Spice for the Brownies

"I was their best pitcher. I won nine games for them, three more than their next best. And now they trade me down the river for a couple of left-handed bums who've won one game between them. . . ."

Bobo Newsom was right. He was the Dodgers' best pitcher. But the Old Showboat's arrogance got Manager Leo ("Lippy") Durocher's goat. When it came to a showdown last week--after Bobo's suspension for insubordination had caused a brief "sympathy strike" among his teammates--Dodger Boss Branch Rickey upheld Durocher. Newsom, only three years ago reputed to be baseball's highest-paid pitcher, was waived out of the National League, traded to the St. Louis Browns.

Many a baseball fan agreed that Newsom had been a sacrificial goat. But those who took a second look at last week's baseball standings were likely to view old Bobo's exile as a kick, not down the river, but upstairs. While the mutinous Dodgers apparently weakened their chances of dethroning the World Champion Cardinals in the National League pennant race, the Browns were one of four American League clubs still jockeying for position behind the pace-setting Yankees.

The Browns, nicknamed the Little Brownies because they are the only major-league club that has never won a pennant, have been a source of disappointment to two generations of St. Louis fans. Last week they looked more promising than they had at any time since the days of sizzling George Sisler (1915-22). Within the past fortnight the Army had rejected three of the Brownies' best players: slugging Shortstop Vernon Stephens, fancy-fielding First Baseman George McQuinn and first-string Catcher Frank Hayes.

Stephens, the Sisler of this year's outfit, was leading the American League last week with a batting average of .336 and a total of 13 home runs. Close behind was another power-hitting Brownie, Outfielder Chester Laabs (eleven homers). Assured of this one-two punch for the remainder of the season, the Little Brownies can fight it out with the Tigers, Senators, White Sox--and even the Yankees.

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