"My Boys"

When the exuberant young Phillies bounded into third place in the final National League standings last year, lethargic Philadelphia fans, long used to their last-place finishes (eight in the last 13 years) became moderately aroused. Last week, with the Phillies challenging the Brooklyn Dodgers for first place, nearly everybody in Philadelphia was talking pennant.

Amiable, greying Phillies Manager Eddie Sawyer was not joining in. "We're not ready for it," said Sawyer. "Brooklyn should win, and we'll be in third again." Sophomore Manager Sawyer explained his prediction: "I'm not being defeatist, but I know our values. The boys have youth, ambition and sincerity for their jobs. But they are inexperienced, and we have a definite weakness in reserves."

Pleasure & Surprise. Meanwhile, the Phillies were winning ball games on hustle, good pitching and the best club batting average in the league (.270). Among their assets, which the rest of the league had to worry about whether Sawyer saw his team as a pennant winner or not: a hard-hitting outfield consisting of brawny Dick Sisler/- (.367), fleet-footed Richie Ashburn (.296) and clutch-hitting Del Ennis (.304), and a bustling infield steadied by First Baseman Eddie Waitkus, recovered from his shooting by a deranged girl last year (TIME, June 27). With young Pitchers Curt Simmons (21), a lefthander, and Robin Roberts (23), winning a total of nine of their team's first 16 victories, while losing only three, Sawyer was watching "my boys" perform with pleasure and some surprise.

Sawyer was never good enough to make the major leagues as a player, but as a minor-league manager in the Yankee chain he learned to recognize young talent, to respect spirit as much as ability. "I'll trade a lazy .300 hitter for a .250 beardown guy any day," he says. Sawyer is no bench manager, works on the third-base coaching line ("It gives the boys confidence"), works hard in his office ("I'm always available") and on the field ("I never humiliate a boy").

Philadelphia's young Bob Carpenter and his industrialist father bought the futile Phillies in 1943 for less than half a million dollars. Since then the Philly organization has found the initial investment small compared to the overhead, which now includes a $2,500,000 farm system and $850,000 for bonus players.

Give & Take. Carpenter has presented Sawyer with a batch of bonus beauties, including Pitchers Simmons ($65,000) and Roberts ($25,000), Catcher Stan Lopata ($25,000) and Third Baseman Willie Jones ($16,000). Others on the club were also costly, but Sawyer must play these youngsters (who, under bonus rules, may not be returned to the minors for seasoning) in order to justify their price. Other managers with pennant contenders use risky bonus players as bench blankets, take no chances.

Manager Sawyer is showing confidence in his youngsters, by giving them chances and taking them himself, but he is sticking to his own time schedule. Borrowing a time-honored Brooklyn line of a few seasons back, Sawyer says: "We're still a year away, but wait till next year."

/- Son of Hall of Fame First Baseman George Sisler of the St. Louis Browns (1915-27), whose .420 batting average in 1922 equaled the American League record.

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