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When a flood of other injuries hit the squad, Casey had a benchful of young talent ready. Second-Baseman Snuffy Stirnweiss got hurt, and hustling Rookie Jerry Coleman not only filled in but took Stirnweiss' job away from him. Casey's handling of his young ballplayers was superb. He held wide-open competition for jobs, operated a two-platoon system at first and third base, developed a hopped-up club that played more like the old St. Louis Cardinals' Gashouse Gang than the dignified Yankees.
Casey's youngsters and a couple of old pros, Outfielder Tommy Henrich and Shortstop Phil Rizzuto, took turns snatching ball games out of the fire until the Big Guy (J. DiMaggio) returned. Then the Big Guy took over in a blaze of glory (four home runs in the first three games), making everybody forget that Henrich was out of the lineup last week with a bad knee.
Casey himself was awed at the course of events, suspecting that some tongue-in-cheek genie was at his elbow making the hard way look easy. If his pitching staff, headed by big (185-lb.) Vic Raschi with 13 wins and three losses, didn't waver down the stretch, Charles Dillon Stengel was a gold-plated cinch for manager-of-the-year.
Putty v. Power. In the National League, mid-season found the fast & furious Brooklyn Dodgers in command, with the panting St. Louis Cardinals breathing down their necks.
The Dodgers started out in April with what looked like a million-dollar pitching staff (Ralph Branca, Rex Barney, et al.) and two-bits' worth of power at the plate. But right under the bushy eyebrows of Branch ("The Brain") Rickey, the Dodger pitching arms turned to putty. What kept Brooklyn "berling" was a surprising splurge of batting power. Negro Second-Baseman Jackie Robinson was knocking the cover off the ball and leading the league with an average of .358. Teammate Gil Hodges, who came up as a third baseman, was switched to catcher and then to first base, was the runs-batted-in leader with 65. As usual, the Dodgers could outrun all opposition.
Whether they could outrun the Cardinals for the National League pennant depended principally on Stan ("The Man") Musial. If All-Star Outfielder Musial, now hitting considerably under par at .293, began making noises with his bat, it might be a race right to the wire. Whether the Boston Braves, last year's pennant winners, could make it a three-club race depended a good deal on whether Manager Southworth's star righthander, Johnny Sain, could recover the form that won 24 games last year. His mid-season record: won 6, lost 9.
None of the other five clubs seemed to have a chance to catch the leaders.