Rap on the Knuckles

"It's a good thing the Yankees are here," said Third Baseman Ken Boyer of the St. Louis Cardinals. "This wouldn't seem like the World Series without them." Sure the Yankees were there. They always are: 15 times in the last 18 years.

The Cards were the surprise. A month before, they were 81 games out of first place, and Owner Gussie Busch had already lined up Leo Durocher to replace sad-faced Manager Johnny Keane. Now, so the story went, Beer Baron Busch was paying Durocher $100,000 just to stay away from the ballpark.

Off the Fists. After the first game, the Yanks wished they had stayed home too. "Damn," complained Pitcher Whitey Ford, watching the Cards take batting practice in Busch Stadium. "They're hitting them into the stands off their fists." The Yankees had all kinds of complaints: the dirt was too hard, the wind too strong, the fences too short, and the outfield grass looked as though it had been mowed with mortar shells. In the second inning, Rightfielder Mickey Mantle proved that his throwing arm was good as ever--by firing the ball clear into the grandstand on a play at the plate. Leftfielder Tommy Tresh misplayed an easy liner into a triple, Catcher Elston Howard was charged with two passed balls, and Third Baseman Clete Boyer watched a grounder trickle right between his legs--prompting a friendly note from Brother Ken: "No. 6, watch out for those hops. (Signed) No. 14." Cardinal Outfielder Mike Shannon put the finishing touch on a 9-5 St. Louis victory with a 500-ft. homer that clipped the leftfield scoreboard--between the B and the U in BUDWEISER. Said Shannon modestly: "I just closed my eyes and swung."

By the time the second game was over, the Yankees were a whole lot happier: they had an 8-3 victory, a two-game total of 24 hits (two more than they got in the whole 1963 series against the Los Angeles Dodgers), and a fantastic team batting average of .325. What's more, they were going home to cavernous Yankee Stadium. Said Pitcher Ford: "The Cards will die in Dead Man's Gulch." But the Cards had something going for them, too: a retired stripper in Venice, Fla., named Fifi LaTour, who had been sending them postcards all season long predicting that they would win the pennant. Now Fifi was phoning in her World Series forecast. "She says we won't come back from New York," exulted a Cardinal. "She says we'll win it there."

On the Horns. The Cards certainly did try. After 8 1/2 innings, the two teams were locked in a tight, 1-1 pitching duel. Then Cardinal Starter Curt Simmons gave way to Reliefer Barney Schultz, an ancient knuckleballer who had knocked around 19 teams in 21 years. Up came Mickey Mantle, whose second error of the Series had set up the lone St. Louis run. "I was wearing the horns," said Mantle afterward. "I had to do something." Schultz threw--a knuckle ball that didn't quite knuckle. Mantle swung--and hammered a drive that was still climbing when it bounced off the upper deck, 400 ft. away. And the Yankees took the lead in the Series, two games to one.

Fifi? Say something, Fifi.

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