Familiar Faces

The young season usually belongs to the rookies, but last week's baseball heroes were three old pros:

WARREN SPAHN, at 40, knows as well as the batters that his once-adequate fast ball has lost its zip; and the power-packed Milwaukee Braves rarely hit well for him --they have given him just nine runs in four games this year. Still Spahn wins, and he sets some sort of record every time he does.* Fortnight ago, the hawk-nosed lefthander pitched a no-hitter, his second since last September, against the San Francisco Giants--a team that has been held hitless only three times since 1900. "Ridiculous," said Spahn afterward. "I go 15 years before I get a no-hitter. Then, bingo, I've got two." Last week Spahn pitched against the tough Los Angeles Dodgers, a team he had not beaten since 1958. He allowed just two hits--a bloop double in the third inning, a two-out single in the ninth--got three hits himself, scored two runs, struck out nine and won, 4-1.

MICKEY MANTLE was off to his best spring since 1956--when he led the American League in batting, home runs and RBIs. He ran up a 16-game hitting streak, was batting a lusty .329, and his nine home runs and 24 RBIs topped both leagues. He had personally accounted for seven of the Yankees' thirteen victories. Against the Detroit Tigers, Mantle hit a lefthanded homer to tie the score in the eighth inning; he hit a righthanded homer to win the game in the tenth. Against Cleveland, he drove in the winning run with a seventh-inning triple, saved the Yankee victory with an improbable, acrobatic catch in the ninth. Last week at Minnesota, Mantle won a game again, with a 430-ft. grand-slam home run in the tenth inning.

WILLIE MAYS, the cheerful, carefree rookie of 1951, now a hardened, introspective veteran of 30, had something to worry about. He had failed to get a hit in eight straight times at bat; his average had dropped to .290. When Warren Spahn, on the way to his no-hitter, carelessly fed Mays a fat pitch, Willie meekly grounded back to the box. "I was in deep," said Willie, "and I thought I was going deeper." Then, in another game against the Braves, Mays suddenly snapped out of his slump. Battering three Milwaukee pitchers, he became the ninth player in baseball history to hit four home runs in a single ball game (others: Lou Gehrig, Gil Hodges, Joe Adcock). In the process, Mays drove in eight runs, boosted his batting average to .333, helped the Giants set a National League record of 13 homers in two consecutive games and tie the record of eight for a single contest. Said Mays: "I was just up there swinging."

* Spahn's records: most games won (291) and most shutouts (52) by a National League left hander; most years leading league in games won (7); most years of 20 or more wins by a left hander (11). In addition, Spahn holds the Na tional League lifetime record for home runs hit by a pitcher (26).

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