Fireworks Factory

It came at the beginning of spring--a faint rustle of interest after years of bored silence. As the season drew on, the clap-clap-clapping for a rally that once quickly faded began echoing through the ballpark in confident, continuing waves. By last week fans who had not bothered to see a game since Walter ("Big Train") Johnson retired in 1927 were hurrying to Griffith Stadium in time for batting practice, and dazzled team officials were saying that attendance for the year would be up 40%. The Washington Senators, long known for patty-ball hitting, were flashing the most exciting attack in baseball, a latter-day "murderers' row"* of strong silent men determined to shatter every home-run record in the game.

Downstairs & Upstairs. Starting the second half of the season, Washington led the majors in home runs (107), had a good chance of breaking the American League record of 190 set by the Yankees in 1956, and, with luck, might even top the majors' record of 221 set by the New York Giants in 1947 and equaled by the Cincinnati Reds in 1957. Twice last week Washington crashed three home runs in a single game. The amazing part of it all is that the Senators are challenging records set by teams loaded with power from top to bottom. But for Washington this year the muscle comes almost entirely from four men, all righthanders:

> Rookie Centerfielder Bob Allison, 25, handsome, hustling former fullback for the University of Kansas who once swung "like an old lady," according to Manager Cookie Lavagetto, but now has grooved his power so smoothly that he is dubbed "Mr. Downstairs" for his line-drive home runs, stands third in the league with 22.

> Third Baseman Harmon ("The Killer") Killebrew, 22 (TIME, May 25), the sturdy (6 ft., 195 Ibs.) youngster from Idaho with the massive shoulders who does not make the new boy's mistake of guessing at pitches. He is "Mr. Upstairs" for the towering drives that put him first in the majors with home runs (30), first in the league with runs batted in (75).

> First Baseman Roy ("Squirrel") Sievers, 32, leading home-run slugger in Senators' history with 159 home runs in five years. Back and arm injuries have held his homer production to 10, but now he is in shape and at full power.

> Leftfielder Jim Lemon. 31, a long and lean slugger (6 ft. 4 in.. 205 Ibs.) who finally shortened his gargantuan batting stride, is tied for fourth in homers (21), stands fifth in runs batted in (61).

"Those Long Knockers." What makes the feats even more impressive is Griffith Stadium's pasturelike outfield. There are no near fences to invite Chinese home runs; leftfield is 350 ft. away, centerfield 401 ft., rightfield 320 ft. Faced with this expanse--and a considerable lack of talent--Washington's late owner, Clark ("The Old Fox") Griffith, relied on bunts, slap-singles and speed on the base paths. Legend has it that Griffith watered the infield to slow bunts to an unplayable dawdle, even slanted first base downhill to benefit his sprinters. One vestige of Griffith's parsimonious reign: the four sluggers earn some $66,000 (Killebrew gets around $8,000) all told v. $80,000 for the Yankees' Mickey Mantle alone.

Spotty pitching and butterfingered fielding still keep the Senators in the second division, but no one takes liberties any longer. Says Yankee Manager Casey Stengel: "You can't fool with those long knockers; it's like you keep lighting matches in a fireworks factory."

The surest measure of the new sluggers comes from Washington's small-fry fans. In the free-trading market of bubble-gum baseball cards, a single Mantle or Ted Williams used to command seven lesser players. Last week a card-swapping youngster firmly announced the new prices: "I'll give 20 for one of Killebrew." What about Allison? "Twenty, too," he said, "but nobody's got any."

* Baseball's most famed "murderers' row": the 1927 New York Yankee line-up of Earle Combs, Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Bob Meusel and Tony Lazzeri.

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