Pound for Dollar

By the lineup, young (21) William Stanley Mazeroski is Pittsburgh's second baseman; in action, he seems determined to prove himself a one-man ball club. He ranges after flies as widely as any outfielder, charges bunts with such breakneck energy that sore-backed First-Baseman Ted Kluszewski is left lumbering in his wake. He handles the double-play with the swift hands of a professional pickpocket. "He doesn't catch that ball," says one of his fans. "He just guides it toward first base."

Almost by himself, Bill Mazeroski last week atoned for the Pirates' losing the first half of a doubleheader with Milwaukee, 7-4. Bill broke up the second game with his batting. He hit two doubles, two singles, scored three runs and batted in two, beat Milwaukee 12-6.

No Hands. The Mazeroski magic with glove and ball has the whole league beguiled. Even "No Hands" Mazeroski himself can produce no practical explanation of his liquid legerdemain at second. "I don't really consciously even throw to first base," said he. "I just throw. I guess after you've done it a few times you just naturally know where first base is."

If there is any secret to the perfection of his pivot play, it lies in his powerful forearms and wrists. He merely snaps the ball toward first with a quick flick. At the plate, too, his wrists do most of the work. Now that he has smoothed the hitch out of his snappy little swing, his average has been steadily rising. In 1956, his first year with the Pirates, he hit .243. Last summer he worked up to .293. So far this season he is batting .314.

Best Bargain. Like many another big-league ballplayer--Bob Feller, Mickey Mantle, Willie Mays--Bill Mazeroski benefits from an asset even more valuable than his own hard-muscled (5 ft. 11 1/2 in., 185 lbs.) frame: the ambitions of a baseball-frustrated father. Lewis Mazeroski, whose own baseball hopes ended when a coal-mining accident forced the amputation of part of his right foot, began playing catch with his son in the stony backyards of Ohio coal towns just as soon as young Bill could walk.

By the time Bill was 13, he was playing shortstop on pickup teams with the town's adults. He turned down college basketball scholarships to sign with the Pirates in the summer of 1954, played with a couple of farm clubs. By 1956 he was called up to the Pirates.

In this era of $100,000 bonuses for hot-shot high school kids who often end up in the bushes, the $4,000 paid to Bill Mazeroski for signing his contract seems more and more the best bargain Branch Rickey ever made. "Pound for dollar," says Pittsburgh Baseball Announcer Bob Prince in the lingo of the press box, "Mazeroski is far and away the most valuable chattel in the Pirate empire."

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