Daily News from New York, New York • 34

SUNDAY NEWS, MARCH 1946 34 A Comes to Judgment on tott Gl Yanliees riming Jafs For Famed Bin Innings 'V V. Joe Trimble By pastime of this year's Balboa, C. Z. The favorite Yankees will be "batting around." Ihe term is used in its baseball which means "sendinjr the entire lineiro to bat in a single inning, not in the sense of tripping the light fantastic after hours. (Even with the temptation of a tropical moon and cuddly senoritas here iny- Panama the players retire and rise early.) The pattern of the Yank attack will be prewar, the Yankees, Pirates Travel Farthest training of the big bats in a big- inning broadside.

AMERICAN LEAGUE Miles front Trainlnr Site Home 01 nb Tietroit Washington BATS MOST IMPORTANT So, it is obvious that the most Lakeland, Fla 1,235 Orlando. Fla 893 Hi yj Havana. Cuba 1.317 important part of the team's equip (St. Petersburg, Fla 1.217 (Panama City 2.80O Anaheim. Cal 1.848 Clearwater.

Fla 1.1 70 Pasadena, Cal 2.124 New York St. Louis Cleveland Chicago Boston Philadelphi ment is its bats. Approximately IOC sticks, made of ash, were sent Sarasota, 1,192 down here in advance of the team, W. Palm Beach. Fla.

NATIONAL LEAGUE, half dozen for each player, pitchers excepted. Pitchers, with the sole Catalina Cal 2.148 St. Petersburg-. Fla 1.041 Daytona Beach. El Ceutro.

Cal 2.437 Chicago St. Louis Brooklyn Pittsburgh New York Boston Cincinnati Philadelphia Miami. Fla 1.34 Ft. Lauderdale, Fla1.54! exception of Red Ruffing, can whiff with any bat. They don't matter in the hit department.

The club orders the bats from the manufacturer and pays for So technically, the batters do not own the Pipe the gent 1 posing as a bedpost decoration! It's Danny Gardella, screwball Giant slugger, who recently had falling out with manager Mel Ott A J- Sez Dan: "Ottey's a swell fellow personally, but he has a lot to learn about managing." Besides Gardella, several regulars have crossed wires with Ott, including Bill Voiselle of $500-pitch fame. 944 Tamna, Miami Beach. Fla 1.258 DW Pases ChaDDemige Ski (F MaimagnirDg By Dick Young One of the most significant statements to come out of all the hogwash and hullabaloo of Spring training camps this year was Danny Gardella's remark concerning the managerial abilities of Mel Ott. Spouted the free-lance philosopher as he jumped the Giants to join thp Mexican LeaeTie: "Mel is a nice fellow, hut he doesn't understand human na ture well enough to be a success-S ful bat. If it happens to be someone else's I share it with, him or borrow it permanently, with his permission." CHANGES IN SLUMP EUen is another who shifts to other weights and sizes if in a slump.

He also goes into a semi-crouch at times in an effort to snap out of a bad streak of hitless at bats. "I'm one of those guys who hacks around a lot when I'm trying to get back into hitting stride," he explains. He also is tough on the wood and requires about 24 bats per season. Most players are not hard on bats and 12 per season will usually be a sufficient supply. Keller uses a thin-handle job and consequently breaks more than some of the others.

Curve balls breaking in on the handle are apt to splinter the wood. DiMag is not a bat destroyer and claims that he breaks hardly half a dozen per season himself. "Sometimes," he adds, "others borrow mine and break 'em for me." It is interesting to recall that one of the standout incidents of Joe's consecutive hitting streak of 56 games in the Summer of '41 was the theft of his pet bat. This happened the day he swatted safely in his 42d in succession, breaking- the former mark which had been set by George Sisler of the Browns in '22. USEJ SAME CLUB Silvestri, a switch hitter uses the same bat (35-35) regardless of which side of the plate he is hitting He seems to have more power when swinging lef thanded, which is noteworthy because he is a natural righthander.

"I switched to lefty about 10 years ago in a sand-lot game," he says. "Our team was winning by about 20-0 so I fooled around. I hit the ball well and so kept at it. Now it feels natural and I can get more distance lefty." bats with which they earn their Their gloves and shoes they buy themselves. Although they pack what is likely to be the heaviest batting order in baseball, the majority of Yanks use only average size bats, length 35 inches and weight 35 ounces.

Sluggers like Joe DiMaggio and Charley Keller lean to heavier lumber and a lightweight such as tiny Phil (The Flea) Rizzuto to a more child size model. Phil's choice bat is 34 inches long and weighs 33 ounces. Broad-shouldered Keller, the man with the strength of an orangutan, totes the heaviest mace, 37 ounces and 36 inches long. Di-Mag's is of equal length, but an ounce lighter, a perfect 36. Tommy Henrich, third member of the great outfield, also uses a 36 incher but his is an ounce lighter than Joe's.

Incidentally, it is the same model as DiMag's. AGREE WITH HASSETT Henry rookie third baseman, catchers Ken Sears and Ken Silvestri and first baseman Buddy Hassett all use a 35-35 hunk of wood. The team's other two first sackers, Nick Etten and Johnny Sturm, agree with Hassett as to length but prefer their sticks an ounce heavier. Every player on the club, with one exception, has a definite idea of what bat he likes. The exception is Joe Gordon, the second baseman and a good hitter.

"Strange thing," says Joe, "but I've never been able to set my heart on one particular shape, weight or length. I do a lot of experimenting and am apt to pick up any bat on the rack and take it up to the plate. If I'm in a slump I change around often, but when I'm hitting I do stick with the success mSIIMOQKIES ftSx fcy HY TURKIN ful manager." That pointed remark stands as a challenge to be faced squarely by Ott as he embarks on the first leg of his new five-year contract. It is something that has long been talked of in hushed tones by reporters who follow the Giants regularly, but which had never before been printed. COMPOUND CRITICISM This, remember, wasn't the criticism of Gardella alone although he voiced it.

Rather, it was the compounded concept. Can Ott attempt to brush off the eraduallv ERNEST H. ANDRES, Red Sox infielder. Born 28 years ago in Jeffersonville, Ind. Righthander all the way, the handsome ex-Gob weighs 200 pounds and stands 6-feet 1-inch.

Playing for Mickey Cochrane's Great Lakes nine in '42, he drew this rave from Iron Mike: "He a terrific prospect. I don't growing rounds of boos that flowed know of any man I'd rather have at third base for my team right now." An all-around athletic star at Indiana he stepped right off the campus and hit a homer in his first time at bat for Louisville, in '39. For three years he starred in the AA before entering the service, and in his last year he led the Association in home runs, doubles, runs batted in and total bases. Fresh out of the Navy, he's got first call on Jim Tabor's old job. EUGENE HERMANSKI, Dodger outfielder.

This 24-year- Ernie Andres Gene Hermanski from the Polo Grounds grandstand as last season wore on? Those were the patent signs that the fans were increasingly aware of Ott's mishandling of his men. When Ott was player exclusively, a solitary boo was unthinkable. Neither can Ott easily dismiss his three-straight second-division finishes on the grounds that he was burdened with war-time ballplayers. His team's collapse last year wa due. in no small measure, to the fact that Ott grew panicky, and conveyed that panic to his team.

Although the players also spoke of Ott as a "nice fellow" personally, they spoke with little confidence in his ability to handle men. You can't fool ballplayers in that respect. They know that the soundest success formula for a big league manager is his ability to handle the contrasting temperaments of all players and weld them into an harmonious machine. The pilot old native of Pittsfield, left, throws right, weighs 180 and stands an even 6 feet. Five years ago he walked into the Dodger office and talked Branch Rickey Jr.

into giving him a job. Hit .341 for Olean pennant-winners. Morning after Pearl Harbor, he was first in line at Coast Guard recruiting station. With his heart set on flying, he wangled a discharge in the Summer of '43, but before going into Naval Aviation, he got in an 18-game hitch at rabbets Field, batting exactly .300. Manager Leo Durocher tabbed him best judge of balls and strikes he had seen of any rookie in a decade.

Dixie Walker took him aside and gave him fielding tips. Finally out of the service, the 1 kalle blonde Polish clouter is headed for a starting berth in his first full season. catch a bunt sign, etc. All this served to make the players think more about the amount of deduc doesn't have to teach a big-leaguer baseball. Most of them know the artistic details by the time they hit the Big Show.

His job is simple enough to get the boys to produce for him, lOO'r FINED VOISELLE That, Ott failed to do. The notorious fining of Bill Voiselle, which shook the confidence of the entire pitching staff, was the most glaring example. There were others, such as the initiation of a petty fine system for errors on the field, viz: Five bucks for missing a hit-and-run sign, five more for failing to tion they faced each payday, than about winning ball games. Another Ott shortcoming has been the feeling among players that he is a "management's manager" rather than a "ballplayer's manager." The player likes to feel that the pilot will take his side occasionally in some of the inescapable disagreements between owner and player. But Ott, because of his close friendship with Prexy Horace Stoneham, has been decidedly a management man.

Tough fiuxs Made Great Managers Mel Ott seems to be following the footsteps of "nice guys" who proved disappointing managers like Pie Traynor of the Pirates and Freddie Fitzsimmons of the Phils. Testy taskmasters who achieved excellent results include Brooklyn's Lippy Purocher and Ott's predecessors, John McGraw ann Bill Terry. Even the Mrs. Could Swing It Phil (The Flea) Rizzuto, who was married after leaving the Yanks for Navy duty, shows his Mrs. his favorite bat.

It's only a 33-ouncer, lightest on the team, and she probably could wield it herself. Heck, pins don't come much lighterl.