How to Torture Pitchers

The Brooklyn Dodgers were two games out in front. One man who had a lot to do with it was a wartime pickup who wasn't very big, had only a fair arm and couldn't outrun his grandmother. But Ed ("The Brat") Stanky, 28, has the Dodger habit of getting into fights (which is good box office) and a high talent for getting bases-on-balls (which is good baseball).

The job of a lead-off hitter is to get on base; Second Baseman Stanky gets there more often than most without having to get a hit. In a game with the Pittsburgh Pirates two weeks ago, he drew three walks. Fourth time up he announced: "I'll make 'em walk me again." Then he went into his dance. While Pitcher Johnny Lanning tried to find the plate, Brooklyn's brat writhed, wiggled, squatted and crowded the plate. Umpire George Barr ordered Stanky to get back in the batter's box and behave. When the count got to three balls and two strikes, Stanky carefully fouled off any pitch that came near the plate, finally got the fourth ball.

Stanky trotted smugly off to first base, after first carefully dropping the bat, as usual, squarely across home plate, as an added insult to the enemy. Pirate Catcher Al Lopez hurt his toe kicking it halfway to the pitcher's box. Stanky's fourth walk soon became Brooklyn's winning run.

Pitchers are usually the first to blow their tops at Ed Stanky; but the fury often spreads to the catcher, then to the whole team. Hissed one rival player: "First you 'lose' Stanky, then you lose your head. First thing you know, you've lost the ball game."

But Ed Stanky's flair for getting goats is only a secondary virtue. His major gift is a nearly unerring eye: he knows the good pitches from the bad and so is able to let the bad ones go past without swinging at them. Last week, with 14 more free walks, his season's total was 52. Last year Brooklyn's writhing runt set a National League record with 148.

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