THE BRAVES AT THE WIRE

September 08, 1958

Odds-on favorite to win the National League pennant before the first ball was pitched last April, the Milwaukee Braves have run a curiously powerful race—like a horse who is pounds better than his rivals but doesn't bother showing his superiority until he reaches the far turn. Lightly weighted San Francisco sprinted fast from the barrier and kept head to head with Milwaukee all the way around through July—much, much farther than anyone really expected. Then the Braves moved, beating the Giants four straight in Milwaukee early in August, opening the race up for the first time. The Giants hung on hopefully but, last week in San Francisco, the Braves, playing now with all the fine strength of a beautifully balanced ball club, walloped the Giants again, four times in five games, to reach their high point of the season. Pittsburgh's Pirates moved past the Giants and made their own challenging run at Milwaukee, but the Braves were far down the stretch and approaching the wire, looking back over their shoulders, looking so good that the New York World-Telegram's Dan Daniel, a baseball writer for nearly 50 years and an unabashed admirer of the New York Yankees, wrote that if the World Series were to begin now, "the Braves would be 2-1 over the Bombers."