Plans Set Way of Teaching throughout Cardinal System: Eddie Stanky and Farm Club Pilots to Discuss Strategy and Ways in Open Meetings, Daily Racing Form, 1953-08-24

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i : : : Plans Set Way of Teaching Throughout Cardinal System Eddie Stanky and Farm Club Pilots to Discuss Strategy And Ways in Open Meetings By STAN MOCKLER United Press Sports Writer ST. LOUIS, Mo., Aug. 22. Eddie Stanky, , St. Louis Cardinals manager andtop fan i in their "team" of 400 Minor leaguers, said ; today that "a set way of teaching" through- . out the organization was his first aim. ; "Once we have reached our decision on : what we want taught," he said, "we wont have the kids in training camp looking at us open-mouthed when we tell them to do ; something they never heard of before." Stanky emphasized that his brand of ball ; would not necessarily be taught in the Cardinal chain of nine ownership clubs and nine "working-agreement" teams. "The managers and I will discuss strategy and methods in open meetings," he said. "What we agree upon as best will be taught from the lowest classification to the AAA clubs." Stanky is an ardent advocate of the hit-and-run play as an offensive-weapon of the highest order. Will that tactic have a top priority in the farm players baseball three Rs? It depends entirely on how an of us feel about it," Stanky said. "Well use it if its not proven wrong for our needs. Well decide in our meetings." Stanky was emphatically certain about what he wanted in the finished product. Want Aggressive Players "We want players who are aggressive above all," he said. "I mean fellows who have been encouraged to think for themselves. A player has to make 50 to 75 decisions on his own during a season and 98 per cent of the time hell be right. Ill never criticize a player for the two per cent. Stanky explained that those decisions are necessarily dependent on the circumstances at the time they are made. "Naturally you wouldnt want a man to go in for daring, take-a-chance base-running when they are two outs and were trailing. But we dont want timid ballplayers. They are second-division men." The players must also possess what Stanky calls "the intangibles," speed, baseball savvy and a talent for improvisation. "The aggressive, alert team forces the opposition into mistakes," Stanky said. The one-time top lead-off man of the Majors said that the Cardinals "youth-movement" would not hurt their late-season bid for a place high in the standings. "Dick Scofield 18-year-old bonus shortstop and Harry Elliott Houston outfield graduate have played in the last nine games for us," he said. "But I yanked them both for pinch hitters when I thought the move might help us win a game." Stanky said many players in the organization are about ready for promotion, to the parent club. He named a pair of Rochester pitchers, Johnnie Romonosky and Floyd Wooldridge, Houston inf ielders Eddie Phillips and Sher-win Dixon, and Rochester outfielders Wally Moon and Tom Burgess as among the most promising. "In this game," Stanky said, "youve got to be about three years ahead in your planning. Even the best of our veterans must be replaced sometime and weve got to have men ready to fill their shoes."


Persistent Link: https://drf.uky.edu/catalog/1950s/drf1953082401/drf1953082401_2_2
Local Identifier: drf1953082401_2_2
Library of Congress Record: https://lccn.loc.gov/unk82075800