The Daily Alaska empire., 1951-01-25


 Mahatma of Montague Street. The most brilliant trader in baseball history sold his 25 per cent interest in the Dodgers to his partners, Wal ter F. OMalley and Mrs, John l. Smith for $1,025,000. O'Malley re- placed Branch as Dodger president and now shares with Mrs. Smith 75 per cent of the Brooklyn stock.
 Frank E. Mckinney of Indiana polls resigned as president of the Pittsburgh Pirates, selling his stock to John w. Galbreath of Columbus O., and Thomas P Johnson. Gal breath later made Hickey general manager and vice-president of his Pirates. It was Galbreath who paved the way for Hickey to sell his Brooklyn stock by introducing him to William zeckendorf, New York realtor However, O'Malley and Mrs. Smith held prior rights to the stock Heckendorf received S50,000 from Hickey for acting as middle man in the surprise deal. The Brooklyn stock sale involved a 12l2-y year con tract and an estimated $6C0.000 pro- fit to Hickey.
 The New York Yankees won their 17th American League pennant and 18th World Series by downing the young Philadelphia Phillies in four straight. The scores were To, 2-l, S2 and 5-2, making the Series the most runless on record. The victory made it two-for-two for Casey Stengel.
 The majors drew 17462,977 II per cent drop over 1949. Bad spring weather and television got tn e blame.
 Both teams came down the wire after blistering pennant races. The Yankees nosed out the Tigers and Red Sox with two days to go while the Phillies clinched their first flag in 35 years when Dick Sisters three run 10th-inning homer beat the l Dodgers. The Phillies at one time had an eight-game lead. Injuries and the loss of their ace southpaw, Curt Simmons, to the Army almost cost Eddie Sawyer's team the pe--- nant Two other young pitching stars, Ed Ford of the Yankees and Art Houtteman of the Tigers, were drafted after the season.
 The National League turned back the American, 4-3. on Al Schoen- dienst's 14th-inning homer in the annual All-Star game. The contest saw Bostons Ted Williams, work ing on a $125,000 contract, fracture his left elbow while making great catch on Ralph Kiner's drive against the left field wall at Comiskey Park.
 Voted as the most valuable players were Jim Konstanty, 33-year-old bespectacled relief pitcher of the Phillies, and Phil Rizzuto, brilliant Yankee shortstop. Both had their best years in the majors. KonStanty appeared "A games, all in relief won l6 and lost '. He set several records along the way and made his first big league start in four years when he opened the World Series. He lost To. Vic Raschis two-hitter was too much for the Phillies. Rizzuto, playing in every Yankee game, hit 1924 and set two fielding marks by handling 288 straight chances in 5S games before committing an error.
 phillies Just Made IL Sawyer, serving his second full year in the majors, was named manager of the year. In the spring he picked the Phillies to win by 10 games, he said later, but didn't tell a soul about it. It's good thing he didn't. His Whiz Kids just tottered home.
 Best pitching effort was the first no-hitter in two seasons. It was turned in by Vernon Bickford of the Braves against Brooklyn. Lead ing National League pitchers were Sal Maglie of the Giants with an 1894 record (.818) and Warren Spahn of the Braves, who turned in 21 wins against IT losses. It was his third 2l-game year in four seasons. American League hurling aces were Vic Raschi of the Yankees with 21-8 (.724) and Bob Lemon 23-11 for Cleveland for his third straight 20-game campaign.
 Kiner again topped the National