Evening star., 1944-10-05

first.
The Browns have. won their frs
American League pennant In the
course of A years every other team
had won a pennant, but not the
Browns. This year they got up ir
front and managed, by hook OF
crook, to stay there, with almost
the whole country roofing for them
the longtime underdogs Almost
the whole country, including some
of their rivals, but not including the
Washington Senators. The Senators
felt bitter toward the Browns. This
was due, the baseball writer's tel
us, not to envy, but to the fact that
the Browns had been guilty OF
peculiarly unpleasant behavior
whenever the Senators played in ST.
Louis.
There Are Limits.
On the roster of the Washington
team there are players with names
like Carrasquel, Torres, Guerra and
Ortiz. These are Venezuelans and
Cubans, gathered in to replace play
ers now in the armed services. Their
sportsmanship dulled perhaps by
their desperate desire to win their
first pennant, the Browns formed
the habit of Raging these Latin
American lads in manner that was
not pretty. 1t is considered permis-
sible in our great national pastime
to go after the other teams goat,
but there are limits beyond which
most players do not go, except when
they are very angry or upset.
The Browns. it seemed, not out of
anger but with cool purpose, made
it their custom to deride their
Washington visitors on the score of
their nationality and color. "Spig-
goty" was one of the milder terms
used.
The resentment on the part of the
Washington team was such that the
final game in st. Louis was marked
by a fist fight on the field.
The Senators felt no friendlier
toward the Browns when they
CiiSCACu tllC 1ciSU s4Ou1 SCllCS
against the Tigers at Detroit. At
that stage of the pennant race the
Browns only hope rested in the
hands Of the team they had abused
so unfairly on their own home
grounds. To enable the Browns to
win the pennant the last-place Sem
ators had to beat the first-place
Tigers-twice. Putting everything
they had into the game, playing as
though the Browns were their
dearest pals, the Senators did just
that. They beat the Tigers twice.
An infielder named Torres and a
catcher named Guerra figured in
both victories.
It would be interesting to know
what passed through the minds and
the hearts of the Browns as they
watched the scoreboard of the battle
in Detroit. They must have re-
gretted their behavior. They must
have considered the possibility of
the Washington team taking re-
venge and cheating them out of
their world series money. After all,
it isn't difficult for an infielder to
tumble hot grounder or for a
catcher to let third strike get
past his glove. 1t isn't difficult for a
batter to strike out. The Browns
must have chewed their nails as they
watched the Senators return good
for evil.
Word to Loud Mouths.
The lesson of this sermon has
nothing to do with baseball. 1t has
to do with a world series far more
impo1tant-thew world war and the
long world peace for which we are
sacrificing so many lives.
Winning the world war has de-
pended as much on Russia as on
any other of the allied countries.
Building world peace will depend
equally on Russia. In the face of
these facts, so clear that none is too
dumb to understand, there are those
who cannot permit day to go by
without finding some means of in
sulting the people of Russia, directly
or by inference. The Russians are
no nobler than any other people;
they are certainly just as human.
Yet some of us are doing our
damnedest to give them a bad name,
although we know what happens
when that is done even to dog.
Isn't 1t about time that our louder
offenders in this respect begin to
control themselves, political cam
paign or no political campaign?
Otherwise a day may come when,
with world peace hanging in the