The Wilmington morning star., 1940-04-30
DODGERS EXUDINC
CLUB CONFIDENCE
Brooklyn Officials Are Afraid
Yanks Will Lose In Ameri-
can League Pennant Race
BY JUDSON BAILEY

NEW YORK, April 29.-EP-"Tt
would be just u luck to have those
Yankees lose the American league
pennant," groWled the Brooklyn
Dodgers' assistant to the genera
manager, John Mcdonald, as he cast
a reflective eye over the $1,000
crowd at the Polo grounds Sunday
. And if you think he was kidding
you're only half right. . . The whole
Dodger a~ssemblage is exuding swash
buckling confidence these days.
Planning 10 Fly
The club was going to fly all
around it's two.weeks western swing
incidentally, but cancelled the plan
when the airline could not guaran'
tee to have two planes ready tc
leave New York at the same time. .
They still intend to return from
Chicago by plane at the conclusion
OF their western invasion. Roy
Cullenbine and Max Macon flew and
Peewee Reese went by train to their
homes Immediately after Sundays
game and will rejoin the club toner
row in Cincinnati.
Bonura Picks Brooklyn
Zeke Bonura, who lost Bill Ter
rvs favor by picking the Yankees
to win the 1889 world series as early
as last August, already is tabbine
Dodgers to win the National league
pennant this term. The st. Louis
Cardinals have played nine games
without any pitcher yet going the
route. ... Lee Handley, the Pirates
poppy third baseman, is % pounds
over his weight of last season-noW
a robust 1G5. That winter swap
which sent Gee Walker to Washing
ton and Taft Wright to the Chicago
White Sox has worked all right for
10Th clubs so far. . Wright has been
leading the American league in bat
ting and Walker personally has at
tended to winning two games for the
misunderstanding the Yanks with a
single in the tenth Sunday and stop
ping the AS with a double when the
bases were loaded in the ninth last
week.
Comic Strip Fans
Pitcher Russ Bauers Of the Pi
rates has another comic-strip fan tc
keep him company on the club now
Spud Davis Y misses EN- either,
ia. The sophomore slump struck jim
Tabor of the Boston Red Sox sc
hard he made only two hits in his
first 26 times at bat and the folks in
Fenway park were booing When he
came to bat; but he slapped the home
run that beat the Philadelphia AS
Sunday and came right back with an
other round tripper today. Some
of the fans who saw Ches Ross OF
the Bees make three errors in left
field against the Dodgers the other
day wondered why Casey Stenge,
kept him our there-untll they saw
the National league batting aver
ages with Ross ranking second.
Leiber Makes Good
Hank Leiber is making good on
that long holdout he gave the Chi,
cago Cubs this spring; at the last
checkup he w leading the league
in hits, doubles and runs scored. .
Connie Mack level has given up on
Benny Mccoy, saying he would be
okay as soon as he quit pressing .
Reports have it he's looking better
all the time. The Pirates haven't
yet used Johnny Gee, tallest pitch
er in baseball and the Cubs nave
benched three of the rookies-Bob
Sturgeon and D~allessandro who
started the season as regulars. . .
Gene Thompson, who already has
won two well-pitched games for the
Reds, didn't make his first start in
1899 until July 10. . Everybody
here thinks the Dodgers pennant
chances will be decided on this first
western swing; they never have been
abIe to break even on the road in
--o, I-n0rG