Evening star., 1943-10-08
ST. Louis Makes Bad
Guess in BeIittIinq
Rookie Johnson
BY GRANTLAND RICE.

EN- ROUTE TO ST. LOUIS, Oct.
8 tN,A.N.A).-Apparently the Car
dinals never have read ancient his
tory and they never have heard of
a fellow named Connie Mack, who
has known only 81 years of baseball
AS a result of this lapse, the Cardi-
nails are moving into st. Louis trail
Ing the Yankees by a game when
they might just as we'll have been in
front, with the World Series prac-
tically over.
The Cardinals amazing historical
lapse took place in the eighth inning
yesterday when they were leading,
2 to l, before record crowd. Brazle
had suppressed the Yankees with
three hits up to this point and
lone run, due to Whitley Kurowski's
tumble. The man from Montezuma,
Colo, had wrecked the Yankee at
tack with his combination screw
ball and sinker.
Cards Made Poor Guess.
Theh with the crowd swirling for
the exits, Johnny Lindell singled
and advanced to second on a
tumble. AS George StirnWeiss at
tempted a sacrifice. the Cards had
Lindell by 10 feet at third until he
threw his 6 feet S inches, his 2l2
pounds, travelling at fast speed into
kuroWskis S lighter frame. KuroWski,
badly dazed, dropped the ball for his
second error.
Okay so far. But now came the
great crash of master-minding. The
Cardinals decided to pass Frank
Crosetti in order to pick on Rookie
Bill johnson, the young Yankee
third baseman Connie Mack had
named above Dick Wakefield as the
best of the l943 rookie crop.
Johnson had been the Yankees
best all-around hitter for a full sea-
son. He had been the series star
at bat this week But Billy South
worth and his board of strategy ig-
nored both the records and an old
timer by the name of Mack. All
that johnson did was to come
through with a slashing triple and
break up the ball game.
You could almost see the broad
smile on Joe McCarthy's face when
they passed Crosetti to get At John
son.
kurowski Now Series Goat.
The Yankees, leading the Car
dlnals two games to one when thev
might easily have been trailing, now
face the stretch route in ST. Louis.
Whitley Kurowski, one of the top
stars OF a year ago, is now the lead
ing goat of 1943 But that's the way
1t goes. Mort Cooper and Joe
Gordon have already traded in their
old horns for new crowns.
The Yankees need only two
games in st. Louis. The Cardinals
need three If kurowski hadn't
taken a tailspin on hard chances
the series now would be just about
over. And don't forget that Kurow-
ski still is quite a ballplayer.
l can tell you the Yankees were
lower than the underside of a snake
at the end of the seventh inning as
Brazle's screw ball-sinker had them
swinging like an fashioned gar
den gate with rusty hinge. can
also tell you the Cardinals took
killing jolt just below the heart
when the Yankee rally in the eighth
turned them from sure world cham
pions to bush league strugglers But
maybe the Cardinals like it the
tough way.
Russo, Lanier Likely Rivals.
With the Yankees and the Car
dinals ready to resume in ST. Louis
on Sunday where the odds are that
Marius Russo will meet Max Lanier.
The star Of the series to date is
Bill johnson, the Yankee rookie.
Apparently Mr.. Cornelius McGilli-
cuddy, often known as Connie Mack,
hasn't been around baseball for
more than so years just to eat pea
nuts and hot dogs. Connie out
johnson on top. Johnson backed up
Comics tip. He batted 800 in the
first two games of the series and
when the day y-dreaming Cardinals
handed him the magic spot of the
decisive third game he became
Yankee combination of Babe Ruth.
Lou Gehrig and Joe DiMasgio.
For the first time this was one
shot heard around the world. for
two million service men were listen
ing in from every known corner of
the map.