Evening star., 1949-10-05
Victim Of Buns
In t947 Series
NowConfident n
They Amt Como Run
On Me Again. Boasts
CoIorfuI Catcher
By Burton Howkins
Stor Staff Correspondent

NEW YORK, Oct. 5.-There's
an easily detected flaw in the New
York Yankees defense-the err
ratio throwing of Catcher Yogi
Berra-and the swift Brooklyn
Dodgers are calculating on Great
ing confusion among the Ameri-
can League champions at Berra S
expense.
Yogi is on the spot in the 1949
World Series. AS the most vul-
nerable target for the Dodgers,
Berra is certain to have base
running pressure heaped on his
squat, invertedbottle figure
The Dodgers ran Berra right out
of his mask, shin protectors and
chest pad in 1947, and while Yogi's
throwing has improved since then,
it still may not be accurate enough
to halt Brooklyn's speedy speci-
mems.
Brooklyn's fleet players. led by
Jackie Robinson and Peewee
Reese, stole 113 bases this season,
more than twice the total that
the Yankees accumulated. They'll
be off and running when the sit
uation calls for it and the Dodgers
are convinced that any time Berra
is behind the plate there will be
a situation for stealing.
Yogi Sure of Himself.
:. The Yankees were forced to en-
ploy three catchers in the 1947
series with the Dodgers. New
York won. but not before Brook
lyn had necessitated the shifting
of Berra to right field. Out of
Manager Bucky Harris doghouse
came Aaron Robinson to catch the
last three games and make the
Dodgers runners more appre-
henSive.
Berra declares, They amt
gonna run on me again." although
he is aware they'll be trying. Yogi
will learn early, in any event,
whether he will become a series
goat" If Manager Casey STEM
gel is prompted to yank him. the
Yankees could suffer extensively,
for Yogi waves a menacing, highly
respected bat.
The Yankees second string
catcher. Charley Silvera. still is
complaining of a groin injury
caused by foul tip off Dom Di-
Maggio's bat. Ralph Houk. the
fiery fellow who was involved in
that hectic dispute with Umpire
Bill Grieve, is Ineligible for series
competition, so If Berra fails the
catching burden will fall on Gus
Niarhos.
Robinson . Bugaboo on Paths.
Robinson is the main threat to
Berra. He led the National League
in stolen bases this year with 36
and is a pesky person when on
base. His frequent feints toward
the next base are annoying to
pitchers, who cease throwing slow
stuff to batters when Jackie is on
the move. BY firing fast ones to
the batter behind Robinson they're
giving Berra slight edge In case
of an attempted steal.
The Dodgers are expert runners,
always trying for the next base.
With Berra catching, Robinson or
Reese is likely to try Pepper Mar
tins tactics when he ran wild
against the Philadelphia Athletics
In 1881.
BRIEFLY-In a pre- season SER
ies last Spring the Dodgers took
three straight from the Yankees
Reese, Tommy Heinrich, Joe
DiMaggio and Hugh Casey have
joined the ranks of writer's .
Anyway, stories under their by
lines are in New York papers.
The Dodgers are entering their
fifth World Series and haven't
won one Police prevented
marathon waits at bleacher win
dows Not until last night at
6 o'clock were eager fans allowed
to get in line at windows which
opened this morning. .