Evening star., 1945-04-16
By JACK HAND.
Associated Press Sports Writer

HSSoCl5leQ PieSS opOTtS NIIitT.
ST. Louis. Chicago, Pittsburgh and
possibly New York Will battle for
the National League pennant, and
st. Louis. Detroit and New York
for the American loop flag, accord
ing to a digest today of preseason
comment by major league man
ayers for the Associated Press.
None ventured an outright pen
nant pick and all expected their
own clubs to show improvement, y
qualifying all remarks with If we
can keep what We have AS usual
no manager expected his team to
finish in the cellar. occupied last
wear by Washington and the Phil
lies.
The managers followed the gen.
eral line of reasoning of 76 baseball
writers who predicted similar races
with another all-St. Louis World
Series
O'\eill Likes His Tigers.
Perhaps the most enthusiastic
statement by skipper came from
Steve ONeill of the Detroit Tigers
With the best pitching staH II
the league and plenty OF good re-
serves for all positions were mucf
better prepared for the opening
than We were year ago, sale
ONeill. Hitting has been our bis
question mark. but Rudy York
Roger Cramer and Rookie Bot
Maier have been meeting the bal
souarely and we may be stronger
Extensively than We thought
All shippers agreed a fine break
from the weatherman who provided
unusually warm March and early
April left the clubs in the best con-
dition since Northern spring train
ing was inaugurated.
Due to travel restrictions and cur
tailed exhibition schedules, man.
ayers had not been able 10 size uE
the opposition accurately. All they
knew about the rockies in most
cases was what they had read.
Comments by other managers IN
GUIDED:
Ossie Bluege. Washington Sen
ators-' Nobody knows where HI:
team is going under existing conol-
tions. We are about the same as last
year. The Browns are the team tC
beat because they haven't been hurt
much. and 7 like the Yanks too Il
they don't lose too many men tC
Uncle Sam
Luke SeWell. ST. Louis Browns
We are going into the season IL
best condition since Northern train
ing. Haven't paid attention tt
problems of other clubs and Wouldn'
attempt to say how Browns viii
finish
Billy SouthWorth, St. Louis Car
dinals-"I'm not making predictions
about the Cardinals. Haven't seel
any other clubs in action, so can
know how the competition WIZ
stack up. Military demands ma,
change the whole picture
/ Mccarthy Sees Flag Chance.
/ Joe Mccarthy. New York Yankees
The team will be just about tn
same as it was last year if We cal
keep what we've got. We finished
third last year, and now, with TIN
pressure off, We may come back ant
win. I hope so
/ frankie Frisch. Pittsburgh Pi
rateS-"With the military status o
some of our players still in doub
it is difficult to hazard any definite
prediction. I feel We will have :
hustling club and one that will sta,
in the money. Those Cards will b.
tough again and the Cubs ant
Reds may cause a lot Of trouble a
we'll as the Giants"
! Joe Cronin. Boston Red SoX-"W
haven't had time enough to Learn
about our pitching, catching and in
field. Most of the other teams hav
the same problems. I have higl
hopes We will be stronger. It's goinl
! to be another wide open race
! Charley Grimm. Chicago Cubs
st. Louis and Pittsburgh will b.
tough but we should be in ther
fighting if our pitching holds uI
With Bill Nicholson back, our at
tack should be good and our defens
looks better"
! Jimmy Dykes, Chicago White So
I'VE may improve our seventh
place finish of last year but will