National League Baseball

A few seconds past 2:30 p.m. this Monday afternoon in Crosley Field in Cincinnati a young man—named Fowler, perhaps, or Nuxhall, or maybe Valentine or Baczewski or Podbielan—dressed in cleated shoes, flannel knickers, a peaked cap and a shirt bearing a scarlet letter "C" over the left breast, will stand for a moment on a low, hard-packed mound of dirt in the middle of a green square of grass, take a deep breath and then, with a violent twisting of his body, throw a baseball.

In that moment the 80th season of play for the National League of Professional Baseball Clubs will begin. One hundred and sixty-eight days later, on Sunday, September 25, it will end. In between, things will happen.

For instance, Monday night after the first game, barring snow, cold weather or rain, either the Cincinnati Redlegs or the Chicago Cubs will be in first place in the National League—since the rest of the teams in the league do not start play until the next day and will therefore remain in a faceless six-way tie for second place overnight. This is a small thing, to be in first place Opening Day, but it will be welcome in Cincinnati or Chicago because the chances that the Redlegs or the Cubs will be in first place on September 25 are nowhere near as certain, though in Cincinnati they gaze upon Ted Kluszewski's muscles (top left) and dream.

They dream of Kluszewski's muscles in New York, too, but there the dream is not a pleasant one. Kluszewski's biceps, Frank Smith's pitching arm (second from top), Roy Campanella's once lame but now healed left hand (third from top) and Bobby Thomson's once broken but now mended right ankle (bottom) are significant parts of the league-wide armament trained on the champion New York Giants.

Kluszewski symbolizes the awesome hitting of the pitcher-shy Redlegs, who do not expect to win the pennant but who will win many games from those who do, including the Giants .

Relief Pitcher Smith is the hope of the St. Louis Cardinals, whose batting is strong but whose pitching leaked last year. If Smith can hold the late-inning leads the Cardinals lost last year, the way of the Giants will be harder still.

Catcher Campanella hit .312 for the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1953 when they won the pennant. An operation last spring left his hand weak, his batting average weaker (.207) and the Dodgers a destitute second. If Campanella is strong again the Dodgers feel they will be ready for sweet, crushing revenge on the Giants . Outfielder Thomson was obtained last year by the Milwaukee Braves to drive in runs, say about 100. Instead he broke his ankle and drove in 15. If his ankle and his runs-batted-in are right again, the pitcher-rich Braves will be in an enviable position and the Giants will lose sleep.

PASSPORT TO OBLIVION

But despite all—bicep, arm, hand and ankle—the Giants are still the best team in the League and the most likely occupants of first place that Sunday evening in September. The Dodgers used to be the best team—were from 1949 until early last summer when they lost six straight games to the Giants and with them their crown and scepter.

The Dodgers won three pennants in that time and barely missed two others (they were second by two games in 1950, second by one in 1951). And last season, almost by habit, they finished second again, only five games behind.