The Record Makers

"The baseball journalists of this town, sometimes called New York, have gone the way of all flash," complained the Morning Telegraph's Columnist Barney Nagler. He had a point. The season was less than a week old and the writers were already reporting everything in terms of records. Example: Dodger Carl Furillo hit four home runs in his first three games and a wire service touted him as "11 games ahead of Babe Ruth's record 1927 home-run pace." "And so it goes," moaned Columnist Nagler, "ad boredom."

Then Brooklyn gave the writers a break.

Before anyone ran out of hoked-up records, the Dodgers set an early-season mark that took the boredom off every sports page. They won ten straight games, ran down the world champion Giants, breezed by the feeble Phillies, and tripped up the faltering Pittsburgh Pirates on the way. No major-league team had shown more early foot since the National League New Yorks of 1884 took twelve in a row (and stumbled home in a fourth-place tie).

Doubtful Decisions. The Dodgers' performance was all the more remarkable because, to hear the sports writers tell it in the preseason windjamming, the Brooklyn "Bums" were headed for nothing but trouble. All through spring training, the press sniped at Manager "Smokey" Alston with ill-mannered regularity. When Jackie Robinson had a beef about how seldom he was playing, he got columns of space in which to howl. When Catcher Roy Campanella had a complaint about his spot in the batting order (No. 8), his words were rushed into type. Dodger President Walter O'Malley wondered out loud if a squabbling ball club might not be a healthy one. Nobody seemed to be listening.

But while they talked like bickering schoolboys, the Dodgers played like pros from the first game. Even as they finally lost one last week, they were so hot that the Giants who beat them (5-4) needed a couple of Willie Mays's classiest catches and a couple of Umpire Babe Pinelli's doubtful decisions to cool them off.

In the fourth inning, with the Dodgers coasting along on a 2-0 lead, Left Fielder Sandy Amoros raced home from second on a blooping single. Monte Irvin's peg beat him to the plate. Umpire Pinelli spread his arms, palms down. Safe? Leo Durocher, the Giants' manager, boiled from the bench. Unaccountably astonished because Durocher and 27,297 fans had misunderstood him, Pinelli jerked his thumb over his shoulder and allowed that Amoros was out. Durocher simmered down. Dodger Manager Alston kicked up a brief fuss just for the record.

Neat Squeeze. Alston's big moment came later, in the last of the eighth. Now the Giants were ahead 5-4. The Dodgers had men on first and third--one out. At the plate, Jackie Robinson laid down a neat bunt to squeeze Runner Don Zimmer home. But Zimmer hesitated on the base path, playing it safe. Steaming across the infield, First Baseman Whitey Lockman scooped up the ball and whipped it home. "Yer out!" screamed Pinelli. "Yer crazy!" yowled Alston. And with half his team's help, he played some colorful variations on the same theme. "You too," said Pinelli, and Alston departed for the evening.

The game was over anyway. Willie Mays's fine shoestring catch, which made it official, was something of an anticlimax. The Dodgers, with the problem of stretching their winning streak finally behind them, could settle down for the long season's scramble for the pennant.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.