Man in a Slump

Those horrible little imps who badger bewildered ball players were after Stan Musial. They lock-stepped up & down his bat and chanted in his ear: "You're in a slump . . . you're in a slump."

For three weeks, the mighty hitter of the St. Louis Cardinals hadn't been able to hit. Though not overly superstitious by nature, Musial began spitting over his left shoulder and looking for good-luck hairpins in hotel lobbies. That didn't help. Said he, desperately, "I've had the whole team advising me, and I all but take the bat to bed with me." His batting average sagged to .174.

By itself, Stan Musial's slump might not have been so bad--but most of his teammates were following his example. And the pitching was poor too. The proud Cardinals, World's Series winners last year and favorites to repeat this year, tail-spinned into a nine-game losing streak--their worst in nine years. It was too soon to count them out, but soon enough to start worrying.

When it came to rehabilitating Stan Musial, the usual rules didn't apply. He is a "hip hitter" who does his best when ignoring the copybook: holding one shoulder lower than the other, hugging the rear of the batter's box, crouching forward with a ready-to-pounce stance, putting a lot of body wiggle behind his swing. Musial himself blamed his slump on too much golf during the winter and spring; he put his golf clubs into the closet. A slim, conscientious player, who at 26 earns about $27,000 a year, Musial spent hours in the batting cage.

But he knew as well as anyone that a slump is mostly mental. Every inning, when the Cards came off the field, he carefully put his first baseman's glove face down in the grass. Then he always touched the bag with his left foot. At breakfast, he made sure never to order the same thing he ate the morning before.

This week in Boston, Musial made two hits in one game--and one was a home run. The slump might not be over yet, but everyone breathed a little easier.

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