Pennant Prospects

The owner of the Boston Red Sox, big-game-hunting Tom Yawkey, looked up last week at the stuffed head of a bull moose which hangs on his office wall and mused: he might be "playing center field for [us] before the season is over. . . .

But with three weeks of balmy northern training weather under their sliding pads, few big-league clubs were in Yawkey's state of mind. Fewer irreplaceables had been lost to the services than anyone dared hope last winter. For managers as well as fans, hits and fast balls had cut clean through the gloom, even if there was a little less talent in some spots.

In the American League, the St. Louis Browns had to be figured as favorites again--at 8-to-5 with the bookmakers. Their one weak spot, Manager Luke Sewell hoped, would be plugged by Pete Gray (up from Memphis), the most talked-about rookie of the year. Pete, a one-armed outfielding wonder who can hit some and drag bunt to perfection, looked good. Lucky Luke boasted that his Browns were stronger than they were a year ago. But at least two clubs seemed certain to give the Browns a real argument:

P: Detroit's Tigers, still cocky because of their potent pitching pair--Dizzy Trout and Hal Newhouser, who racked up a record of 56 wins last year--still cannot pretend it isn't painful to have lost Slugger Dick Wakefield (.355) and Pink) Higgins (.297).

P: New York's Yankees, with Larry MacPhail now calling the front office shots, are praying twice a day that the Navy won't call up clouting Johnny Lindell. The Yanks still have the best manager in baseball: square-jawed Joe McCarthy.

All the rest are manpower-hungry and struggling to shake off a second division complex. Yawkey's Red Sox have Batsmen Bob (.324) Johnson and Ervin (.315) Fox, little else. The loss of Third-Sacker Ken Keltner leaves Cleveland with but one top-drawer infielder, Shortstop-Manager Lou Boudreau. Dynamic Jimmy Dykes, Chicago White Sox manager, has high hopes that Rookie-Infielder Bill Nagel, a fence-buster from Milwaukee can fill the shoes of Hal Trosky. Weak behind the plate, strong on Cubans again. Washington is minus its only .300 hitter, Stan Spence. Philadelphia's Athletics hoped ex-Milwaukee Outfielder Harold Peck would give their hot-&-cold batting order new heat.

In the National League, the St. Louis Cardinals (quoted at odds-on 4-to-5) should keep their class if they can keep 1-A Catcher Walker Cooper. Manager Billy Southworth, who must replace Stan Musial (the league's No. 2 hitter last year with a .347 average), Johnny Hopp (.336) and Danny Litwhiler (.264), still has the best pitching staff (Mort Cooper, Max Lanier, Ted Wilks, Harry Brecheen, Blix Donnelly) in either league, and Shortstop Marty ("Most Valuable Player") Marion. Apparently capable of giving the three-time league champs a run for their money are two western rivals:

P: Chicago's Cubs again lean heavily on the strong pitching arm of Claude Passeau and the big bat of home-run specialist Bill ("Swish") Nicholson.

P: Pittsburgh's Pirates, who have practically the same well-balanced club that finished a far-off second to the Cardinals last season, may find it hard going without the managerial magic of Frankie Frisch, who is sicker with inflammatory arthritis than most people think.

Not to be overlooked in a year like 1945 is Cincinnati's Bill McKechnie-bossed Reds, who always turn up with good pitching. They still have 34-year-old Pitcher Bucky Walters and the league's top first baseman, Frank McCormick. The four Eastern clubs, which formed a solid second-division block in 1944, are filled with long ifs and forlorn buts. If Manager Mel Ott's aging legs hold out, if they get one pitcher to help 21-game winner Bill Voiselle, the New York Giants might climb upstairs. The Philadelphia Phils must struggle along without their one power-hitter, Ron Northey; the Boston Braves can only hope that some of their 21 rookies will blossom; the 'Brooklyn Dodgers will try to get along on fanatical fan-enthusiasm and the league-leading (.357) bat of Dixie ("Pride of Flatbush") Walker.

With most rosters as full of unknown names as Y.M.C.A. hotel registers, everybody agreed that the caliber of big-league 1945 baseball would be somewhere between AA and A--but it would still be baseball.

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