Pitching Pays

Thoughtfully shifting his cud of tobacco, John Sain wound up and fired in the first pitch. Big John, a boy from Arkansas, retired the first three Cleveland Indians in order. Whatever hopes the underdog Boston Braves had of winning the first World Series game were pinned on his strong right arm. At $35,000 a year, he was the National League's highest paid player.

Then Bob Feller, carrying no tobacco but more dough (the American League's highest paid player, at $87,000), strode stiff-legged to the mound. At 29, Fireball Bob, like Sain, was pitching his first World Series game. Down went the first three Boston Braves in order.

For nine innings at Braves Field, a crowd of 40,135 sat spellbound by the tightest World Series pitchers' duel since Art Nehf beat Sad Sam Jones in 1923. Sain kept feeding the Indians big, jug-handle curves, interspersed with little curves, until they were fit to be tied. His control was uncanny; he allowed four hits and not one walk. Feller, who pitched a two-hitter, gave up three bases on balls, which led to his undoing. He lost a heartbreaker, 1-0.

Silent Bats. It went on like that for four days: good pitching and terrible hitting. Cleveland's brilliant southpaw Rookie Gene Bearden, shutting out the Braves (2-0), only twice let the count go to three balls on any Boston batter. Knuckle-bailer Steve Gromek, who out-pitched Sain in the fourth game (2-1), gave only one base on balls. The 1948 World Series was in danger of being remembered only for precision pitching. Grantland Rice called it the Series of silent bats. Disgusted fans and sportwriters complained that it was the dullest World Series in memory. What many wanted were baseballs rattling off the fences.

They got them on the fifth day, when the silent bats finally spoke. Boston hit three home runs, to the alarm of Clevelanders in the largest crowd (86,288) to watch a baseball game anywhere, any time. Boston batters, who at one stretch had gone 23 consecutive innings without scoring a run, got six in the seventh inning. They won the game, 11-5. Head down, Bob Feller walked to the showers, the first Cleveland pitcher to be shelled from the box.

Heart & Brain. That game put the Boston Braves back in the running, but not for long; they were obviously outclassed. What they lacked, among other things, was someone like tireless Lou Boudreau, the Indians' manager and shortstop, the man who would be most remembered in the 1948 Series. He was not only the brain of Cleveland's keyed-up baseball organism, he was also the heart of it. Boudreau's pick-off play (catching a runner off base) was easily the Series' most spectacular play, and an example of his drill-order perfectionism. The first time it was tried, Boudreau tagged Runner Phil Masi, and thought he had him (the pictures seemed to bear him out) but Umpire Bill Stewart called the runner safe.

Next day, when Boston's Earl Torge-son took a lead off second base, Boudreau again flashed the pick-off signal to the catcher. The catcher relayed it to Pitcher Lemon, who counted three, then wheeled suddenly and pegged the ball towards second. Boudreau, who was also counting to himself, got to the base as the ball did, and tagged Torgeson out.

At the end of Sunday's game, the Series stood at 3-2, with Cleveland needing one more victory to cinch the Series. In the dejected Cleveland dressing room (the Indians had lost that day), a reporter found Boudreau, asked him who would pitch next day. "It'll be Bob Lemon tomorrow," said Boudreau. "How about Tuesday?" Snapped Boudreau: "There'll be no game Tuesday." There wasn't either. Bob Lemon, with the help of Gene Bearden, finished off Boston (4-3).

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