Signs of Spring

Can Mickey make it? Does life begin at 38? Will the Brat and the Professor come to blows? Can Super Jew and No Neck survive the jug test? Those were the weighty, provocative questions confronting every red-blooded American last week. It was that time again, and Poet Don Marquis was probably right when he rhapsodized: "Oh, what the hell, it's spring." Marquis, of course, was not a baseball fan.

The season's start was still three weeks away, but in New York, Mickey Mantle's conversion from outfielder to first baseman--and his subsequent stop of a sizzling grounder in an exhibition game--competed for attention with President Johnson's return from Guam. Column after column chronicled the comeback attempt of Yankee Pitcher Whitey Ford, 38, who underwent surgery for a circulatory blockage after a sorry 2-5 season in 1966. Ford was not going to sign his 1967 contract until he tested his repaired arm in spring training; the World Champion Baltimore Orioles bombed him for nine hits and five runs in three innings, but against the Los Angeles Dodgers, Whitey went five innings and allowed just one run. So Ford signed for $65,000.

There were all sorts of ways to get into print. Eddie ("the Brat") Stanky, manager of the Chicago White Sox, did it by trading insults with Casey ("the Professor") Stengel. Stanky was plumping for a new rule that would permit the same pinch hitter to appear more than once in a game; Stengel called the proposal "a farce," and Stanky retorted: "I don't make rules for farces, no matter what any 75-year-old expert says." Stengel is 76.

Finally, there were the rookies; and their flirtation with fame may very well end as soon as the pitchers throw them a few "jugs"--curves. But so far, at least, the 1967 harvest looks like a bumper crop.

The White Sox are singing the praises of Walter ("No Neck") Williams, a runty (5 ft. 6 in.) outfielder who hit .330 through four minor-league seasons. The Red Sox are high on Outfielder Reggie Smith, last year's batting champion (at .320) in the Class AAA International League.

Baltimore Manager Hank Bauer may have the drop on the rest of the rookie crew with California's Mike ("Super Jew") Epstein, who stands 6 ft. 3 1/2 in., weighs 238 Ibs., has a Star of David stenciled on his glove and can belt a baseball clear out of sight. The only trouble Hank has with Mike is carrying on a conversation. Mike, who studies social psychology in the offseason, likes to quote Socrates, Shakespeare and Ralph Waldo Emerson; even when he is talking baseball, he tosses off such words as indigenous and meaningfulness. Bauer finally had to take him to task. "Don't give me none of your high-falutin talk," he ordered, "I can't understand you." Which might get to be a problem if Mike passes the jug test.

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