Word: likes
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Dates: during 1950-1959
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...Little Leaguer. Not even the dedicated Ted Williams approaches the game with more diligence-or more confidence -than Rocky Colavito. a man who lives baseball with the intensity of a Little Leaguer. He mumbles over box scores like a scholar spelling out Sanskrit; he shuns movies on the day of a game for fear that they will dull his batting eye; he murmurs a quiet prayer every time he goes to the plate. He can hardly wait to get out to rightfield, where his throwing arm is baseball's strongest; he can hardly wait to get back...
...produce a balanced ball club. The Dodger pitching staff, founded on the cross-fired fast balls of young Don Drysdale, has become one of the best in the league. But the Dodgers will rise or fall in the stretch on the play of three old pros, who are hustling like sandlotters. On third, Junior Gilliam, 30, is having the best season of his seven-year major-league career (.312), has been on base in more than 95% of the games he has started. At 32, Outfielder Duke Sniders hair is grey, but his steel-blue eyes are as sharp...
...still has trouble solving fast balls tight and high and sliders that break away, still tries to kill the ball instead of just meeting it for base hits. "You might as well talk to a wall as to Rocky," complains Lane. "He'll 'yes' you like crazy, and go right on trying for home runs." Cracks a Yankee coach: "They don't call him Rocky for nothing...
...playing with a flair that stirs delight up in the stands. After one of his flat-trajectory throws from rightfield, the "ooh!" lingers for drawn-out seconds. And when Rocky hits the long one and starts his languorous lope around the bases ("Rocky runs around after hitting a homer like he was still tasting it," says a sportscaster), the cheers follow him into the dugout...
With new stars like Rocky Colavito coming of age this season, the game is stronger than it has been in years. Attendance is creeping up even in the minors, after a decade of hurtling down. This season, in fact, the fans are too busy following the action on the diamond to engage in the old lament of what's-wrong-with-baseball. This summer, nothing...