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t ► J — Richards Labels Carrasquel Best Player in World Today - - i Skipper of White Sox Says Chico Does Things No Other Player Can Do for His Team , i By FRED DOWN x By Staff Correspondent j NEW YORK, N. Y., May 16.— Casey 1 Stengel has his Mickey Mantle, and Eddie 5 Stanky his Stan Musial, but Paul Richards . picks his Chico Carrasquel as "the greatest i player in the world today." ] "He makes plays that are unbelievable," " said Richards, the dynamic manager of the , hustling Chicago White Sox. "He makes | plays that nobody ever dreamed of mak- , ing." , The 25-year-old shortstop from Caracas, ] Venezuela, thus became the third entry in i the controversy over the identity of the greatest player in the game today. Manager Marty Marion of the Browns : started it by naming Mantle the greatest player in the game, with Stengel, of course, agreeing, but Stanky countered with the claim that it was "premature" to take any player over Musial. "Musial has won six batting titles and lets wait until somebody else wins six before rating him over Musial," Stanky said. But Richards rating of Carrasquel has nothing to do with batting titles. "Hes no out man, " Richards argues. "And theres nobody who plays shortstop like he does. "Hes got a greater range than any other shortstop and hes got the arm to throw em out from deep short. In my opinion, he does things that no other player in the game today can do for his team." Launch Aggressive Play The lean, outspoken manager of the White Sox also credits Carrasquel with being one of the leading forces in the Sox aggressive play which has led the Yankees to believe they will be their No. 1 threat for the American league pennant. "Weve got guys who wont give an inch to the Yankees or anybody else," Richards said. Theyre just not gonna roll over and play dead. "Ferris Fain is one of em and Nelson Fox is another," Richards continued. "In fact, the team is full of em and Carrasquel is one of them. The Yankees and heir reputation mean nothing to him." Carrasquel was the fielding sensation of the league as a rookie in 1950, but he dropped off badly in 1951 and last season he was one of the White Sox greatest disappointments. He was overweight and missed 54 games after suffering an injury to a finger on his throwing hand. ** "Chico got a bad rap last season," Richards said. "People wrote things about him that werent true. He did have a bad year, but he was injured and he was going through the process of becoming a big leaguer. "It was just one of those things," he concluded. "Carrasquel is practically inaccessible to American newspapermen because of his troubles witfc the English language, but Bipjiards and the Sox sing his praises while Chico merely stands by with a toothy grin. "Richards and the Sox tell of a recent play he made at third base to back up their contention of his greatness. It seems that the catcher threw wild to third base on an attempted steal and Carrasquel cut over, caught the ball and tagged out the runner. "Until another player makes a play like thatf*PU string along with Chico," says Richards. I 1 ] j . , I ! I I ■ : L , ;
