Tale of Two Cities

Philadelphia and Baltimore are only 100 miles apart along the Pennsylvania Railroad, but they were connected by a far stronger bond last week--one loud, anguished wail. As any student of ancient history will recall, both cities had pennants all locked up by mid-August: the Phils led the National League by four games, and the Orioles led the American by three. But last week the staggering Phils, who had since built up their lead to 62, were fighting for their lives, and the Birds had tumbled right out of the nest.

It was a long fall--and fast. Hank Bauer's Orioles simply lost 13 out of 26 games, while the New York Yankees were winning 19 out of 22, including the last eleven in a row. After a listless sojourn in third place, Yogi Berra's pinstriped legions sniffed the green stuff and snapped to attention. So lame that his teammates winced every time he hit the ball, Mickey Mantle, that matchless pro, was still batting .303, with 33 homers and 102 R.B.I.s. Catcher Elston Howard went on a sudden streak, hitting safely in twelve straight games, and Roger Maris perked up remarkably (five homers in the last nine games) when he read that "Yankee sources" were hinting at a trade. Up from Richmond (somebody is always coming up from Richmond) came Rookie Pitcher Mel Stottlemyre, 22, to win nine crucial games, including the eleventh in the Yank streak, a two-hit shutout during which he personally outdid Washington batsmen with five singles, two R.B.I.s. Over from Cleveland came Pedro Ramos, the Cuban "palm-bailer," meaning spit-bailer: he won one game and saved five others--including two against Cleveland last week.

Four games back of New York at week's end, Baltimore had done its best to back out of a pennant. The Phils were doing their best to back in. In first place for 123 out of 156 games so far this season, they were still on top, but barely. The Phils lost eight out of ten games, saw their lead shrink to a half-game over the red-hot (ten victories in their last eleven games) Cincinnati Reds, 1 1/2 over the St. Louis Cardinals. With six more to play, two of them with the Reds and three with the Cards, Philadelphia Manager Gene Mauch was running short of fingernails. "They say we're tense," he growled. "They'll bite those words." Baltimore's Bauer, of course, was considerably more relaxed. "What do you do now?" somebody asked after the Orioles committed two errors, booted a game 10-3. "Get drunk," said Bauer candidly.

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