Page 4
University Daily Kansan Wednesday. April 14, 1954
Yanks, Dodgers Lose Opening Day Games
By UNITED PRESS
Nine out of the last 10 major league pennant winners scored opening day victories and if that means anything the Yankees and Dodgers could be in trouble.
Because both were off on the wrong foot today.
The Yankees went 10 innings in Washington before Mickey Vernon hit a prodigious two-run homer that gave the Senators a 6-4 victory and prompted President Eisenhower to make a special trip down to congratulate him after the game. The blow, a long one as all homers must be in Washington, came off erstwhile Yankee Allie Reynolds, who previously walked Ed Yost.
Of course, the Yankees as usual have an angle in their favor. The only exception in the pattern whereby pennant winners score opening day victories occurred last season when the Athletics beat them, 5-0; for the only opening day loss Casey Stengel had suffered in five flag-winning seasons. In the National league, for five seasons every pennant winner had an opening day triumph, the Dodgers in 1953 and 1952, the Giants in 1951 before they went into an 11-game losing streak, the Phils in 1950, and the Dodgers again in 1949.
In the Polo Grounds, the Giants made only four hits off Carl Erskine but three were homers by Al Dark, Hank Thompson, and Willie Mays and thereby hung the tale of a 4-3 victory. Roy Campanella hit two homers off winner Sal Maglie, who received great one-hit relief help from Marv Grissom in the final 23 innings.
It was a day of heavy slugging, this 1954 inaugural with 12 homers in the National as compared with six last year and nine in the American as compared with four in the 1953 openers. In other National league games Cincinnati outsugged Milwaukee 9-8, the Cubs topped the Cards at St. Louis 13-4 with 16 hits, while Pittsburgh came from behind to defeat the Phillies 4-2. Elsewhere in the American league, the A's defeated Boston 6-4, Detroit blanked Baltimore 6-0, while Cleveland pounded out a 15-hit 8-3 triumph at Chicago.
Cincinnati made 13 hits, including four doubles by Jim Greengrass, coming from behind to win its traditional festive home opener despite two homers by Ed Mathews, the 1953 home run king. Ando Pafko was hit on the head by a pitched ball after rapping three doubles for Milwaukee but was believed to have escaped serious damage because of his protective helmet.
Robin Roberts still has his troubles that plagued him all spring. Going on with the roses, he free-hit shut-out the Pirates opened a kayoed him with a four run rally.
Lefty Harvey Haddix another big winner of 1933, was racked up in St. Louis by the Cubs who were paced by Clyde McCullough with a homer, two doubles, and a single. Rookie
THE
MOST TREASURED
NAME
IN PERFUME
CHANEL
Nº 5
BOIS DES ILES
Nº 22
RUSSIA LEATHER
GARDENIA
RANEY'S DRUG STORE
Gene Baker and pitcher Paul Minner, who hurled six hit ball, also hit Cub homers while rookie Wally Moon of St. Louis hit a homer in his first big league time at bat. Stan Musial also homered for the Cards.
At Philadelphia, the Athletics scored a victory but again lost lefty Bobby Shantz who went out in the sixth inning with the same kind of an arm injury that laid him low last year. Rookies Ozzie Van Brabant and Bill Upton collaborated on saving Shantz' victory while Gus Zernial hit a homer, Bill Renna drove in three runs, and rookie Jacobs made four hits. Sam White and Jack Jensen homeered for Boston.
909 Mass. Ph. 521
Steve Gromek turned in the day's best pitching job, blanking the Orioles, who still look suspiciously like last year Brown.
Remand Wins Easy Victory
New York —(U,P)— W. Hagin Perry's Remand enhanced his Kentucky derby chances yesterday by romping to an easy three length triumph in the $6,000 Springboard purse at Jamaica. Mrs. John Hertz' Double Speed, another Derby hopeful, was all but eliminated from further contention when he soundly beaten for the second straight time. Remand's time for the six furlongs was 1:12 1/5 and the son of Revoked paid $12.30 for $2.00.
Reese Says Dodgers Better Than in '53
New York—(U.P.)—There is no complacency among the Brooklyn Dodgers even though they feel they have a better ball club than last year, captain Feewee asserted today, and "there couldn't be until we beat those Yankees in a World Series.'
Not that the little veteran, starting his 12th season in Dodger flannels, was predicting another Dodger-Yankee classic come October. But you could feel, as the Dodgers opened the season against the Giants, that they are after this pennant with a vengeance.
That continual walloping in the World Series still rankles.
"We know we are in for a tough year," Reese said, speaking like a man who is glad of a stern challenge to fit his team for the big job in the fall. "Those Cardinals were impressive this spring. The Abbey Magie and Larry Jansen in shape, are a fine club, Milwaukee is tough and any of the teams in this league can get hot and hurt you. We've got this thing to win before we worry about any World Series."
But in the back of the Dodger minds, through every game they play this season, they'll be taking dead aim on the Yankees. Most of them are praying that the Yanks
take the American league crown. They want one more shot at the champions in the classic—and they feel this is the club which could finally bring Brooklyn its first World Series triumph.
"This is a better team than we had last season," Reese explained. "The main thing is that we have better pitching. Don Newcombe is going to make a big difference and watch Erv Palica."
Palica, according to Reese, was handled wrong by former manager Charley Dressen.
There are 11 deepwater ports in Texas, all of them man-made.
An American Beauty COMPACT
MOTHER'S DAY
Give Mother a beautiful compact by Elgin for her special day. This lovely model comes in $700 jeweler's bronze.
Balfour's LAUTER JEWELRY 411 W.14th St.
for HER EASTER CORSAGE
Phone 363
941 Mass.