The Wilmington morning star. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1909-1990, 1944-03-12
DRAFT, DEFENSE
PLANTS RIDDLE
DIAMOND RANKS
By JACK HAND

| Time year tomorrow WIN mgr
hopes of survival despite expected
and accepted drains on its man
power pool by draft boards ane
defense plants.
Although Detroit's advance
school has had four days of work
at Evansville, Ind, Cincinnati
leads the parade of big league reg
ulars into camp by reporting Sun
day at Bloomington, Ind. The New
York Yankees at Atlantic City, N
j., the New York Giants at Lake
wood, N. j., the Philadelphia Az
at Frederick, Md. and the Cleve
land Indians at Lafayette, Ind.
will follow Monday in the seconc
frost-bite campaign North of the
Lands Eastman line.
Before the end of the week al
the. clubs, with the exception o.
the St. Louis Cardinals and Browns
who postponed their start unit
March 20, will be busy combins
rosters of At, average, underage
and service discharged candidates
to fill the ranks of regulars in the
service and war plants or reclassi.
fled and awaiting call
Although the player situation is
as unstable as a bowl of jelly, De.
troit appears to have taken the
worst clipping from the draft
which has claimed such standouts
as Tommy Bridges, Dick Wake.
field, Jimmy Bloodworth, Hal
White and Virgil Trucks.
The Boston Braves and Red Sox,
Philadelphia AS. Washington and
Browns have ben given the once
over lightly so far this year but
the services which have made such
snatches as Johnny Mccarthy, Tex
Hughson, George Staller, Mickey
Vernon and Chef Laabs have their
eyes on others.
Stan Musial of the Cardinals.
batting champ and most valuable
player in the nation, still is avail
able but Luke Appling of the White
Sox who was top man in the Amer
lean, is in the Army.
Although estimates of the mini
mum number of players with
which it is possible to continue
vary from Is to 10 and various
officials have said We'll Continue
as long as we have nine men to
put on the field, most baseball
men expect the majors to run
through their seasons and the
World Series with normal size
rosters containing as many as 10
or Is men without previous big
league OF Double A experience.
Charley Keller, Bill Johnson and
Marlus Russo OF the Yankees have
Joined the armed services and
Spud Chandler, the leagues most
valuable player and top hurler,
has been accepted for limited serv-
ice. The world champions are not
counting on Joe Gordon whose
number is up.
Cleveland has the miseries with
jim Bagby reported asking for
voluntary retirement" Jeff Heath
demanding a raise or a trade and
Manager Lou Boudreau in Ia.
Lou Klein, Harry Walker, AL
Brazle and Ernie White are among
the missing St. Louis Cardinals
who also have Walker Cooper and
Marty Marion accepted for limit
ed duty. But Billy Southworth still
has strong nucleus and a come.
back attempt by Pepper Martin
on which to build his plans for a
third straight flag.
Chicago's Cubs lost catchers
Clyde Mccullough and Mickey Liv-
lngston and their Puerto Rican
ace Highlander Hiram Bithorn but.
like Cincinnati, still had good all
around strength. Johnny Wander
meer, Lonnie Frey and Bert Haas
OF the Reds regulars have been
indicted since the season closed.
Pittsburgh was able to pick up
Babe Dahlgren to fill the very
large shoes left by the induction
OF Elbie Fletcher but has been
weakened by the departure of Bob
klinger, Maurice Van Robays and
Hank Gornicki.
Brooklyn was jolted by the i'm
pending loss of Billy Herman and
Ed Head on top Of the departure of
Kirby Higbe and Mel Otis Giants
must find infield requirements for
Mickey Witek and Dick Bartell
from their large 4-F contingent,
players acquired in the baseball
draft and youngsters dug up by
Carl Hubbell who retired from ac-
tive service to become head of the
farm system.
Uncle Sam handled most of the
player changes during the winter
but a few major shifts were en-
gineered, mostly in the American
League.
Washington continued to build UP
a stable of knuckle ball pitchers
by acquiring Johnny Nigelling from
the Browns and Roger Wolff from
the AS and picked up Rick Fer
rel from St. Louis to handle their
dipsy-doodle slants. Joe Kuhel was
brought back from Chicago for
return shot at first base.
In the meantime Manager Ossie
Bluege of the MATS was hustling
through new course in Spanish
with no less than II new Latin
American linguists to add to Vene-
zuelan Alexandra Carrasquel and
Cuban Roberto Ortiz.
Connie Mack was almost as busy
as Clark Griffith in the ivory mar
ket, picking up frankie Hayes
from St. Louis, Rip Radcliffe from
Detroit and Bobo NeWsom from