Word: redleg
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Dates: during 1957-1957
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Last week, in the sleeveless flannels of a Cincinnati Redleg, Donald Albert Hoak, 29, was the man whom opposing National League pitchers wished most they could knock down. He was near the top of the National League with a .358 batting average, running the bases with happy belligerence, and defending third base with almost errorless skill. Cincinnati has seen nothing like him since Third Baseman Billy Werber drifted in from the American League in 1939 and fired the Reds to two pennants...
...credit for his current success, says Hoak, belongs to one man: Redleg Manager Birdie Tebbetts. Like everyone else who has seen Don play since he left the sandlots of Roulette, Pa., Birdie recognizes the signs of greatness. But unlike Don's earlier managers, Birdie knows how to help his man use all his talent all the time. "The big thing about Birdie," says Third Baseman Hoak, "is that he won't let his ballplayers build up pressure. Besides changing my stance at the plate, he cut down my swing and has me moving around more in the batter...
...National League, St. Louis downed first-place Cincinnati 9 to 6, thus reducing the Redleg's margin to two games...
Hoak's Hoakum. Cincinnati's Don Hoak was first to set the rule writers working. Leading off second in a game with the Milwaukee Braves, Base Runner Hoak started for third when Cincinnati's Wally Post laced a grounder to short. Redleg Gus Bell, who had been holding first, took off for second. With his sharp infielder's eye, Hoak recognized the setup for an almost certain double play. With his sure infielder's hands he fielded the ball, tossed it to the Braves' astonished shortstop, Johnny Logan. "Hit" by a batted ball, Hoak...