The Catholic times. [volume] (Columbus, Ohio) 1951-current, 1958-09-26
Series Winner
Braces or Xnnks?

The 1858 baseball season will be climaxed next
week when the sedate New York Yankees, who ho-hum.
med their way to their ninth American League pennant
in ten years, clash with the Milwaukee Braves, who
battled their way to their second consecutive National
League crown.
As these two hsrdhittins teams square away in
she 1858 World Series. the big question will BE-: "e.n
The Yankees win the Series and thereby avsngs their
1857 Series loss to the Bravss?"
According to the odds-makers, experts, most sports.
writer's and Yankee fans, the answer is a solid yes"
Many other fans will 60 along with this opinion be.
cause it's risky business to vote against the Yankees.
Giving this opinion a granitelike foundation is
the fact that the Yankees have a habit OF winning.
Their record shows they have won "a AL pennants
and IL world championships 49, a record unmatched.
The Yankees are also the first ones to win five con-
secutive Q949-53) world titles.
The Milwaukee Braves have won two pennants
and one World Series. The Braves won two MI titles
while at Boston and one World Series-Way back in
1914.
csttins back TO 1888 though. the Yankees are
Installed as fsvorites because Of top-nofeh pitching,
hard hitting and fine fielding.
The Yankees have slammed out more than 1850
hits which includes 200 doubles, 40 triples, and l6O-odd
homeruns and have scored nearly $50 runs, to pace AL
hitting. They are third in fielding but only .002 per
centage points behind leagueleader Detroit.
However, the Braves aren't exactly slouches. They
lead the National League in club batting with a .267
average, two points less than the Yanks.
The Tribe has slammed out more than 1900 hits
including some 200 doubles. The Braves also have 20
triples to their credit and have kept even with the
Yankees in homerun production. They've plated about
80 runs less than the Bombers.
The Braves are second In fielding In the MI but
have just about the same average as the Yankees-.98O.
How about pitehing7 The Yankees have three
hvrers among The top five In the Al. figured on
ssrnsd-rvn-sverasss. These are: 2l-gsms winner Bob
TvrIsy, I4gams winner Whitley Ford and ace re-
liefer, Ryne DUren.
In ERA, the Braves have three hurlers in the top
six in the MI. They are joey Jay, Carlton Wiley, and
Juan Pizzarro. All rockies, the three have won %
games and lost Is, since midway in the season when
they began carrying the Braves pitching load.
In addition 70 this triumvirsts. the Braves have
"Ysnkss Killer" Lew Bvrdstts. who hes 10 wins TO
his credit. Also on hand are Bob Bull and Bob
Rush Is well as rsIisfsr Don Mcmahon.
The Yankees can call upon Art Ditmar, Duke
Mas, Bobby Shantz, Don Larsen, Tom S~turdiyant and
Johnny Kucks to handle pitching chores.
After checking through these statistics, 1t appears
the two teams are pretty evenly balanced as far as first
line material Is concerned. AS for bench material, Il
Who'll win the Series? The Milwaukee faithful will
back their Braves and use as their argument that their
club had to fight some pretty tough competitors while
the Yankees didn't have any serious competition.
Unquestionably, the Braves did have to fight, ant
fight hard to win the crown. They had to meet the chal
lenge of several teams, namely, the surprising Sar
Francisco Giants and the upstart Pittsburgh Pirates
Even the Chicago Cubs were giving everyone trouble
at the beginning of the 1858 campaign. -.
The Braves did have one soft touch, - they did
In 1857. with shs Cincinnati Reds playing the role OF
cousins"
On the other hand, the Yankees broke fast with thu
starting gun, and kept ~sprinting without letup. Occasion
ally, they looked over their shoulders to see who wa
In second place.
Because the Yankees didn't have anyone to race
the Milwaukee hackers Immediately argue that tn.
weak competition made the New York club look good
In other words, the Yankees just aren't that tough.
Perhaps. On the other hand, the Yankees not onl.
won the pennant-again-but completely dominated thu
league. They won games-but oftentimes by vast mar
gins. With a little stronger competition, the Yankee
probably still would have won as many games as the.
did-but probably not by rs big margins.
RS risky business TO 90 against the Yanks, but
we like to live dangerously. We like The Braves.
LIVE
n g. T. 6G---Gf-S