Word: dodgerism
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this time piling in under the bag with a neat hook slide. The rest was easy. A Dodger batsman lifted a pop fly to short centerfield, and Wills came scooting home -again beating the throw-with the run that not only won the game, but for the first time this year put the Dodgers alone at the top of the National League...
...give him a chance to top even Cobb's record. Says Alston: "He's the greatest base stealer I've seen in the majors.'' Green Light for Go. The son of a Washington, D.C.. Baptist preacher. Wills spent nine years rattling around the Dodger farm system before the parent team brought him up to stay...
...performance put him far ahead of such former Dodger stars as Pee Wee Reese (30 bases in 1952) and Jackie Robinson (37 bases in 1949). Last year Manager Alston held null back by letting him run only on signals-Wills still stole 35 bases to lead the league. This year, says Wills, "I have the green light to run when I please.'1 And with a respectable .269 batting average (74 hits, all but eleven of them singles), the light goes on often...
...says Wills, "I've taken two extra steps." He wastes no time trying to taunt a pitcher-"I don't wanna be a jumpin' jack. If I rile those pitchers, they'll be more anxious to get me than the batter." Even so. says Dodger Vice President Fresco Thompson, Wills's mere presence on base "can raise the batting average of the man behind him in the line-up by 20 or 30 points." Explosion of Dust. It can also be considerably disconcerting to opposing infielders. Some runners start their slide halfway down the base...
...performance came in New York recently in a game with the Mets. Four times in that single game he stole second base-though only three of the steals went into the record books. His first time on base he stole second, but the umpire nullified the play because the Dodger batter had interfered with the catcher. Wills did not argue. He simply trotted back to first and stole again two pitches later...