The Waterbury Democrat., 1939-05-22
Scramble Starts For .. s. Open Field
Today's Sport Parade
BY HENRY McLEMORE United Press Stan Correspondent,

New York, May 22-(UP)-The Yankees were at batting practice and Oscar Witt, manager of the Cleveland Indians, stood on the dugout steps at the stadium and watched them.
 Dickey belted one into the stands. Keller rattled line drive off the fence. Roze sizzled one down the first base line. Selkirk, Gordon, Heinrich and Gallagher all but tore the cover off the ball.
 Vitt,s face was that of @ young artist adoring the work of an old master. His eyes shone with ad- miration, and as Yankee after Yankee clouted the ball to the far reaches of the outfield he uttered little chuckles of appreciation.
 Admiration
 "Hot Damnl", he said, there's a ball club. What I mean, real ball club. The best ever saw. Every cuss on 1t can kill you when he has a bat in his hand, and then go out and break your heart when he puts on a glove"
 There was no envy in his voice, even when he had to raise 1t to pre- vent 1t from being drowned out by thunder of the Yankees bats. He spoke as a knowing craftsman ad- hiring fine piece of work. He was, the same when the Yankees came out for fielding practice.
 "Take a look at that Gordon" Witt said when the Yankee second baseman made a dazzling stop. And get a load of that Crosetti. told Joe Mccarthy when the Tanks were in Cleveland that if I had those two boys, I'd spot him a seven game lead and still catch him. Of course, I could use two or three more of his players, too"
 Witt then went into an outdoor rapture over the Yankees defense.
 1.-TWO errors they've made since the seascWnopened. Two, mind you, just two. In something like 750 chances. We're lucky if we don't make that many an afternoon, and SO are most of the other clubs in the league. The Yankees right now are the best ball club ever laid my eyes on, and I've seen a lot of teams since I broke in with an out law league in 1908. And look at the stuff they have sitting on the bench"
 This last thought really pained MT. Witt. The green-eyed monster of jealousy shone from his eyes and Hinged his voice as he continued:
 That's mighty tough problem Mccarthy will have to face next week when Joe DiMaggio is healed. Mccarthy will have to wrestle with himself all night trying to figure what three hundred hitter to take out to make a place for a three hundred and fifty hitter. I wish I thought I was going to be restless all night next week worrying over the same problem. It's really a problem at that. There's nothing wrong with Selkirk, and there's nothing wrong with Henrich, Gall lagher, Keller or Powell: They're all hitting like the devil and catch ing everything that comes anywhere near them. Still, it would be nigh ty nice to have to fret about what fence-buster you were going to bench"
 Wants Second Spot All this mind you, from MT. Witt, manager of rival team. MT. Witt i is a realist. He has his heart set on second place, and thinks his team has a chance to finish there. A good chance, if Johnny Aliens arm comes round, and Mel Harder, who'll resume pitching any minute now, stays healthy. MT. Witt dis closed that Rollie Hemsley, the playboy catcher, isn't a problem anymore.
 "Rollie finally has seen the error of his ways" the manager said. "He is in perfect shape and intends to stay that way. That's a great help, because you can't name me many better catchers than Rollie." I didn't try to name him any, but I walked over and talked to one Bill Dickey.
 The gangling Arkansas boy, who has been the backbone of the Yankees for more than 10 years, agreed with what Witt had to say about his team.
 "It's pretty good ball team, ' 2SS--WTlC-.HartfOrd..1O4 1O4O