BASEBALL

Early Birds

The last time the Baltimore Orioles won a big-league pennant was in 1896. For all anyone knew at season's start, it might be 1996 before they won another. There was a flutter of hope around the fringes of Chesapeake Bay last month when the Orioles rattled off nine straight victories and jumped into the American League lead. But then they lost five in a row, and, sure enough, there came the New York Yankees to trample Baltimore's last brief song of spring. Only it didn't work out that way. When the stands finally emptied and the smoke cleared over Memorial Stadium last week, the early-bird Orioles had taken two out of three from the world-champion Yanks and were still nesting at the top of the American League-12 games in front.

One Mistake. The first game could hardly have been closer. Yankee Pitcher Ralph Terry made only one mistake: he threw a gopher ball to Baltimore's John ("Boog") Powell, who poked it out of the park. One for the Orioles, 3-1. "I like hitting home runs," said Powell, a still-sprouting lad of 21 who stands 6 ft. 3 in. and weighs 235 Ibs. "It gives me a good feeling." Next night, nobody felt very good. The game was delayed more than an hour by rain. Butter-fingered Baltimore Catcher Dick Brown twice dropped the ball on plays at the plate, and Manager Billy Hitchcock got thumbed to the showers for kicking dirt on Plate Umpire Joe Paparella's pants. The Yankees squared the series with a gift 4-3 victory, but it was a bad bargain: Mickey Mantle was seriously injured (see below).

And then came the rubber game. Pitching for the Orioles was ancient (36) Robin Roberts, who was released by the Yankees after a short trial last year. For seven innings the Yankees ate crow-not Oriole-as Roberts struck out three, walked none, scattered six hits and brilliantly protected a 2-1 lead.

But then, alas, the Yanks tied it in the eighth, and a deep sigh went up from the fans. Everyone knows who always wins in the clutch: the Yanks. But not this time. Yankee Pitcher Stan Williams walked the first Oriole in the bottom half of the eighth. There was a brisk little flurry of grounders and singles; and when the Yanks opened their eyes, they were on a plane out of town, wondering how come they had lost, 4-2.

Starters & Sluggers. Who knows? The 1963 Orioles just might be for real. They are certainly far from the night-blooming playboys who wound up seventh in the ten-team American League last year. On their early form, the Orioles have speed on the bases, sure hands in the field, power at the plate-and the classiest pitching staff in baseball. Robin Roberts, who can look back on 15 seasons and 248 victories, now has won four out of his last five games. Steve Barber, 24, a onetime wild man whose fast ball was clocked at 95.5 m.p.h., has acquired a change-up, tamed his "hummer," and leads the league with nine victories. Milt Pappas, 24, a disappointment last year at 12-10, is 4-2 so far, and his earned-run average is an impressive 2.47. Last but not least, there is Relief Pitcher Wes Stock, 29, whose won-lost record (5-0) is not only the best on the team, but the best in the American League.

Managers like to say that pitching is 75% of the game-but the other 25% scores the runs. Last year's Orioles led the American League in being shut out (16 times), ranked second in strikeouts and third in grounding into double plays. Came the winter trading season, and the Orioles persuaded the Chicago White Sox to part with two oldtimers: Shortstop Luis Aparicio, 29, and Outfielder Al Smith, 35. "We made that trade for one reason and one reason only-to make a run for the pennant this year," says one Oriole executive. So far. Smith has seven homers; Aparicio has 16 stolen bases (tops in both leagues), and last week he scored the run that clinched the series with the Yankees.

The oldtimers' heroics are catching. Third Baseman Brooks Robinson, always one of the league's best glovemen, has suddenly blossomed into a power hitter: .299 average, 32 RBls. When he is not kicking over water coolers, terrible-tempered First Baseman Jim Gentile is rocketing liners over distant fences, has nine homers already. At week's end the Orioles ranked third in hitting (.251) and second in home runs (55). As Manager Hitchcock says, "We're not a team of stars. Everyone seems to be getting the big base hit when we need it."

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