The Waterbury Democrat., 1938-04-02
BY GEORGE KIRKSEY United Press Staff COrresDOndent)

United Press Staff COrrespOndent)
 Tampa, Fla, April 2-(UP)-Any number of things can and may happen in the National League pen nant race this season. It may not even be a traditional National league race with four clubs swing ing down the stretch neck and neck. The whole setup is unpredictable.
 Bill Terry says the Giants are a cinch to repeat. The evidence points to different story but Terry has been right so often in his calcula- tons the. last few years that it's almost treason to go against him.
 If one club runs away with the flag, it seems certain that it will be the Giants, Cubs or Cardinals. No other club seems to have possibili- ties of dominating the league, even with all the breaks.
 There seems to be an excellent chance for 8 shakeup in the Ma tional leagues Big Four the Giants, Cubs, Pirates and Cardinals, who have dominated the first di- vision for the past three years. It is possible for any one of these clubs to crack up and drop into the second division. They all have so many ifs, and buts connected with them that the loss of one key play CT and a few tough breaks could put them down with the daisies.
 The league may be broken up in- to four classifications as follows:
 Clubs about the same-GiantS, Cubs, Pirates and Bees.
 Clubs improved - Dodgers and Reds.
 Mystery Club-Cardinals.
 No improvement and probably weaker-Phillies.
 The Cubs had the best club in the National league the last two years, and yet got no better than second and a tie for second. Again they appear to have club capable of winning the pennant, but on past performances Chicago can't be con- sidered the favorite. The Giants must be accorded that spot because they played right up to the limit of their capabilities the last two years and until they fold up must be rated "the solid team" Also as long as the Giants have Hubbell and Melton, the leagues best pair of pitchers, they must be considered dangerous contenderS.
 Charlie Grimm hopes the Cubs will be stronger for three reasons: Joe Marty's improved hitting, ar rival of Clay Bryant as pitching regular and Augie Galan's come back.
 Unless Johnny Rizzo, rookie out fielder, and Russ BauerS, second year pitcher, can give the Pirates a big lift they do not appear to be any stronger than last season when they got hot early, cooled off fast during the dog days and wound up third.
 Any one who can tell what kind of club the Cardinals are going to have is clairvoyant. They fre- quently look like champions and chumps in the same game. But with MiZe and MedWick to lead the at tack and Dizzy Dean and Lon War neke firing from the mound the Cards cannot be entirely dismissed Their big weaknesses appear to be shortstop and behind the bat. If they plug those gaps and some Of the young players like Slaughter and Baugh come through, the Cards may become champions.
 Brooklyn, with its greatest infield in years-Camilli, Coscarart, Duro- cher and Lavagetto-may be the leagues most improved club. The Dodgers seem to have more power than they had year ago and the pitching is not entirely hopeless with Mungo the big man.
 Under Bill McKechnies careful tutelage Cincinnati had ironed out some of it's rough gaps and has made progress towards better days. The Reds are difinitely not a last place club, but their young stars like Mccormick, Craft, Moore and pressure before anyone can tell just how good the Reds are.
 The BIs, under their new boss. Casey Stengel, may have a little more punch than last year but hardly enough to make them any stronger than the team which fin ished only one game out of the first division in 1887. It seems like a big task to get his team up as high as last years outfit, on pitching and defense alone.
 Anything that could be said about the Phillies might be used against them 50 just say prayer for poor old Jimmy Wilson.