The Waterbury Democrat., 1946-01-01
CLOSE RkCEIS FEATURE OF N
 AS BASEPALM
By CARL LUNDQUI n United Press shaEls WI ar

OAgeW EEeSs v N#4tA VII
 New York, Jan. i.luR1 1- he iol6 baseball season, one og t most memorable of ali time, b @an in war and ended on a Nigh note of peace and prosperity Whic indi- cate golden years ahead for Amer ica's premier sport.
 That professional league were able to operate at all dursng the final year of the war wasl made possible only through the. pro- visional green light" of the late President Roosevelt, who sal, short ly before he died that he Wanted baseball to continue if it waa at all possible.
 He emphasized that he dit not want healthy young men who might otherwise be occupied in th@ war effort playing baseball, but tlnat if 1t was possible for the clubs tok oper- ate with military draft rejecteAes, he was for it because of the d niorale value of the sport.
 Clubs Below Par
 For this reason, baseball hit the bottom of the nanpoweT tiarrel and through much of the stAason the major league brand of ball was far below accepted standards. But all clubs were equally deficient and as result the competition was keen and lively, particularly in the stirring seven-game World Series in which the Detroit Tigers were returned world champions with o final decisive victory over the Chi cago Cubs.
 Evidence of just how far below usual standards the caliber of Islay was in 1945 is reflected in the fact that less than half a dozen of the world championship Tigers are ex- pected to be with the club as re'gu- lars next season.
 Only two regulars, Hank Green berg and Eddie Mayo and only three pitchers, Hal Newhouser, Pagll Trout and Virgil Trucks were coll- sidered certain to remain with the Tigers, although the National League Champion Cubs have fewer players returning from the service and are expected to make only hng- ited lineup changes.
 Both pennant races were excit'- ing from start to finish with neither settled until the final week of the season. The Tigers clinched theif pennant dramatically on the last day when Hank Greenberg hit a bases-full home run to beat the St. \ Louis Browns in the clinching game. The Washington Senators finished their season a week ahead of the Tigers and went through the agony of anxious waiting, hoping for the long, -odds possibility that the Tigers would blow their meager margin in final games on the road.
 Senators Came On
 The Senators, who finished eighth in 1914 were the surprise team of the circuit, taking advantage of fine knuckle ball pitching by Roger Wolff, Emil (Dutch) Leonard, and others to rise to contending spot and stay there. The New York Yan- keeS, otherwise an innocuous club, were the Senators nemesis and the loss of six key games at Yankee Stadium in the late stages of the race, killed Washington's chances.
 The early part of the race was featured by the fine surge of the Chicago White Sox, who won l5 of their first 9 games, but fell apart on the road and never again attained any eIninence in She race
 The Yankees set fast early pace, leading after the White SoX folded until June II when Detroit took over and never again was headed. The Tigers seldom had cornfort- able lead, once gaining a five-game margin over the Yankees and Sem ators early ir August, but they were down to a half game advantage be- fore the month was out.
 Giants Early Leader
 In the National League, the New York Giants were sensational for the first six weeks of the season. They set the fastest early season pace in National League history winning 20 out of 25 games and threatening to make runaway of the race. Later, the Brooklyn Dodgers, almost unanimously picked by writers to finish seventh or eighth, put on 8 brilliant surge and when the Giants faltered they took over. For a while it was metropolitan monopoly with the two New York teams running one-two and not until July 8 were the late- starting Cubs able to gain the top position. The Cubs, nine games out of first place on May IS, put on slow but steady climb and utilized -