Word: skillfulness
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Dates: during 1950-1959
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...Using all his carefully controlled skill against the league-leading Dodgers, Robin Roberts, best right-hander of the feeble fourth-place Phillies, beat big Don Newcombe, 3-2, and became the first major-league pitcher to win 20 games this season...
...Indians, also hurting for pitchers, thought they were home free when they bought Sal ("The Barber") Maglie from the beaten New York Giants. But The Barber has been taking a trimming in the American League. His new teammates have been leaning with much more assurance on the batting skill of another oldtimer, Outfielder Hoot Evers, 34, bought from the Baltimore Orioles just last month (after a fading career with Detroit, Boston and the Giants). With a couple of timely homers, Evers helped the Indians recover first place after the near-disastrous week that saw them lose three straight games...
...Swift Skill. Slim and lively as a weasel for all his 40 years, Jean Urruty is a past master at grand chistera. Next to the husky Spaniards in their rose-colored shirts, Urruty and his teammates looked a little too frail for so tough a game, but the very first serve dispelled any Basque doubts. Urruty bounced the pelota, caught it in his chistera and slung it against the wall with whiplash speed. There was a sharp, dry crack, and the ball had bounced back 60 yards. The Spaniards were already on the defensive...
Such swift skill is the product of long practice. As a ten-year-old choir boy in the tiny Basque town of Saint-Palais, Jean Urruty was already a promising pelotari. Sunday mornings, after Mass, his priest would take him to the local court for an hour-long workout at main nue. At 14, he quit school to become a carpenter's apprentice, but his heart was still at the fronton. French Tennis Champion Jean ("The Bounding Basque") Borotra, a fine pelotari himself, took the youngster under his wing, brought him to Paris and taught him tennis. Urruty...
...troubles. Out of long experience. Manager Walter ("Smokey") Alston knew just how to discipline Big Don Newcombe when he kicked up a fuss about pitching batting practice (TIME, May 23); Big Newk has been pitching (18 won, i lost) and hitting (.376 at week's end) with astonishing skill ever since. With Pee Wee Reese, Junior Gilliam and Carl Furillo all doing their share, there is hardly a chance that the team can pick up its old habit of relaxing and folding in the stretch. Above all, Campy is back in shape. For two weeks the Dodgers fretted while...