Evening star., 1941-09-25
BY GAYLE TALBOT,
Associated Press Sports Writer

NEW YORK, Sept. 25.-A true
comparison of World Series out
fields is difficult to obtain as long
as Charley CKing Kong Keller is
limping around on an injured ankle
and doesn't know, himself, whether
he will be ready to take the field
for the Yankees next Wednesday or
merely make an occasional appear
ance as a pinch-hitter.'
If Keller is ready to start the
series, as seems highly doubtful,
then the American League cham
pions will hold decided superiority
over either the Brooklyn Dodgers
or the crippled st. Louis Cardinals.
If the Yankees have to start the
fading George Selkirk in left field,
then it would be necessary to cast
hesitant vote for Brooklyn's we'll
rounded trio of 300 hitters-Joe
Medwick, Pete Reiser and Dixie
Walker.
The latter would be a perilous
decision to make, because, after all,
Joe Di Maggie, baseball's greatest
all-around star, still is sound of
wind and limb and playing center
field for the Yankees.
KelIer's Absence Hurts Di Mag.
But without Keller to follow him
in the batting order and pound his
own prodigious blows off the fences
and into the stands, Di Maggie s
threat to the enemy becomes cur
tailed.
The two of them while playing
together this season have comprised
possibly the most effective one-two
punch baseball has seen since Babe
Ruth and Lou Gehrig ganged up on
opposing pitchers. But when Di Mag
went out late in the season with a
twisted ankle it was Immediately
noticed that Keller was not as
effective with the willow, and it
seems fair assumption that it would
work both ways. Two such players
perhaps unconsciously become a
team, each absorbing inspiration
from the other.
The third member of the Yank
outfield, Tommy Heinrich, is nc
slouch. Through yesterday he had
blasted 81 home runs, compared tc
80 for Di Maggie and 80 for Keller
He is almost as great a ball hawk
as Di Maggie and owns perhaps the
most feared throwing arm of any
right fielder in the game.
DODGERS Assortment Odd
Men who have seen all the great
outfields do not hesitate TO compare
the Yankee trio favorably with any
| Of them. Take Keller out, though
and there remains only two-thirds
Of this grand combination. In that
case We would have to like the
Dodgers.
1t is a strangely assorted three
some the Dodgers have, yet the best
the National League has gathered
together for some years. The vet
eran Dixie Walker in right field
almost forgotten at training camp
has come up to rap a firm 308 and
! is the outstanding idol. of. Flatbush
fans. Pete Reiser, the fleet fresh
man, is hitting a terrific $40 and
must be accounted the outstanding
center fielder in the National League
since Terry Moore of the Cardinal,
was beaned. Joe Medwick. the $3.50
900 flop of last season, is playing 9
scrappy, aggressive left field ane
hitting a solid .3l5.
That is lot of good, consistent
hitting to have IN one outfield.
Selkirk. Heinrich Uncertain.
The drawbacks are that Walker!
arm is not so good and that Reisel
is just a kid coming up to his frs
world series Still, it looks a better
combination from here than tn,
Yankees would be with Selkirk il
left. George simply doesn't have i
any more. and Heinrich too often i!
stopped completely by really gooc
pitching-the kind the Dodgers have
a great deal of the time.
While by no means the distanc,
Figures including Sundays gan
Left