The Retread

Bill Voiselle lumbered out from the bullpen last week like a shaggy, loose-jointed bear. On his back was a big "96," the name of his home town* in South Carolina. All he seemed to need was a coon dog jogging at his heels. With 24,174 pairs of eyes on him and the bases loaded with hostile Chicago Cubs, Big Bill began to pitch.

He put out the fire. He has a system: "Any time I'm in a hole, I got confidence in that fast ball." He doesn't trust curves, he says, because lots of times curves just hang, and when they hang you're sunk. With help from his Boston Braves, he won, 7 to 6. In the second game of the doubleheader, the Braves were in trouble again. Big Bill went to the rescue, and was credited with the 8 to 7 win.

By those two victories, Big Bill boosted Boston into first place in the National League. The cheers echoed through Braves Field; Bill Voiselle, though a little hard of hearing, understood that they were for him and tipped his cap and blushed.

30,000 Razzberries. At 29, Big Bill Voiselle was strictly a retread. He blew out three years ago when he was with the New York Giants. One fat pitch (clouted for a home run with the count two balls and no strikes) did it. Giants' Manager Mel Ott bawled him out in front of the whole team and fined him $500. Bill began to brood. "Yuh don't feel like pitching when a fine's hanging over your head," he said. The fans jeered. Deafness and all, says Bill, "When 30,000 razzberries pour down on you, you hear it."

Last summer, the Giants got rid of him. In Boston, patient Manager Billy Southworth told Big Bill to work himself into shape, let him know when he felt ready.

Ten in a Row. Sympathy was the right prescription for Big Bill. He began pitching brilliantly. He won the last six games he pitched for the Braves last year, and the first four this year. When Giant fans boo him now, he feels like thumbing his nose, but pretends dignified indifference.

In Boston, the fans cheer him even when he gets knocked out of the box. His 1948 record: seven wins, three defeats. For a retread, sensitive William Symmes Voiselle was giving serviceable mileage.

In Cleveland, the big question of the week was: "What's the matter with Bob Feller?" The great man, whose pitching arm commands baseball's highest pay ($87,000), had lost five straight. The guesses ranged from a "temporary slump" to "natural deterioration" after a dozen years. Said Feller himself: "I'm not going to answer questions like that. I'm not going to throw gasoline on a fire that's going like hell anyway." He canceled all outside activities, including autograph parties at stores selling his book, How to Pitch. This week against the Philadelphia A's, Feller finally broke his losing streak.

*Near an old trading post, which, according to legend, got its name, Ninety Six, when an Indian girl named Cateechee rode 96 miles on horseback to warn her white lover of an Indian raid. When Cateechee learned that he had been killed, she jumped off a high bluff.

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