[Tiger Fan]

MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL
1946 SEASON FLASHBACK - THE BOSTON RED SOX
The Red Sox came tantlizingly close to claiming their first pennant since 1922 but in the end Boston just ran out of steam. The good news for Red Sox fans is that the core of the team's offense is in it's prime. What could be bad news is last season virtually every Red Sox pitcher enjoyed a career best year and Boston was still a quality starter away from becoming a truly dominant team. If the pitchers revert to earlier form it could be a long season. On the other hand, the Red Sox offense may just be strong enough to prevent that from happening.

The offense is rock solid led by 28 year old Ted Williams (.322,31,93) and 31 year old Babe Young (.305,19,95). The outfield consists of Williams in left, 34 year old Mel Almada (.290,8,46) in center and 32 year old Stan Spence (.277,9,71). Dom Dimaggio (.278,0,5) and Tommy Holmes (.246,2,28) add depth. The infield features Young at first base, light hitting 25 year old Ben Steiner (.197,2,44) at second, 34 year old Johnny Hudson (.284,6,59) at shortstop and 2-time gold glove winner 27 year old Johnny Pesky (.310,3,45) at third. Catcher Roy Partee (.285,6,45) is just 29 but coming off of a broken wrist so it remains to be seen if he can recover fully. If not veterans Bill Atwood (.235,0,6) and Sammy Holbrook (.220,4,26) will fight for the starting position.

If 32 year old Andy Karl (21-10, 2.59) can duplicate his breakout season of a year ago it will go a long way towards easing concerns about the rotation. Bob Bowman (19-9, 3.07) will be 37 and it is unlikely he will duplicate last years results. Bowman had never won more than 7 games entering last season. 31 year old Tex Hughson (10-4, 3.29) and 30 year old Rube Melton (14-12, 4.45) also enjoyed career best years last season. 24 year old Dave Ferriss (9-10, 3.70) is a pitcher to watch and 25 year old Jim Wilson may be ready for the majors after two seasons in AAA.

OUTLOOK - It's up to the pitching. The bats are strong enough to get the Red Sox into the postseason. If the pitching can be as good or better than last year they could finally get that pennant that has eluded the franchise for 25 years.


1946 SEASON FLASHBACK - THE CHICAGO WHITE SOX
Can things get any worse for a franchise that has not won a pennant since the inagural season of the American League in 1901? The White Sox finsihed dead last for the fifth straight year. They have not even finished a year at .500 since going 70-70 in the shortened 1919 campaign. There is also little hope of things improving in the near future. The core players are all in their late thirties and the farm system is barren.

29 year old Eddie Lopat (13-21, 4.44) is the closest thing the White Sox have to a number one starter. Originally White Sox property Lopat spent 2 seasons with the A's before getting dealt (or if you prefer banished) back to the Windy City. Frank Biscan (10-10, 3.06) is just 27 and may still reach the potential the Browns originally saw in him before giving up on his ever reaching it. 36 year old Orie Arntzen (11-18, 3.64) is another Athletics castoff. The rest of the staff will be an assortment of broken down veterans and rookies with little potential.

Last season the White Sox finished 14th in runs allowed and dead last in runs scored. Not a good stat if you are trying to win ballgames. The offense is downright offensive. Danny Litwhiler (.287,11,64) is 30 years old and probably wondering who he ticked off in the Phillies system to cause them to trade him to Chicago 2 years ago. 36 year old catcher Harry Danning (.291,3,40) is the only other veteran worth mentioning.

OUTLOOK - It will be another long season at Comiskey. The White Sox problem is the few decent young players they managed to develop through the years are always traded off for broken down veterans in an effort to give the team a quick fix and get out of the basement. Of course it never works in Chicago for a club that has finished no better than 6th for each of the past 16 years. Make that soon to be 17 years.


NATIONAL HOCKEY LEAGUE
LEAFS WINNING STREAK UP TO 6 GAMES
The Toronto Maple Leafs remain the hottest team in the National Hockey League as wins over Detroit, Chicago and New York this week increased their winning streak to 6 straight games. Ted Kennedy led the way once again, notching 6 points to take over the league scoring lead from Chicago's Max Bentley.

However, the hottest scorer for the week was not Kennedy, but rather rugged Detroit winger Ted Lindsay. Lindsay scored 6 goals in three games this week including a 4-goal effort in Detroit's 6-3 victory over last place Chicago on Wednesday. In addition to Chicago, the Red Wings beat slumping Montreal but lost to the Leafs. Detroit with 37 points, still has a 9 point lead on the now-second place Maple Leafs but Toronto does have two games in hand.



BASKETBALL ASSOCIATION OF AMERICA
BIG THREE IN WEST DIVISION CONTINUE TO DOMINATE
The St Louis Bombers, Chicago Stags and Cleveland Rebels continue to set the pace in the BAA West Division. Each of the three has enjoyed particularily good success against East Division foes and last week was no exception.

Cleveland won all three of it's games against the East beating Toronto, New York and Philadelphia. The key to the Rebels success has been the offensive contributions provided from Ed Sadowski (18.8 ppg) and Frankie Baumholtz (13.9). The Rebels lone loss on the week came against Western cellar dweller Pittsburgh in a game Sadowski missed with a minor injury.

St Louis split a home and home series with Boston and won on the road in Washington. The Bombers are not a high scoring lot although guards Johnny Logan and Belus Smawley are each averaging more than 10 points a game. St. Louis has enjoyed success so far mainly because of having one of the best defenses in the league.

Chicago, the third team in the Western race has enjoyed some solid offensive production from Max Zaslofsky (13.4), Chuck Halbert (13.4) and Don Carlson (11.6) plus a tenacious defense. The Stags won both their contests this week, a close win in Providence and an easy victory at home over Detroit.


BOXING BEAT
CAN ANYONE TAME THE RAGING BULL?
On Friday January 12th Tony Zale will attempt to do something no man has done since the postwar era of professional boxing began - bring down Jake Lamotta. Many fight experts give Zale little to no chance of winning the 15 round bout at the famed Madison Square Garden. A small minority feel that if anyone can knock off the champ it is the veteran Zale. For proof they point to Zale and Lamotta's performances against one of their two common opponents - Rocky Graziano.

Graziano, at 31-14-1, lost to both Zale and Lamotta twice. In the first Lamotta-Graziano bout early in the post war elimination tournament Lamotta won easily with a ninth round TKO but in their second meeting Lamotta needed a split decision win to keep his perfect record intact. Meanwhile Zale has had a pair of slugfests with Graziano, winning both by knockout, one in the 5th and the other in the 11th round.

However, the other common opponent for Lamotta and Zale is top contender Holman Williams. Williams gave Lamotta all he could handle but the champ prevailed in a 15 round unanimous decision in a September bout that decided the middleweight title. Zale, on the other hand, was decimated by Williams losing via a third round tko.

TSN has to agree with the majority of the so-called experts and predict Lamotta will win the fight.


Continued