emma ia

By LESTER RODNEY

NEW YORK

“And how does. next year look. for the New York
€es and Brooklyn Dodgers, who so recently finished

Sixth World Series tussle?

What hope is there for

"st of the two leagués to break the “monopoly,” and

a3 is what an objective
» SUggests:

na Ndder as you will, Cleve-
i chicago, Boston, Detroit,
@, Washington and
* City fans, the champs
it to be stronger next year
hair of exceptional
tuning wuisitions and a still
ia © Pitching staff. They
By € a cinch to repeat.
Ban llwaukee and Cincin-
i. pore. heart. 1957 will
ers Uilding year for the
the » A year in which some
Most promising talent
, Will start breaking in
\ © Of the fading regu-
Wh “inbetween”. year
oulg h the Brooklyn team
ky, 2 beatable. Should
* Say

Rigs, take the Yanks first.
ile sus all, note well that
“tong Pitching was not its
Point, in °56, this is a
young pitching, and
Peas Mound potential in
Pia, yCome. Ford, Sturdi-
‘ney Ucks, Grim, Larsen,
Wop Ne McDermott are all
tna,’ 22d if all improve
Me j » they will be formid-
I dee
q fue with a 25-year-
Who “star in Mickey Man-
Ber ee get even better.
gy tt Skowron is. still

Ding <
Nga 4S_a.hitter,.. Mc-

to 1 recovered as his boys got into high gear an

d and Martin, the key- the infield made possible by

at to fans of other teams is getting to be the “monotony?

stone duo, is under 30. Berra,
at 32, may start to feel some
of the pace, but shouldn’t sluff
off much, and will get more
rest from the developing El-
ston Howard.

This was not one of the old
“super” teams by any means.
On the negative side, of the
World Series starting align-
ment, 40-year-old Enos Slaugh-
ter-is a stopgap, and Hank
Bauer will be 35 next year.
Fine fielder Andy Carey did
not have much of a hitting
year at third, and there is some
question about whether he will
ever be a hitter.

The most significant thing
Casey Stengel did in the wan-
ing weeks of the season was to
play Skowron at third. The big
25-year-old slugger is a natural
athlete who looks good enough
at the hot corner.. And in
Casey’s mind is the arrival
next spring of a tremendous
rookie first base prospect in
young lefthanded hitting Marv
Throneberry, who. bust the
Triple A American Association
wide open, running away with
the homer and runs batted in
titles. Denver reports him ma-
tured and ready to hit big
league pitching. The thought
of the punch.at both ends of

Yankee manager Casey Stengel looked pained Nid
tsp, °U8ers won the first two games at Ebbet’s Field,

d went

= the World Series in seven games.

‘and

this acquisition and Skowron
intrigues Casey and why not?

_ Another addition to the Yan-
kee ranks is 20-year-old Tony
Kubek, one of the Mantle-like
naturals who Stengel wanted
to keep around this year and
only farmed reluctantly. He
can play anywhere, but Den-
ver had him \at_ shortstop,
where he took to it strongly
finished second in the
league batting percentage. This
suggests the possibility of an
awesome hitting foursome,
with McDougald moving back
to second replacing Martin.
But more likely is the leaving
of the slick keystone pair in-
tact and’ the blossoming of
young Mr. Kubek next to Man-
tle as an outfielder, which is
the Yank’s more immediate
need, Bauer, Siebern, Noren
and a likely rookie named
Martryn would round out the
picket group.

‘With these two exceptional
rookies coming through the al-
ready well stocked Yanks
could afford to do some of their
famous package trading for a
selected pitching ace or poten-

tial ace from one of the weaker

teams — like Ditmar. of Kan-
sas City, Abernathy of Wash-
ington, or one of Cleveland’s
veteran hurlers...

All-in all, the prospect of a
strengthened Stadium contin-
gent is not one calculated to
set the American League wild
with joy, or the turnstiles spin-
ning. League attendance drop-
ped 11 percent this year while
the National rose 12 percent.

Truth is, the two champions
have the best crop of young
players in their respective
leagues coming up, but the
Dodgers are the old team with
more parts conking out at the
same time, and Milwaukee and
Cincinnati are much more vir-
ulent, improving | opposition
than the standstill Indians and
White Sox below the Yanks.

A good guess is that Jackie
Robinson and Peewee Reese
will be back after all next year,
for one more. They ‘each had
fine years though 37 years old.
But at 38, they and the 35-
year-old Campanella and Fur-
illo. will begin the process of
transforming the team, play-
ing part time and easing in
the “future.”

You may see a lot at first
base of Jim Gentile, a ‘left-
handed socker who has been
nurtured in the farm system
and walloped 41 homers for
Fort Worth last year.

Gil Hodges, a former catcher,
may share the catching burden
with Roy Campanella.

Charley Neal and Humberto
Fernandez will do a lot of ca-
vorting around the keystone as
the marvellous Reese sits on
the bench and Gilliam plays
more outfield.

A lanky 21-year-old named
Dan Demeter, prize outfield
prospect in the chain rated as
a righthanded Duke Snider
type, may start playing, and if
he hits, could play regularly,
either in centre with Duke
moving over, or in left or
right.

The Dodgers know they have

delayed the rebuilding process
and just did make it this year
with the old standbys. You
won’t see much of the all-
veteran team next year. You
will see a youth-age mixture
suggesting the team of: 1958
which could take the field in
1958 something like this:

Gentile 1b, Neal 2b, Fern-
andez, ss, Gray 3b, Demeter,
Snider, Gilliam and Amoros,
outfield. Roseboro and Hodges,
catchers.

What’s . that? Two new
names? Right. Dick Gray was
the Texas League’s Allstar
third sacker, a much coveted
young man who hit .290 with
98rbs and figures to, be a Mon-
treal year away. Jackson and
Robinson can handle the re-
ceivership for him in 1957.

John -Roseboro is a young
Montreal catcher who is hope-
fully looked to as the “next
Camp”, with much still to learn
as a catcher, but an improving
hitter who whacked 13 homers
in August when he got going to
raise his total to 27, third in
the league, and is also fleet-
footed and a fine base runner,
unusual in a catcher. :

The 1958 “team of the fu-
ture” will figure on lots of
pitching from Johnny Podres,
who will return that spring,
Drysdale, Craig, Bessent, may-
be Koufax, and veterans like
Newcombe and Labine for bal-
last.

A lot of “ifs” to be sure, in
the Dodger future, since “pro=
mising” doesn’t always’ mater-
jialize. But the potential is
there.

OCTOBER 26, 1956 — PACIFIC TRIBUNE — Page 15