Wynn of the Losers

A young team with a young franchise in a young stadium surprises no one when it stands ninth in the league; the Houston Astros might even be tenth in the National League if it weren't for the New York Mets. What is surprising about the Astros is a trio of young play ers who are among baseball's best per formers so far this season. Rightfielder Rusty Staub, 23, a onetime bonus baby, is finally giving the Astros a neat re turn on their $100,000 investment: he ranks fourth in the league in batting with an average of .330. Rookie Pitcher Don Wilson, 22, has won four games, and two weeks ago hurled a no-hitter against the Atlanta Braves -- the first in the Astrodome and the first by any Na tional League pitcher in two years. Then there is Jimmie Wynn.

At 5 ft. 9 in. and 168 Ibs., Centerfielder Wynn, 25, looks like the Houston bat boy -- until he swings a bat. Last month in St. Louis' Busch Stadium, Wynn became the third player in history (the others: Joe Torre and Willie Mays) to bounce a ball off the beer sign in left centerfield, 440 ft. from home plate. In Cincinnati, he hit two home runs over Crosley Field's 45-ft.-high Scoreboard -- one of which carried all the way onto an exit ramp of the Mill Creek Expressway, 500-odd ft.

away. Three weeks ago in the Astro-dome, which boasts the deepest fences in the big leagues, Jim clouted three consecutive homers against the San Francisco Giants -- each of which traveled at least 400 ft., unaided by wind (which never exceeds 1 m.p.h. in the enclosed stadium). Last week Wynn ranked second in the league in homers with 18, first in RBIs with 56.

Wynn's spectacular slugging is the more remarkable because doctors did not expect him to play at all this year --if ever again. In Philadelphia last August, pursuing a long drive, he crashed into the centerfield wall at full speed--smashing his left elbow and wrist. It took a 45-min. operation and five months in a cast to get his arm back into an approximation of its original shape. But now, says Wynn without the slightest taint of modesty, "I have all the tools to be a superstar." For starters, he has pledged to hit 30 homers, drive in 100 runs, and bat at least .300 this season. So far the only area in which Jim is falling short is his batting average. He's hitting only .278.

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