Word: platee
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Dates: during 1950-1959
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...Today occasional pitchers may still get away with an occasional outlawed spitter, but that dangerous pitch has all but vanished. Just about the only survival from baseball's rowdy youth is the "accidental" beanball, the close pitch that keeps a batter honest by forcing him back from the plate, that keeps him from taking a toehold and getting set to powder the ball. If the Phillies' Coach Whitlow Wyatt, who learned his baseball manners as one of Leo Durocher's Dodgers, had his way, Philly pitchers would put the brush-back pitch to constant use. "I think...
...from nerve-racking slumps. But throwing at a batter was unthinkable. Johnson never even waited for umpires to discard scuffed balls; as soon as he saw one he tossed it aside, for fear it might force him to throw his fast one wild and injure the man at the plate...
...better if Roberts were willing to throw a few close ones to keep hitters loose. But his opponents know that he won't, so they occasionally scrounge off him. They step into the batter's box with complete confidence that he will put the ball near the plate ("The inclination is just to say 'Strike! Strike! Strike!" says Umpire Jocko Conlon. "He's so close you gotta watch him like an eagle.") If the hitters happen to be hot, they can dig in and hammer him unmercifully. This refusal to throw anywhere but over the plate...
...mound and his reckless behavior on the base paths, he beat the league-leading Milwaukee Braves almost singlehanded, 2-1. He struck out ten men, allowed only eight hits, tore home from second on an eighth-inning infield single, slid head first into big Del Crandall at the plate, jarred the catcher loose from the ball and scored the run that tied up the game. When Roberts took his turn again, four days later, the red-hot sluggers of the Cincinnati Redlegs sighted in on his polite pitching and beat him handily, 5-1. There was never a sign...
...Roberts' attitude toward baseball. He loves every minute of the game. He is a better-than-average fielder, can knock down the line drives that whistle back from the batter's box, moves fast and surely to field bunts. Despite his dainty, mincing style at the plate, he is a competent (.250) switch-hitter. "I'm happy as can be out there," he says. "I enjoy all of it-fielding and swinging at bat and all that stuff. If you enjoy baseball and are out there playing when you're a kid, you can become...