The Waterbury Democrat., 1946-07-09
Americans Have Decided Mound Edq,e
By LEO H. PETERSEN United Press Sports Editor

l today.
 | Tradition the home park, anud the three greatest pitchers in base ball were on the side of the cocky American leaguerS, who rode into the game at FenWay Park with a to edge over the National squad,
 The tradition that favored the American League was the past rec ord of eight victories and four de- featas in the classic which began back in 1883 as a "sideshow' at traction to the Worlds Fair in Chi cago
 The home park factor was im- portant. Only twice since the classic was inaugurated has a team of the visiting league won in the park of the host league and on both oc- CaSionS, the American League has cashed through.
 Twice at P. G.
 In 1884 and 1922, the National League went down to defeat on home grounds and eo-incidentally the site of both games was the New York Giants Polo Grounds, the only park to play host twice to the classic.
 The pitching edge of the Ameri- can League was undiSputable. Bull let Bob Teller of Cleveland who is engaged in personal duel with Hal Newhouser of Detroit for all- around major league mounds hon. orS, was the American League start CT. NeWhouser was slated to fol- low in the second three inning stint Teller. with record Of Is wins and five defeats and NeWhouser with Is wins and three losses, were the principal reasons for the American League bulge in the odds
 A great money pitcher, Spud Chandler of the Yankees, was the choice of American League Man ager Steve O'NeIl of Detroit. to polish off" the Nationals-in case he needs to.
 Big Job
 The hopes of the National League rose with starter Claude PaSseau of the Chicago Cubs. who pitched one-hitter against Detroit in the World Series laSt Fall and who has the added advantage of being we'll rested The American leaguers, Teller, Newhouser and Chandler, all worked Sunday. while PasSeau hasn't turned a hand since last Friday
 The Nationals had q slight edge in the batting averages, but the | Americans had more home run power
 The top home run producers were Ted Williams of the Red Sox with 23 and Charley Keller of the Yan- kees with l8. The best National | League homer artist was Johnny Mize of the Giants with IT and he was topped by two American leaguers who won't even be around Hank Greenberg of Detroit with 21 homers wasn't invited for reason yet to be explained and Joe Di- Maggie of the Yankees, who has hit IS, withdrew after getting hurt Sun day.
 Little Professor"
 ONeill got more power in the top of his order with a late lineup switch He will lead off with Dom mic Di Maggie of the Red Sox, who has .349 mark to compare with the .3ll mark of switch hitter Al Schoendienst of the. Cardinals, the National League leadoff man.
 Johnny Pesky of the Red Sox, a 1902 hitter, will bat second against the only rookie in either lineup Del Ennis of the Phillies, a 1903 hitter
 Williams, the Americans No. 3 man is 347 hitter, but he has to compete with the .363 average of a fellow BoStonian, Johnny Hopp of the Braves, third man for the Ma tionS
 National League Manager Charley Grimm of the Cubs picked the top hitter in both circuits, Dixie Kalk- CT of Brooklyn .368) as his cleanup hitter while O'Neill relied upon Keller C326)
 R. B. |. 72
 Another Red Sox star, Bobby Doerr, whose .305 average doesn't tell that he also has batted in F runs, was No. for the Americans while George KurowSki, great clutch hitter for the Cardinals with .297 mark, was his counterpart.
 The American Leagues top hitter Mickey Vernon of Washington al .364 bats sixth against Mize, a .34l hitter.
 The rest of the American League starting lineup consists of three sixth place Clevelanders, Ken Kelt- ner (2263 Frankie Hayes (263) anc Teller, while the National League; last three are Walker Cooper of the Giants (27O, Marty Martion of the Cardinals 239) and Passeau.
 Both sides relied heavily ul,r left-handed hitting power with tls 305-foot right field bleachers as the target.
 Four National League starters, in- cluding switch hitter Schoendienst and Hopp. Walker and Mize, were lefties while on the American squad Pesky, Williams, Keller and Yer non bat from the port side,
 Pollet Second?
 Although Grimm did not an nounce who would follow Pascal on the mound, he was expected tt use lefty Howie Pollet of the Car dinals, whose record is 8 to 4, t shake the American League leftie from the lineup. That is the sam, strategy O'Neill is planning by fol lowing Teller with southpaw New houSeh.
 The third National League pitch CT might be almost anyone, but good guess was Morton Cooper O the Braves, who wants to settle olc scores with the American Leagu, batters who have treated him like , batting practice hurler in botf World Series and All-Star games Also ready were rookie Ewel Blackwell of the Reds (4-4, Truet Sewell of Pittsburgh t5-5) ant Kirby Highe of Brooklyn (8-2). Tn, National Leaguers might need then all.