Gert Whyte's

SPORTLIGHT

HE shaggier the dog stories,

the better readers of this column seem to like them. Okay, then, here’s a favorite of Clarence M. Olson, manager of Swift’s Pard dog food de- partment in Chicago:

A man and a dog came into a bar where the man ordered two martinis. When they came he handed one to the dog who promptly drank the cocktail, ate the glass until only the base and the stem remained, walked to the door and left.

The bartender viewed this with amazement and an- nounced that it was the craz- lest thing he had ever seen.

“Yeah,” the man said, “he’s a dumb dog. The stem is the best part.”

50d Bes Os

And then, of course, there was the dog who was complain- ing to another dog that he felt poorly. Nothing physical .. . just bored, always tired, never really in top form.

“Why don’t you see a psy- chiatrist?” the friend suggested.

“How can I see a psychia- trist? You know I'm not allow- ed on couches.”

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Sportsmen have done a great deal to break down the barriers between East and West, but some still remain. The East European countries could make a real contribution to interna- tional friendship by entering the European cross-country championships. At present the socialist countries remain out- side the International Cross- Country Union, for no discern- able reason.

It isn’t that they have no good cross-country runners. On the contrary, each year chaps like Kuts, Zatopek and Chro-

Pi

*

Youth from all countries will take part in an inter-~ national sports program this coming August in Mos-

mik take part in long distance races sponsored by the French Communist paper, l’Humanite just a week before the Inter- national Union’s championship event.

Wouldn’t it be sensible to combine the two — or rather, let the newspaper stage its races at some later or earlier date, thus allowing Soviet, Czech, Polish and Hungarian distance runners to compete in the ICCU race?

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A note for philatelists. The Soviet Union now leads the world with 84 different issues of sports stamps. They feature

football, gymnastics, hockey, gliding, parachuting, etc. One for the book. The

USSR’s Nina Dumbadze, holder of the women’s discus world record, appears on a Czecho- slovak issue, but not on any Soviet stamp as yet.

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Curling is a booming sport in B.C. and the decision to hold Macdonald’s Brier in Victoria during this province’s centen- nial year will give the game an- other shot in the arm.

Brier teams expect to find ice and snow wherever they go at the time of the curling clas- sic. Victoria will surprise them.

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Let’s close with some college humor. A tobbacco farmer was explaining why he refused to allow his daughter to enroll at the university:

“J started getting mad when they told her to go to the registrar’s office to matriculate, but by cracky, I shore put my foot down when they said she had to use the same; curriculm as the men!”

cow, as part of the World Youti Festival celebrations. Photo shows Canadians participating! in an earlier festival.

mookie nuriers at Yankees’ camp wat

Eadie Lopat in action. |

No fluke kings after 154 games, Yankees, Dodgers will prove it

By JIMMY MORAN

They say that there is no truer test of form than the 154-game schedule in the big leagues. That's a truism confirmed by history.

There are no fluky pennant winners. Occasionally there is

a surprise, but

that is different than a fluke. When there is a surprise winner it means that the true form of the champion was not apparent to the outside observer. But the real class was

there all the time.

Take the forthcoming sea-.

son, for example. In the Na- tional League three clubs have the ability to win the pennant. These are Brooklyn, Milwau- kee and Cincinnati.

On the other hand, any. win- ner other than the Yankees in the Amercan League would be a fluke. The possible ex- ception would be the Indians. Their triumph, while perhaps not a fluke, would certainly rate as a surprise.

AMERICAN LEAGUE

1. NEW YORK — The true strength of the Yankees is down the middle — Berra, Mc- Dougald and Mantle — and at the top — Casey Stengel, Dit- mar will help ,but the Yankees still need pitching. But then, what team doesn’t?

2. CLEVELAND — Regard- less of any other deficiencies, the Indians must be regarded as the top pursuer simply be- cause of their pitchers.

3. DETROIT — The Tigers will move up two places over their 1956 finish. Lack of pitch- ing depth of infield problems rue them out as a true pennant threat.

4. BOSTON — The Red Sox infield is terrible. Sullivan and White both fell off badly last year. This team with Williams and Piersall, at times will look great, but by season’s end will again have broken a lot of hearts in New England.

5. CHICAGO — The Chisox are on the road down. Lopez will get the most ‘of what's there, but what’s there is re- stricted in quantity, even of men like Pierce, Doby, Minoso and Fox remains high.

6. BALTIMORE — Richards

alone is worth one place in the standings. We'll give him an- other because the Orioles have more farm prospects to choose

MICKEY MANTLE

from than other tailenders.

7. KANSAS CITY—This club can score runs, particularly at home. But it lacks pitching, infield finesse and, outside of Simpson, has no hitters among its outfielders.

8. WASHINGTON — When Chuck Stobbs is your top pitch- er it can be assumed that you have pitching troubles. Dres- sen has other problems, too, but there’s no point in be- laboring the obvious.

NATIONAL LEAGUE

1. BROOKLYN — This is the outstanding team in modern National League history. You can’t pick against them, regard- less of how highly you rate the top challengers, simply be- cause they, like the Yankees, keep rebuilding even while winning. This year, for ex- ample, the Dodgers have more good-looking rookies than any other team. The burden of proof rests with the challeng- ers.

2. CINCINNATI — Tebbets has the greatest wrecking crew since Murderer’s ‘Row. If the Dodgers falter, the Redlegs will

win. When estimating the pitching bear “in mind that McMillan, Temple and Bell down the middle are worth at least five extra wins for each pitcher. é

3. MILWAUKEE — This 1S an over-rated ball club. The Braves had a chance to sneak in last year but goofed. The greatest weakness is the in- ability of even the brightest stars to come through in vital ball games. Perhaps the fact - that County Stadium is always sold out makes each game seem like a World Series gamé: A ball club can’t keep up that kind of momentum all season.

4, ST, LOUIS — The Cards will be plenty tough. Musial and Dark alone assure that. Sam Jones will help, and Mizell should be even better: Past disappointments should not tempt you to sell this team short. They could move up.

5. NEW YORK — The first impulse was to tab the Giants for the best lefthander in the league and Mays is in a class by himself,

6. CHICAGO — Pitching alone should help the Cubs move up a couple of notches from the basement. Drabowsky and, Kaiser seem to have the stuff. But, oh that outfield!

7, PITTSBURGH — The Pir- ates are a good example of how hard it is to catch up. They get better each year, bu the other clubs aren’t idle, either:

8. PHILADELPHIA — No other club in either league has the infield problems that plague Mayo Smith. Even his fairly good pitching suffers be- cause of the leaky infield. Be- sides, the club has absolutely no power .There are too many big outs in the lineup.

e' Reprinted from Labor's

Daily.

APRIL 12, 1957 — PACIFIC TRIBUNE—PAGE 14°