The Grand Old Arm

It was the second inning at Milwaukee's County Stadium, and the old man on the mound stared coldly at the old man in the batter's box--the Braves' Warren Spahn, 42, baseball's dean of pitchers, against the St. Louis Cardinals' Stan Musial, 42, who had just added Babe Ruth's extra-base hit record to the 54 other marks he holds or shares. Spahn wound up and threw. Crack! Thunk! Oof! A screaming line drive hit Spahn squarely in the belly. He staggered and fell. Somehow he picked up the ball and threw Musial out. He then paused briefly to catch his breath--and went on to beat Musial and the Cardinals, 4-3, driving in the winning run himself with a clutch single.

The victory last week was Spahn's 332nd, more than any lefthander in the history of baseball,* and his fifth of the young 1963 season. Better still, four of them were in April. "I've never started so well," he crowed. "I always try to pace myself. I figure to win four games in May, four more in June, and so on through September. That adds up to an even 20. Anything I win in April is gravy."

Easy to Hit? With or without gravy, Warren Spahn has been a 20-game winner in twelve of his 17 seasons in the majors. How does he do it? "For years, I've sat on the bench, waiting to bat, watching Spahn pitch," says the New York Mets' Gil Hodges. " 'He hasn't got a thing on the ball,' I tell myself. 'I can hit him easy.' Then I get up there and--well, you know the rest."

Actually, as pitchers' repertories go, Spahn's is fairly extensive. He has four basic pitches: a fast ball that sails upward as it nears the plate; a curve that breaks to his right; a screwball that breaks left; and a slider--a modified fast ball that veers slightly inside to a right-handed batter. Every pitch starts with precisely the same motion: a long, slow rock-back, a high fluid kick, and a flurry of arms and legs that "makes the ball look as though it is coming right out of my uniform." And then there is his control. "Home plate is 17 inches wide," he says. "But I ignore the middle 12 inches. I couldn't throw one down the pipe if I tried."

On Forever? Considering his $75,000-a-year salary, Spahn's left arm is the most costly appendage in baseball, but he treats it as if he had found it at a fire sale. Some sculptor is undoubtedly already carving a bust of him for the Hall of Fame, but Spahn does not think he is ready for the museum yet. "I'd like to win 400 games," he says. Only two pitchers--Walter Johnson and Cy Young--ever managed that. To win his 400, Spahn would need four more 20-game seasons. By then he would be 45.

* Next winningest: Eddie Plank (1901-17), with 325 for St. Louis and Philadelphia in the American League.

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