Evening star., 1942-11-04
Silent Burt Shotton
Held Likely 10 Get
NOISY Leo's' Job
, New Dodeer President
As Unlike MucPhu1 as
New Manager May Be
BY JOHN LARDNER,
Special Correspondent Of The Star

~ >~NS
NEW YORK, Nov. 4 (NANA -
It's clear that Mr.. B. j. (Trader)
Hickey, new official genius Of the
Brooklyn Baseball Club, is warmly
interested in the future Of Leo
Durocher, the Dodger manager, so
long as it keeps Leo out of Brooklyn.
When the Trader swapped his
brain to the Dodgers for $50, 900 a
year, give or take a bonus clause,
he and Leo the Lip exchanged salu-
tations in a tone of voice that
barely exceeded 80 degrees Fahren-
heit.
I'VE are lucky to get the biggest
man in baseball said the Lip,
without putting much conviction
into that we" It was what you
might call the non-voting I'VE, :"
as opposed to the editorial we"
Leo is an able tactician," said
the Trader cautiously.
Il must see lot of him-for the
next couple of weeks"
Knows Leo as of Old.
Whether the Lip goes into the
Army or not, it's plain that Trader
Hickey does not plan to see much
of him after the first of next year.
They are not compatible, as the
saying goes. The Lip once worked
for the Trader in st. Louis, at which
time Mr.. Hickey had opportunity
after opportunities well as hint
after hint, from source not far
from Mr.. Durocher's locker-to
make Leo manager. He resisted
bravely.
Rumor has it that Trader Rickey
Is partial to the slightly more
subdued personality of Burt Shot
ton, the journeyman strategist now
working as coach in Cleveland.
There is more than rumor in the
report that the Brooklyn public is
not so partial to Mr.. Shotton. The
fact that most Of the Flatbush af-
hcionados never heard of Burtram
has nothing to do with this-or
rather it has everything to do with
it. Brooklyn fans like to hear OF,
or from, their managers. They heard
from Mr.. Durocher night and day.
Hickey and Shotton would be the
most silent firm in Brooklyn his
tory Coming on top Of the firm of
MacPhail and Durocher, it would
cast an almost mortuary hush. Not
that Trader Hickey is bashful-but
he thinks to himself, as opposed to
Mr. MacPhail, who thought out
loud.
Mental Processes Differ.
When the Trader mulls over
problem all you can hear from the
recesses of his sanctum is sound
like the humming of some mighty
dynamo (the brain at work. inter-
mingled with a rustling noise like
a cabbage leaf calling its mate (ef-t
feet OF counting money.
have an idea it was the affin-
ityauf two stout pair of lungs that
drew Leland Stanford MacPhail and
Loquacious Leo Durocher together,
though they never we're what you
could call soulmates. They argued
and screamed, and Mr. MacPhail
frequently denounced his field lead
er. But there was touch of pride
in his voice as he watched the Lip
sail into an umpire with tonsils
flying.
Loud, amt hep" said Mr.. Mac
Phail. 1t was praise, indeed.
Durocher talked, yelled and
fought his way into the management
of the Brooklyn club. Burleigh
Grimes was manager when he came
there, but Mr.. MacPhail betrayed
no great faith in Mr.. Grimes. and
the Lip be agtno have hopes. Then.
one day, following a MacPhailian
impulse, the chief suddenly hired
one George H. Ruth as coach. Mr..
Durcoher bristled like rooster.
He moved around the Babe in circles,
looking for a chance to lunge.
No Meeting of Minds.
Technically, the Babe was getting
$4,000 to stand on the coaching
line for couple of months. But
Durocher feared the worst. He and
Ruth had their fight before the
season ended, while the doomed Mr..
Grimes scratched his whiskers phil
osophically in the background.
Whatever Mr.. MacPhail may have
had in mind originally, he an
nounced at the end of the year
that Ruth's connection with the
ball club was highly temporary and
that Leo the Lip was his next man
ager.
The Lips record is far from bad,
but he does not fit the program of
Trader Hickey. There is no meet
ing of minds there. AS for speaking
the same language-Mr. hickey does
not understand what half OF the
unrds Mr. Durncher uses mean II