Dizzy Trade

A sure harbinger of spring for the past three years has been Dizzy Dean on the front page. For many a U. S. citizen Dizzy's arrogant predictions and bombastic salary disputes have served as a memo that another baseball season was getting under way.

Last week, later than usual, on the very eve of the season's opening came the Dean headlines. But this time they were different. The big, right-handed pitcher, who had been a trademark for the St. Louis Cardinals ever since 1934, when his bumptious performances on & off the ball field made him a national clown-hero, the pampered super-pitcher who could not be bought for less than $400,000--this paladin of sport had been traded to the Chicago Cubs for three ordinary players (Pitchers Curt Davis & Clyde Shoun. Outfielder George Stainback) and a reported $185,000.

Were the Cardinals gladly getting rid of a problem child who had caused them many a headache? Were they turning a potential liability (Dizzy Dean won only 13 games and lost 10 last year) into a cash asset? Were they going to concentrate on attack this year with such powerful sluggers as Joe Medwick, Johnny Mize and highly touted Rookie Enos Slaughter? Was Dizzy a has-been like his brother Paul, who was sent back to the minors fortnight ago? And if his arm was bad, why did the Cubs, co-favorites with the Giants to win the National League pennant, want Dizzy Dean?

While baseball fans chased such hypotheses round in circles, Dizzy Dean's old teammates, the irrepressible Gas House Gang with whom he has been cavorting ever since he entered big-league baseball, were plainly grieved. But General Manager Branch Rickey sounded the curt keynote of the front office: "The Cardinals will now be a 23-player club, not a Dizzy Dean club."

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