Word: cincinnati
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Dates: during 1950-1959
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Talent, Not Tactics. Cincinnati fans knew Birdie as a hustling, 14-year veteran of major-league catching. They had heard of him as a scrappy American League catcher (Detroit, Boston, Cleveland) who hated to come out second best in anything-a ball game, an argument with an umpire, a. conversation with a friend. They called him "Most Voluble Player in the Majors," but he had had only one short summer of seasoning as a minor-league manager. It was hard to believe that he knew enough tactics to manage a major-league club...
...Redlegs spent two seasons learning to make the inches work for them, then last year inched their way to within two games of the pennant (and the Dodgers). Cincinnati fans recognized the new spirit early in the season, and it was catching. Operating with gay abandon, the fans stuffed ballot boxes so enthusiastically that when the All-Star game was held in July, five of the National League starters wore Redleg uniforms...
Third Baseman Don Hoak, who was ready to quit baseball when the Chicago Cubs sent him to Cincinnati this season, remembers how Birdie took him aside in spring training and said: "You just can't hit .215 and play in the big leagues. Now you're going to do things my way and see how we make out." Hoak has been making out so well that he is third in the league in Runs Batted In (49). Says he: "Birdie's the guy who helped me-the helpful little things, the kind of little things that...
...Game of Momentum. This year, if ever, Birdie has reason to concentrate on baseball. Cincinnati fans have already decided that the pennant is in the bag. They are so proud of their team that they have stuffed the All-Star ballot boxes so full that the All-Star game voting (which picks every starter except the pitchers) has been reduced to a patriotic absurdity. The poll count decreed that the National League start Cincinnati Redlegs at every position except first base. There, St. Louis' sturdy oldtimer Stan Musial managed to stand off the Redlegs' rooters. Though the balloting...
...surprise," says Birdie, "is the Philadelphia club. Everybody expected that Cincinnati and St. Louis would have a chance to win, and Brooklyn and Milwaukee were the favorites. Now the season is almost half over and it still looks like a five-club race. Oh, the Phils have got great young pitching. The Cardinals could win it too; they've come up with young pitchers that have been tremendous for them. The Braves, they got the equipment. The most powerful ball club is ours or Milwaukee, and ours is the best defensive club. It's a tough league...