Buddy Gets Protection

Buddy Rosar was the envy of every catcher in the big leagues. Substituting as first-string backstop for the world-champion New York Yankees while Bill Dickey nursed a bad shoulder, Rosar was behind baseball's No. 1 plate--with $5,000 of World Series swag practically in his mitt. But Buddy, a law-abiding boy, had always wanted to be a cop in Buffalo, N.Y., his hometown. Last fortnight, on the eve of a doubleheader with the Chicago White Sox, Buddy Rosar shuffled off to Buffalo, where he took examinations for the police force (and where, also, his wife was about to have a baby).

When he rejoined his teammates three days later--all smiles and handing out cigars to celebrate the birth of a little Rosar--Catcher Rosar found that a potential policeman's lot was not a happy one. Manager McCarthy had not only fined him $250 for jumping the club but had hired rollicking Rollie Hemsley to take his place. Hemsley, recently cast off by the Cincinnati Reds for his dismal record of 13 hits in 115 times at bat this season, seemed an unlikely squat-in for Bill Dickey. But on his first day with the Yankees, catching all innings of a doubleheader on the hottest day of the year, Hemsley got five hits in eight times up. For the next five games in a row, he hit safely. By last week's end, bench-riding Buddy Rosar realized he was no longer the Yankee's first-string catcher. He sighed: "I did it for protection. Baseball is my meat and drink now, but no one can say when I'll go out there and meet with an accident that might end my baseball days."

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