The Waterbury Democrat., 1941-06-04
.CARDS' INFIELD TRIPLE-PLATED
 DEFENSE WALL
"ShOrtstOps" Everywhere and Zip Shows Up
 in Assists
BY PAUL sCHEFFELS fraltes1 npaaa 0NnR SSa.ans~a,.s slA..Ai

NVnhVeu kESSS StAH C0ffeSn0nOtnkl
 New York, June 3--(Up) Back of Billy Southworth's spring success story with the St. Louis Cardinals stands Q "so many" story that's pointing at the National League pennAnt and at the book at all. time baseball records,
 Manager Southworth has has many shortStops that 6 man with less acumen might be stumped, But he solved the problem neatly and now tho Cardinals, who became the pride of the West before tho lD4l season was a month old, have three shortstopS feeding throws to Johnny MlZe at first base. Only one Of them, however Martin Marion, wears "ss" next to his name In, the daily hoxseores.
 Frank tCreepy) Crespi was Q Shortstop at Shelby, N. C., in 1887; at Springfield, Mo, in 1888; and at Rochester most of the past two years. Jimmy Brown shortstopped four years in the minors and two years with the Cards before be. coming a convertible infielder when Marion took over Shortstop permanently in tho spring of le40.
 Inflcld Has Glass
 This spring Crespi and Brown play second and third. making a three. .shortstop ring which Is the talk of the National League and tabhed by many experts as one of the greatest grounder grabbing lineups in baseball,
 Tn the Cardinals first 25 games of the pennant race tho team totalled 3e4 assists, as well as lead- ing the National League fielding averages by Q wide margin. At that pace their total assists for i54 games will be 2,427, In the book, the record Is 2,293 a mark that has stood since 1917 when another Cardinal team posted It there,
 Team ottalS in assists mean mostly in field throws, more than three-quarters la an average year, Last season tho infielders were responsible for about 70 per cent of the l4553 assists chalked up in National League bo%seores, Pitch. CTS threw to the right base 2i36 times, Catchers' throws totalled 8l7, outfielders accounted for 200 of the ball handling moves that led to putouts,
 Speed Begins to Tell
 The rest, ii,3i0 throws, mostly to Q first base, represented the in- flelders' share of the aggregate as- sistlng. The runaway pileup of as- sistS in the Cardinal team fielding averages this Spring-they were b6 ahead Of the next best club, more than 100 ahead of most of their rivals-is due mainly to this short. stop-manned infleld lineup. The new record If they make 1t, will write an important item of tho Southworth success story in the all-time book,
 Most figures are Just that-just figures but these bolster the pitching situation. When you have three shortstops walling off the outfield, It's worth three, four or sometimes Rs many as Q dozen singles on any given day to the man on the mound.
 Miller Hugglns' 1917 infield put Its teams name in the book for at least g years but finished third in tho pennant race. Huggins didn't have Johnny MiZe, Enso Slaughter and a batting order whose average topped the league In the first five weeks of play,
 Of course, tho shortstops aren't the whole Red Birds defense story, but they go to make part of one Of the greatest looking Cardinals outfits in several years,