Spartan iNine
Dtefat&iF Dike
DURHAM, N. C., Mavch 2'7--P)-
Michigan State's high-flying Spar-
tans posed themselves for a clean
sweep of their nine-game southern
tour after squeezing a pair of runs in
the th inning to defeat powerful
Duke 5 to 3, here, today.
The Spartans wind up their junket
Thursday in a single game with near-
by North Carolina State at Raleigh
which is coached by Vic Sorrell, the
one-time Detroit Tiger pitcher.
Michigan State's eighth consecu-
tive triumph was gained as Keith
Steffee, Sturgis sophomore, out-
pitched three Duke hurlers to hold
the Blue Devils scoreless after the
third inning. The victory was won
at the expense of Lefty Lee Griffith,
Duke's leading pitcher. Steffee was
nicked for 10 hits, but fanned 10 and
walked two.
The Spartans counted twice in the
10th on shortstop Marty Hansen's
double to open the inning, a pair of
infield errors and an infield out,
Centerfielder Bob Ludwig's double
and two singles paced the Spartans
attack while leftwinger Grady Stott
duplicated the performance for Duke.
The victory was Michigan State's first
over a Duke team in a series now five
games old.
Score by innings:
Mich. State 021 000 000 2-5 8 2
Duke 201 000 000 0-3 10 3
Steff'ee and Walsh, Halliday; Steph-
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QUANDARY FACES FISIER:
Robinson's Knee In jury May
Keep Shortstop Out TIhis Year
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INTRAMURAI
Sportfolio
By DICK BURTON
Tank squads from eight Greek let-
ter houses competed in the fraternity
swimming meet and water polo
games last night in the Sports Build-
ing.
Events included in the swimming
meet were the 100 yd. relays, the 25
yd. breast stroke, the 50 yd. free
style, the 25 yd. back stroke, and the
25 yd. free style races followed by
diving contests.
Beta Theta Pi defeated Alpha Tau
Omega s squad 41-36. Delta Upsilon
downed Theta Chi by a 36 to 22 count,
and Phi Sigma Delta won on a for-
feit from Theta Delta Chi.
Water Polo results were:
Alpha Tau Omega 3, Theta Delta
Chi 1
Delta Upsilon 3, Sigma Phi Epsi-
lon 1
Delta Kappa Sigma 5, Phi Delta
Theta 4
By WALT KLEE
One of the most serious questions
confronting Ray Fisher in naming
his starting nine players concerms
the right knee of Don 'Robinson, the
leading candidate for the shortistop
position.
Robinson starred at that position
defensively in 1942, lead the Big Ten
in number of hits with 20, lead the
Wolverines with a batting average of
.412 during the Conference season
and bated .426 for the entire season.
However, an injured knee, which
was pulled during a softball game in
Italy last year, may prevent him from
competing this year. Just Monday,
the star shortstop pulled a muscle in
his left knee which will keep him
out of action for 1,hr remainder of
this week.
Scrappy Reputation
"Robbie" as the footbal and base-
ball star of 1942 and 1943 is affec-
tionately known, has built up a repu-
tation as one of the scrappiest ath-
letes on any Michigan teams. Weigh
ing less than 175, Robinson starred
at both wing and tailback positions
on the grid squads for two seasons,
being equaly adept at running, pas3-
ing, kicking and blocking.
His most memorable football feat
was the touchdown he scored against
Notre Dame on a fake field goal at-
tempt, when after receiving the pass
from center he romped 19 yards into
the end zone while the Irish were
still expecting Jim Brieski's field
goal.
Makes Name on Diamond
Yet it was on the diamond that Ro-
binson found his talent. He was a
fast throwing fielder that could gob-
ble ground balls all over the left side
of the infield. His fleetness of foot
was shown as he reached first con-
tinuously on what strategy called
sacrifice bunts. Those who remem-
ber the 1942 season will remember
that most of the shortfielder's hits
were bunts, that just couldn't be
fielded in time.
Robinson went into the Army Air
faseball Scores
By The Associated Press
At Clearwater, Fla.
St. Louis (NL) 000 010 012 - 4 9 0
Cleveland (A) 010 000 000-- 1 6 2
At St. Petersburg, Fla.
Brooklyn (N) 000 000 000 - 0 5 2
New York (A) 001 110 00X- 3 4 1
At Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.
Phila. (N) 010 001 001 0-3 11 0
Boston (N) 010 000 200 1-4 8 0
At Miami Beach, Fla.
Philia. (A) 030 110 000 - 5 13 2
New York (N) 100 100 100 - 3 6 2
Corps during the winter of 1943,
where he was commissioned as a pilot
of a B-24. He came through 30 mis-
sIons unscathed, *just as lie had Iwo
season(, of footbal an aetea lr.
Injures Right Knee
Then came the blow that may
have ended his athletic career. It was
in a softball game when he tore a
cartilage in his right knee.
Robinson came out of service last
fall, and played a few minutes in the
Minnesota game at the quarterback
position. After completing two out of
two passes, one for a touchdown, he
was tackled.
Somehow in going down he turned
his knee which brought, about a re-
c-urrence of the injury lie had suf-
fered while in service. Robinson,
himself, doe .n't think that, the injury
will keep him on the sidelines for
long, and with his eager spirit it, is
i hard to believe that it will.
i
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Ti t jet'Is Spi'lled
ByReds, 4-3
LAKELAND, Fla., March 27 -)(A)
Catcher Ray Lammano hit a two-
run homer in the seventh inning to-
day to give the Cincinnati Reds a 4
to 3 triumph over the champion De-
trait Tigers. Each team Pollected
seven hits.
The Reds took an early two-run
lead in the third inning when pitcher
Frank Dasso singled, outfielder My-
ron (Mike) McCormick walked and
Dasso came home on a double by left-
fielder Dain Clay. Lonnie Frey flied
out, scoring McCormick.
Detroit moved ahead in the fifth
with three runs on two hits. Eddie
Lake singled and Roger Crambr
walked. Outfielder Dick Wakefield
tripled over McCormick's head, scor-
ing Lake and Cramer. Roy Cullen-
bine flied out, Wakefield scoring.
Cincinnati (N) 002 000 200 4 7 1
Detroit (AL) 000 030 000 3 7 2
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