Evening star., 1941-03-27
Hitters in Trim,
SET for Drive
Pitching Is Better,
Clubs New Defense
Is Spectacular
BY GAYLE TALBOT,
Associated Press Sports Writer

TAMPA, Fla, March Elf MOTH
ing serious happens to them between
here and there, those old, familiar
New York Yankees should win the
coming American League race by
about five games-maybe TO-
Next october (this strictly is a
hunch) we'll all be sitting around
the dressing room in Yankee
Stadium, redolent of oil of winter
green and asking of Manager Joe
Mccarthy: We'll, Joe, how does it
feel to win five times in six years"
And Joe, never a man to do a lot
of talking in such historic moments,
will clear his throat and utter the
following immortal words: SWELL"
All of which is heresy, of course,
because it is common knowledge
that the Cleveland Indians were
thWarted only by internal trouble
last year and should sail through
harmoniously behind the 30-game
pitching of Bobby Feller this time.
Yankees Clicking Again.
But, if you have nothing else to do,
| string along with us. There's moth
ing to lose, anyway. And you should
see those Yankees. They look as
they did while they were winning
four straight world championships
from 1886 through l939-only better.
Watching them play down here, it
is difficult to understand what hap
pened to the Yankees last year. It
must have been a concerted let
/ down as a result of the aff1iction
that took the great Lou Gehrig from
| their lineup. If that was it, they
are over it now. They again look
like the Yankees.
While the Cleveland club, training
farther south at Fort Myers, has
continued to suffer from last years
chronic ailment of not hitting the
ball, the Yankees have been knock
ing it out of the lot. Charley Keller,
Bill Dickey and Red Rolfe, all VIC
TINS OF letdoWnS last year, are meet.
ing the ball squarely again. Man.
aser Mccarthy is sitting and grunt-
! ing placidly as Yankee hits either
disappear or rattle the fences.
Fielding Is Spectacular.
That, it seems to us, sums up the
most important news from the
training camps. Two months of alb
| sorblng sun and vitamins has pro-
duced at least that much. 1t will be
much tougher to pick the winner in
the National League, where men are
men and catchers are scarce.
Not only are the Yankees hitting
again, but their fielding has been
spectacular and their pitching bet
ter than good. Even the veteran
Lefty Gomez is threatening to make
a comeback. The young pitchers,
upon whom a lot depended, came
through brilliantly as the club won
IL of its first Is.
All this is put down in full reali-
zation that Phil Rizzuto, the SenSa-
tlonal rookie Shortstop who is hitting
over 400 at the moment, might be
drafted into the Army at any time.
If and when he goes, Joe Gordon
can be shifted from first base to
short, Tommy Heinrich brought in
from the outfield to hold down first,
and the Yankees go rocking right
along with little, if any, loss of
strength.
Club Ready to Surge.
In other words, the team they
were talking about breaking up"
only a year ago for the good of base
ball appears to be on its wav again
after a one-season lapse.
Cleveland had its supreme oppor-
tunity last year, but muffed it. De-
troit, which finally staggered through
to win the pennant and then lose
to Cincinnati in the World Series,
figures to give Cleveland a hard fight
for runnerup honors this time.
The Yanks are a-coming!