Head Start

Veteran Outfielder Johnny Lindell thought he had the word for the surprising early-season form of the New York Yankees : rhythm. "When the batters are cold, the pitchers are hot, and vice versa." Manager Casey Stengel admitted, in an ecstatic sort of way, that he was baffled. Instead of falling on their faces without the ailing Joe DiMaggio, the Yankees headed west this week after one of their best starts in years: ten wins in 13 games, and with a line-up composed largely of guys named Elmer.

Still in the dugout at week's end was such costly talent as ailing Clouter Charlie Keller, Pitcher Bob Porterfield and Second Baseman Snuffy Stirnweiss, not to mention DiMag himself. Watching their understudies paste the ball lopsided, some Yankee veterans seemed almost resigned to bench-warming. To cap it all, the Yanks were getting fine pitching: Vic Raschi and Ed Lopat had won three each.

One reason for the club's success was the inspired playing of a graceful, young (24) rookie second baseman named Jerry Coleman. An ex-Marine pilot who flew 57 strikes in the South Pacific, modest Jerry Coleman hit a modest .251 with Newark last year. During the winter to build himself up, he swung an overweighted bat in the cellar of his San Francisco home, faithfully executed 25 pushups morning & night. At week's end, Coleman had hit safely in seven consecutive games, had a fat .400 average. That was not as good as Rookie Johnny Groth's .439 for the Detroit Tigers; Groth, who had been picked in spring training as the most likely candidate for rookie-of-the-year (TIME, March 28), was leading the league. But the relatively unsung Coleman was runner-up. Moreover, the Yankees had a rookie first baseman, Dick Kryhoski, who was hitting .375, and a pair-of third basemen, Bobby Brown and Billy Johnson who were belting the ball at .350 and .321.

Obviously, it was too good to last; in another month, opposing pitchers would know what to deal the upstarts to cool off their hitting. But by that time, Manager Stengel might be able to toss in DiMaggio and Keller. Last week, just eleven days after the season opened, "Old Case" announced: "This may be just a swallow. . . but I'm going to win the pennant."

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