The Waterbury Democrat., 1946-04-15
Yankees But Choice For Pennont
By LEO H. PETERSEN United Press Sports Editor)

New York, April 15 = (UP)-- Major league baseball, back at pre- Pearl Harbor strength and expecting a record-breaking season, jumps off tomorrow on it's first post-warm campaign which for two of the IS teams will lead to the World Series in october.
 Given the favorable weather which the advance forecasts indi- cated, nearly 250,000 fans are ex- pected to jam their way into the eight parks where the inaugurals will be played
 The St. Louis Cardinals, odds on favorites to win the National League pennant, will open at home against the Pittsburgh Pirates while the New York Yankees, given slight edge to win the American League crown, will oppose the Athletics at Philadelphia.
 In the other National League opens the Dodgers will be at Boston, the Phillies at New York and the champion Cubs at Cincinnati. The world champion Detroit Tigers will open at home against the Browns, the Indians will meet the White Sox in Chicago and the Red Sox will oppose the Senators at Washington where President Truman will throw out the first ball,
 Hal vs. Potter
 The largest crowd is expected at Detroit where 5500O are scheduled to watch Hal Newhouser, the south- paw star who won 54 games while losing only IS in the past two years, attempt to put the Tigers off on the right foot in defense of their title. He will be opposed by Nelson Pot- ter, who won l5 games while losing II for the Browns last year.
 The White Sox with John Rigney opposing Bullet Bob Teller forecast crowd of 25 GOO. A turnout of 32,- 900 is expected at Washington where Roger Wolff, the knuckle ball hurl- CT, and Tex Hughson, who was in the service last year, will hook up in a pitching duel Spud Chandler is scheduled to pitch for the Yan- kees while Russ Christopher is fave ored to get the opening day assign- ment for Connie Mack's Athletics, The As anticipate about 25. GOO fans.
 Second largest throng of the day is expected at the Polo Grounds where Bill voiselle will hurl for the Giants and Oscar Judd for Ben Chapman's Phillies. The Reds have sold out--30,000-for their opener against the Cubs in which Joe Beggs and Claude Passeau will be the op- posing pitchers
 Boston expects only l5,000 for the Boston Dodgers opener, either Mort Cooper or Johnny Sain will go for Boston with Hal Gregg getting the call for the Dodgers. At St. Louis. some l6,000 are scheduled to see Johnny Beazley, one of the Cardi- nals, pre-war aces, oppose the vet- eran Fritz Ostermueller, pirate southpaw.
 Better Clubs
 Superbly conditioned after two arduous months in the South and West, each of the l6 teams is going to the barrier vastly strengthened over last season. In. sharp contrast to last spring when the clubs, train- ing in the North. were wondering whether they would be able to put nine men on the field, the task this year was to weed out the surplus from the horde of ex-servicemen, rockies and holdovers who reported for spring drills Each manager had nine or 10 candidates for each post.
 With few exceptions, all of the pre-war stars are back. Most of the minor leaguers and over-agerS who made up the bulk of the war; time playing strength have yielded their posts to the eX-G.I's and rockies.
 AS result, fans for the first time since 194l again will see big time baseball. The caliber of play fell off considerably during the war but the game still drew record breaking crowds.
 Last seasons attendance records, when both the American and Na- tional leagues drew more than S. 100000 paid admissions, are expect ed to be shattered. The crowds which flocked to exhibition games this spring convinced the club own- CTS that baseball's first postwar season is going to be the best one in the history of the game.