History Doesn't Repeat

In Brooklyn it was "heart rendering."

Just a year ago last week the St. Louis Cardinals and Brooklyn's Dodgers had faced one another in a do-or-die showdown for the National League pennant. And Brooklyn's big Righthander Whit Wyatt had pitched the Dodgers to a 1-to-0 shutout against the Cards' big Righthander Mort Cooper.

Now Cooper and Wyatt were on the mound again and it was happening all over again, only not quite the same way. During August the scrappy young Cardinals had come up from behind until now they were only two games behind the faltering Dodgers. Cooper had not lost a game since he discarded his No. 13 shirt in disgust, and begun borrowing that teammate's shirt whose number corresponded to the number of the game he wanted to win.

That voodoo did it. Wearing Coaker Triplett's No. 20 last week, Cooper allowed only three hits (no Dodger reached second base), gave only one walk, scored two runs himself, shut out the Dodgers, 3-to-0. That mauling reduced Brooklyn's Bums--ten games ahead of St. Louis on Aug. 4--to a lead of only one slim game. Sure enough, next day, behind Southpaw Max Lanier, the Cards took the Dodgers again, 2-to-1, to tie for the lead.

"I think we're in," gloated Cardinal President Sam Breadon, banking on this year's team to repeat the miracle stretch drives of 1930 and 1934.

In 1930 the Cards won 20 of the last 23 games of the season to clinch the pennant. In 1934 they clinched it with 20 out of the last 25. This year the Cards have won 29 of their last 34 games.

With only 14 more to go, President Breadon confidently ordered World Series tickets printed.

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