It's The Right Idea For Left

In his first full season, '79, Roenicke hit a surprising 25 homers. He did it while wearing half of a football face mask on his helmet after being hit below his nose by a pitch from Lerrin LaGrow in the second game of the season. He tried discarding it in 1980, but reconsidered because he found himself "bailing out on everything." He finally got rid of the mask last year. This year he got rid of his upright stance. And with his new style, his slugging percentage of .551 was eighth in the league.

As the leftfielder(s) go, so go the Orioles, who have been rising steadily in the AL East standings, from seventh on May 12 to third on Sunday. "This team is like my tomatoes," says Weaver. "In April and May, they're scrawny little things, barely sticking out of the ground. But by August and September, they could feed the whole blooming world." Weaver has a particularly nice patch in left.