The Pretenders

Once again, the reputation of the National League was safe. After five months and 800-odd games, the league was still struggling to find a champion all last week. Not that there was any dearth of pretenders.

First came the Los Angeles Dodgers, leading the Pittsburgh Pirates by three games with only five to play, thanks to Don Drysdale, who blanked the St. Louis Cardinals on four hits, 2-0--for his fourth straight victory and second straight shutout since suddenly coming to life after losing 16 of his first 25 decisions. Then the Dodgers really seemed to be pretending when they got blanked 2-0 themselves by a 22-year-old Cardinal rookie named Larry Jaster, whose only claim to fame is that he can't seem to lose to Los Angeles. He loses often enough to everybody else: so often, in fact, that the Cards shipped him to the minors for five weeks this spring. That shutout last week was Jaster's fifth straight against the Dodgers this season --which set a major-league record. "Unbelievable," said Jaster. "It's unbelievable that I could do something like that." True.

Sandy Koufax got the Dodgers back on the track by beating the Cards 2-1 for his 26th victory of the year. But meanwhile the Pirates were doing their best to prove that reports of their death were exaggerated. "Take the nails out of the coffin!" Manager Harry Walker shouted after Pittsburgh swept a doubleheader from the Philadelphia Phils and cut the Dodgers' lead to 1 1/2 games.

The real resurrection was yet to come. The San Francisco Giants were not only dead; they had been buried for a month. Still, Manager Herman Franks kept insisting: "I've got a funny feeling that we're going to win this thing." It didn't sound quite so funny after Juan Marichal ran his season's record to 25-6 by beating the Pirates 5-4 in the first half of a doubleheader in Pittsburgh. And it was anything but humorous when Bob Bolin pitched a one-hitter against the Pirates in the nightcap and shut them out 2-0--thereby embalming Pittsburgh and assuring the Dodgers of a tie for the pennant.

Well, a few things did come out nice and tidy last week. The New York Yankees clinched last place in the American League for the first time in 54 years. And the Chicago Cubs, managed by Leo Durocher, wound up in the National League cellar--thereby proving that it is not necessarily the nice guy who finishes last. Manager Hank Bauer of the American League champion Baltimore Orioles disproved another notion: that pay is related to performance. Bauer, who gave Baltimore its first pennant in 69 years, signed a new two-year contract for an estimated $50,000 a year--$25,000 less than the last-place Yanks pay their manager, Ralph Houk.

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