Atlanta Daily World

THE SPORTS GRILL
By PAT ROBINSON

NEW YORK-(INS)-Rookie ballplayers "ain't never had it so good," and you will see more strange faces this year with major league clubs than ever before.

Jobs are going begging, and anybody with even a touch of class should be able to find a spot on some clubs. Several rookies already have won regular jobs. These are the lads who are tabbed as of the "can't miss" variety.

Maybe they can't miss-and we hope they won't-but bitter experience teaches that the phenoms of the training camps often are playing for Peoria in June.

Most solid of the "can't miss" boys are two young lefties, Herb Score of Cleveland and Karl Spooner of Brooklyn; third baseman Ken Boyer of St. Louis and first baseman Gus Triandos of the Baltimore Orioles.

Spooner has some extra credentials on the strength of the two shutouts he pitched against the New York Giants and Pittsburgh just before the season ended last year. In the process he fanned 15 Giants and 12 Pirates.

Roy Campanella, the Dodgers' veteran catcher, says Spooner is the best young pitcher he ever saw. But Hank Greenberg, the Indians' general manager, tops that one: he says Score is going to be the best pitcher in baseball.

Boyer earned his job with the Cardinals even before he went to camp. The club was so high on this youngster that it felt safe in trading off the hard hitting Ray Jablonski to the Reds.

Lou Boudreau can use anything that breathes at Kansas City. So can Fred Haney at Pittsburgh. But to most of the other managers, rookies can be a headache.

Walter Alston of the Dodgers has several problems. Can Jackie Robinson and Pee Wee Reese last another year? If so, where? Or should rookies like Chico Fernandez and Don Zimmer be groomed to replace them?

The pitchers are even more of a problem. Should this kid with the blazing fast ball be kept and a fading veteran be released? And if he trades the veteran, will the rookie stand up?

It's questions like these that make trading difficult before the time nears to cut down the squads.

Trades can be haunting nightmares to a manager, even if he doesn't get a second guess from the front office.

How often have you seen a veteran pitcher traded only to come back to bedevil his old club? The Pirates once gave old Preacher Roe away to the Dodgers, and you may recall how Roe became a big winner for his new club.