Evening star., 1943-10-13
War Trials Bring Out
True Greatness Of
New York Pilot
BY JUDSON BAILEY,
Associated Press Sports Writer.

NEW YORK, Oct. l2.-This is a
story about why the New York YAM
KEGS have won seven American
League pennants and six world
championships of baseball in the
last eight years.
1t also is a story about Joseph
Vincent Mccarthy, the truculent,
56-year-old Irishman who Is the
manager of the Yankees and the
only man I ever knew whose mouth
turned down at the corners when he
laughed.
Coming back on the train from st.
Louis, where the Yankees had just
finished trampling on the Cardinals,
Mccarthy was sitting up late at
night with newspapermen in diner.
You'd think I would be able to
sleep tonight" Joe said, but can't.
Now that the pressure. is of I Just
want to sit here and relax"
Some one passing from one group
of celebrants to another stopped to
congratulate Mccarthy and told him
he had done great job with bad
ball club.
Sees Flag From Outset.
The hot Irish temper, always close
to the surface, flushed up in Nc
Carthy and he retorted in a bristling
voice, who says it is bad ball
club? I never said it was.
III tell you something" he con-
tinued, his tone mellowing as quickly
as it had harshened, II knew at AS
bury Park last spring that this bali
club would win the pennant.
Il knew it, and I'll tell you why.
1t had the championship spirit.
That's what wins pennants. d
You can look at player and tell
If he's champion. If he is, then 1t
doesn't make a lot of difference
about his batting average. or about
his making errors now and then.
If he's champion he'll win for you.
I've got championship players on
this ball club"
There is McCarthy's own formula
for victory. 1t is only complete,
however, when you add that the
manager himself has the champion
ship spirit more intensely than any
of his players
McCarthy's whole life is devoted
to winning, and nothing less than
victory satisfies him. He will not
have a player on his club he does
not feel is the same way.
His Strategy Proves Perfect.
Yet there was more to the YAM
KEGS triumph this year than Just
spirit. There was expert handling
OF players. fitting new parts into an
old machine. and maneuvering of a
pitching staff which sometimes was
unpredictable.
MCCARTHY did it well and in the
World Series he never made a mis-
take in strategy. His master stroke
was the use of Lefty Marius Russo
in the fourth game Sunday to give
Spud Chandler an extra day of rest
and have him ready for the clincher
on Monday. There was doubt about
Russos arm, which had been sore.
and II he had been beaten Nc
Carthy would have been second
guessed from coast to coast. But
Mccarthy knew what he was doing
and Russo gave the best pitching
performance of the series.
There were days when the YAM
Kee players were the cream of the
crop. great stars like Lou Gehrig,
Bill Dickey, Joe Di Maggie, Red Ruff
fng, Lefty Gomez and others, and a.
lot OF people said the manager was
about as important to their winning
repeate world titles as the bat boy.
= Mccarthy likes to tell how a fan
once told him managing the Yam
KEGS must be the easiest job in the
world and Joe replied, Yes. spend
all summer at Atlantic City and
just show up in the fall to have nv
picture taken with the team at the
World Series"
Nobody has told Mccarthy any,
thing like that for the last two years.
In the muddled baseball scene
caused by the war he finally has
been recognized as the man who
makes the Yankees champions.