Yank Gets Started

The moment a sandlotter whistles his first line drive over the infield and into the magical gulch of clean base hits, he dreams secret dreams. He sees himself doing the same thing later in places like Yankee Stadium, N.Y., N.Y. It's a sweet dream, and many get the call—but few get to the stadium. Sometimes, though, it really does happen.

As the minor leagues start their season, an 18-year-old catcher—Travis Rayborn from Mississippi—will begin to work his way there, in the slow, farm-system fashion. The octopuslike scouting staff of the Yanks dug him out of Lumberton; he's their property now, and he's listed as a catcher for Monroe, Cotton States League, Class C. (Two of his teammates will be Mickey Mantle's young twin brothers, Ray and Roy.) The step up from sandlotter to pro is a pretty big one, but Travis isn't awed. He's on a nice even keel about it; he doesn't overestimate himself but he doesn't underestimate, either.

"I hustle hard on a field," he says, very unblinkingly, "and I always had a strong arm. But I'm kind of slow—run 100 in 11 and a half. Don't think I'll ever be a real long ball hitter, but I do bust one now and then. That high inside pitch gives me a lot of trouble."

THERE WERE GOOD REASONS

To hear Travis talk about himself you'd almost wonder what made the Yanks hunt him out. But there were good reasons for it.

He started to play ball in grammar school at Baxterville, 10 miles from Lumberton. It was a country school of no more than 100 students, and it didn't even have a coach. Turning out a team was a case of every man for himself. However, everyone wanted Travis to pitch, which he did.

"At that time," he says, "I didn't even know there was such a thing as pro ball. I didn't find out about it until I got up to seventh grade and heard a program called Game of the Day on Mutual."

Being so completely ignorant of the existence of the Joe DiMaggios and the Stan Musials, Travis couldn't imitate anyone. He had to be just plain Travis. And, according to a famous ex-Cotton States first baseman named Cotton Tatum who now runs a gas station in Lumberton, Travis has remained exactly that. A quality, no doubt, that the Yanks liked in him.

In high school he had a coach, Jack Waters. It was his coach who first told him he was a catcher. Then he started to play American Legion junior ball, too. He still pitched sometimes, but mostly he caught. He got voted the Most Outstanding Player in Mississippi Legion ball in both '53 and '54. No wonder—consider what happened when his club, the Barrons, took the state title in four straight in '53.

Travis caught the first game, pitched the second, caught the third and then pitched the clincher. He hit .578 for the series (let Dusty Rhodes top that) and got the Barrons off to a nice start in the opener against Meridian. He came to bat in the last of the ninth with the Barrons losing 8-6 but two men on base.