Evening star., 1946-09-30

flrst-division finish since they wound
up fourth in 1884. They came ur
with a find" in Pitcher Johnny
Sain. Sain was one of the two 20
game winners in the league this
year. The other was Howie Pollet
of the Cards.
Injuries Hurt Cubs.
Failure of the Cubs to finish bet
ter than third was attributed pri-
marily to an accumulation of in
juries, which struck all the teams
regular members. Biggest blow OF
all was the loss of Pitcher Claude
Passeau and Third Baseman Stan
Hack for much OF the season.
The Phils. under leadership of Ber
Chapman, wound up fifth. 1t was
their highest position since 1882
They drew a season turnout of more
than 100000 fans, twice their pre-.
vious best years output. They also
came up with probably the prize
rookie in Outfielder Del Ennis, 81
year-old war veteran.
Cincinnati, after a fine start
folded in midseason and eventually
cost Manager Bill McKechnie his
job. Pitchers Johnny Wander Nicer
Bucky Walters, Ewell Blackwell and
Ed Heusser and company, surround
ed by horde of 200 hitters, dropped
AZ games by one run.
The guild-minded Pirates never
got started. They barely managed
to escape the cellar which they occu-
pied most of the season. Manager
Frank Frisch threw up the sponge
a few days before the seasons close
Biggest disappointment in the
National League were the New York
Giants. They wound up in the base
ment after getting off to bad start
when nine players deserted to join
the Mexican League.
Red Sox Take Flag Easily.
The Red Sox copped in easy style
their first flag since 1918. OFF to 2
great start, the Sox went on to wir
Is straight practically to end thu
race July 4. Dave (Boo) Ferriss anc
Tex Hughson won 25 and 20 games
respectively. Ted Williams, Johnny
Pesky and Dom Di Maggie finished
high among the batting leaders
The team clinched the pennant a
the early date Of September IL.
The Detroit Tigers finished stron5
to take the runnerup spot. Ha
Newhouser, their great lefthander
captured 26 games to becom,
the first pitcher since Lefty Grov,
Gin 1930-32) to win Is or more game!
three successive years. He won 2s
in 1914 and Is last year. Hank
Greenberg, off to poor start aftel
five years in the service, finally
found his batting eye and hammered
16 home runs in September to Leaf
the league with AZ home runs ant
l27 runs batted in.
Failure of Joe Di Maggie, Joe Cor
don, Phil RlzzuJo and Tom Heinrich
to regain their prewar form was ,
big blow to the New York Yankees
who could do no better than a poo
third. Joe Mccarthy quit as man
ager in midseason after 15R year
with the club, and Catcher Bill
Dickey, who took over, also resigne,
in disgust several weeks before tn
end. Coach Johnny Neun took over
but brought no improvement. Tn
pitching staff, with the exception o
Spud Chandler, who won 20 games
also failed to come through.
Mats Hurlers Fail.
Washington, although it boaste
the leagues leading hitter, could d
no better than fourth, principall
because It's vaunted pitching sta1
/ failed to come through. Bobo New
som, who came to the club fror
Philadelphia in midseason, was tn
Senators best pitcher.
The Chicago White Sox. after
change in managers from .Iimm
Dykes 10 the popular Ted Lyon,
finished strong. They climbed fror
a dismal seventh place, inches ava
from the first division. The hittin
of Luke Applmg was q revelation.
Although Bob Feller won
games and whitfield 348 battevs t
better Rube Waddell's official strike
out record of 343 ulnoficial mark
349). the Cleveland Indians lsnde
in sixth place. Such pitchers as Ali
Reynolds,