The globe-independent. (Hagerstown, Md.) 1943-19??, 1943-06-24
BEHIND
HOME PLATE
BY DOUG STEWART

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one of those Crucial series we hear
so much about in the major leagues,
when the Wilmington Blue Rocks
come to town on Saturday for
four-game series with our own
Owls.
With the third place Lancaster
Red Roses nine games behind Ha-
gerstown, and the Owls trailing
Wilmington by only one game, it be-
gins to look very much like two
horse race and the winner of this
weekend's series might well be the
winner of the pennant.
Eddie Phillips hard hitting outfit
seem pretty well set now with Sa-
Ibena giving the infeld punch that
was sadly lacking in the earlier part
of the season, and with anything
like steady pitching the Owls should
go places in a hurry.
1t is to be hoped that the change
in ownership and management of
the Allentown team will be effective
and that Herb Brett, the new man
ager, will be able to start his team
winning Perhaps the Cards, with
whom Allentown has a working
agreement, will send some help, but
if they don't, then the league should
do something about it, for, with a
six-team league, we can't afford to
have any team drop so far behind
that they lose all interest, and by
the same token, the league can't
afford to have any town in the cir
cult lose so much interest in their
team that they stay away in droves.
incidentally, it looks as if Brett is
going to be a real lighting" man
ager. He piloted his team to GA
win over Wilmington Monday night,
and also got into a real fist fight
with the Blue Rocks manager.
Up in the Majors, the race in both
leagues is plenty interesting. In the
American League, only eight games
separate the top and bottom teams,
while in the National League, the
fifth place Cincinnati Reds are only
six games behind the league leading
ST. Louis Cards.
There is an old saying in baseball,
that the team on top on July 4, will
win the pennant. Perhaps it will
work out that way, but whether
they are on top on independence
Day or not, we still like the Wash
ington Senators in the American
League and those BUNS" in the
National.
That 5,000-meter race $4,000 me-
tiers is miles, 1873 yards and 2
inches to be exact) in New York
last Sunday afternoon, between
Gunder Hagg, Sweden's champion,
and Gregory Rice, Americas great
est distance runner, which was won
rather easily by Hagg, was run in
the comparatively slow time of
14:48.5, as against Hagg's own rec
ord of 1882 and Rice's record of
14:39.7.
The Nations Capital ball fans are
getting great kick out of seeing
the Senators fighting the Yankees
for the lead, after watching them
year after year trailing along deep
in the second division, but they are
getting their biggest kick out of
watching Milo Candini, a Yankee
outcast, winning every game he
starts (his record so far is 6-0).
Candini, whom the Yankees owned
for sir years Che worked with nearly
every team in the Yankees farm
system), was tossed in for good
measure when they traded Gerry
Priddy, the infelder, to Washington
for Bill Zuber, the pitcher.
Candini, who had what was be-
lieved to be a chronic sore arm, saw
little or no action with the Senators
in the early part of the season, but
few weeks ago, Mike Martin, one
of the greatest trainers in the ma
jors, told Ossie Bulge, manager of
the Mats, that Candini was ready.
Bluege, put him in as a relief pitcher
twice and he won both games. Three
weeks ago he gave him a starting
assignment and he won again. Since
then he has started three times ard
he still has his first game to lose.
It certainly would be a real joke
on manager Mccarthy if his castoff