Great Expectations

"As far as his hitting goes," bubbled Yankee Manager Casey Stengel, "he's a big-league outfielder right now. He can run the bases, and his speed kind of keeps you on edge. His arm is so strong he doesn't have to think out there. All he'll have to do is throw the ball in." Optimistic Manager Stengel was talking about Rookie Outfielder Mickey Mantle, 19, the beaming, spring-legged kid just up from Joplin, Mo. (Class C). And by all accounts, Stengel knew what he was talking about.

Last week Switch-Hitter Mantle, with the free & easy swing of an old pro, was batting .395, had slammed out two home runs. Going into the sixth inning against San Francisco at week's end, Rookie Mantle stepped up to the plate and banged out another homer. It was only spring training time, but some awed scouts (particularly Yankee scouts) were already comparing him to Ty Cobb.

About all that seemed to be worrying Manager Stengel was whether to send Mantle back for another season to the minors (where he could be sure of playing every day) or to keep him on the Yankee roster (where he would run the risk of gathering bench splinters). But with Joe DiMaggio already on record that the 1951 season will be his last ("The old geezer will be getting out. I can't go on forever"), Rookie Mantle was beginning to look like the kid who might be able to pick up when Joe leaves off.

In the rose-colored dreams of the training season, Mickey Mantle seemed to be the cream of the rookie crop. But there were a dozen other standouts in both major leagues who might be worth watching. Among them:

P: The Yankees' Gil McDougald, 22, an infielder up from Beaumont, Texas, whose batting average (.336) and willowy grace remind some experts of the great Pie Traynor; and Righthander Tom Morgan, 20, a big, stolid kid who won 17 games for Binghamton, N.Y. (Class A) last season. With remarkable rookie control (two walks), Morgan has pitched 13 consecutive scoreless innings for the Yankees in spring training games.

P: The Cardinals' Wilmer ("Vinegar Bend") Mizell, 20, tagged by sportwriters as "the lefthanded Dizzy Dean." In a pure corn-pone drawl, Vinegar explains his nickname: "Vinegar Bend, Mississippi [pop. about 75] is where ah gets mah mail.'' Signed as a barefoot prospect in nearby Leakesville, Miss. (pop. around 1,000) two years ago, Vinegar bounced up the Cardinal chain to Winston-Salem last year, where he won 17 games, struck out 227 batters in 207 innings. Cardinal Manager Marty Marion exults over his huge (6 ft. 3 in., 200 lbs.) pitcher: "He has the livest fast ball I've seen in years."

P: The Giants' Catcher Rafael Noble (pro nounced No-blay), a hulking (214 Ibs.), barrel-chested backstop, who batted .316 for Oakland, Calif, last season. Cuban-born "Ray" Noble has already played in the Polo Grounds--with the New York Cubans. This year, Manager Leo Durocher expects cat-quick Noble to be the Giants' No. 2 catcher behind Wes Westrum.

P: The Cubs' Lefthander Bob Schultz, 27, a stringy (6 ft. 3 in.) workhorse with a 25-6 record with Nashville, Tenn. last year. Schultz is a "control" pitcher, canny but not speedy, who paces himself well enough to work the first game of a doubleheader, relieve in the second.

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