Into the Stretch

True ball fans are mathematicians. They worship averages. A player's performance at the plate, a team's actions on the field, are all judged by intricate accounting. But when it comes to judging pennant races, the fans themselves are the most important statistic. Last week, as the season rounded the late-summer turn, big-league attendance figures testified to one of the tightest stretch drives in years. Fans were piling into Milwaukee's County Stadium at a record 40,000-a-game clip. Cleveland had already surpassed its 1953 home-attendance figure. The Dodgers and Giants set turnstiles spinning whenever they met. The race was so close, a man was hard put to pick a winner.

Front-Running Indians. In the American League, front-running Cleveland was an odds-on favorite with the men who make book on baseball. Outpaced in the stretch three years in a row, the Indians were now playing the steady, workmanlike baseball of champions. Their first-line pitchers (Wynn, Lemon, Garcia) have turned in some of the best performances of the season. Onetime Fireballer "Rapid" Robert Feller, now grown gracefully ancient (he will be 36 in November), has surprised even himself with a fine 11-2 record. Rookies Ray Narleski and Don Mossi have been fogging their high, hard ones past late-inning batters. And the Indians have been winning the tough ones; they have taken 25 games by a single run.

In the field, injury-hobbled Al Rosen has moved between first and third with ease; Negro Al Smith has switched from benchwarmer to one of the hottest out fielders around; Veteran Hank Majeski, 37, stepped in for Bobby Avila and batted a resounding .350. Whenever a regular smoldered, his substitute caught fire.

Far from a flashy, holler-and-hell-raising club, the Indians have been concentrating on the happy habit of hitting the long ball at the right time. "We get 'em when we need 'em," says General Manager Hank Greenberg. "We're a worrisome ball club to the opposition." Not only have the Indians been worrying their closest competitors ; they have been regularly knocking over the league's Humpty Dumpties. As the week began, after a three-game series with the unsinging Orioles of Balti more, they were 5 1/2 games in front.

Young Yankees. On the long end of 8-5 odds, the world champion Yankees have won 53 out of their last 72 games, put together a 10-game winning streak and still not been able to catch Cleve land. But no one ever worried about a Yankee outfit quitting; they have a long, proud record as year-end leaders.

Surprisingly, the Yankee youngsters are carrying the team. While old reliables such as Lopat and Reynolds have been taking their lumps on the pitching mound, Bob Grim, Eddie Ford, Harry Byrd, Tom Morgan and Jim McDonald have turned in 50 victories among them. Mantle, Noren and Skowron are living up to advance billing and outhitting such veterans as Woodling and Collins. Now, in the stretch sprint, the Yankees will face teams that have been their cousins all season. If they take up their old, winning ways, professional Yankee haters will begin to worry that Casey Stengel will take his sixth pennant in a row.

Better Dodgers. In the National League, where a close race is a familiar affair, the Brooklyn Dodgers were once the book makers' favorite. Early this week, 10 would only get you nine that they would take the pennant. Counted out of the league after a disastrous midseason slump, they have been squeaking through the close ones, and have been hanging on, waiting for the Giants to come back to them. The Giants have all but obliged.

Meanwhile the Dodgers have been showing signs of a surge. Hodges has boosted his home-run record to 32, tiring Jackie Robinson has been holding his own at the plate and in the field, league-leading Batsman Duke Snider is belting the ball at a -353 dip-Young Billy Loes has begun to pitch almost as good a game as he talks; even Big Don Newcombe, a disappointment all season, has won a few. The odds are, say the heavy bettors, that the Dodgers will look better and better.

Erratic Giants. Odds against the unpredictable Giants are quoted at 6-5. At midseason they looked like a shoo-in. Then their pitching fell apart. Base hits were few and widely spaced. With consummate ease, the men from Coogan's Bluff came close to blowing a 7-game lead.

Then Manager Leo Durocher began to shift his line-up with frantic skill. His regulars started hitting. Pinch Hitter Dusty Rhodes did so well he earned a starting spot in the outfield. Willie Mays forgot all about home-run records and pieced together a 21-game hitting streak. And for the first time in six weeks, three Giant pitchers in a row (Maglie, Antonelli and Gomez) worked complete and winning games. As the week began, the Giants had a 4-game cushion, but the bookies were betting they could not stand the pace.

Brave Talk. The team that turned Wisconsin into a stateful of baseball maniacs drew the longest price of all: the Milwaukee Braves were a 4 1/2-to-1 shot not to make the grade. The Braves started slow: in July they were 15 games out of first place. Then they moved up dramatically. Wilson and Conley were pitching and winning regularly. Pafko. Adcock and Bruton were connecting at the plate. Bobby Thomson was pinch-hitting at a remarkable clip. In a single month, the Braves won 20 out of 22 games. By the middle of this month, they were within 3 1/2 games of the Giants. Milwaukee fans had blazing visions of the 1914 Miracle Braves, 15 games out and in last place at midseason, winners in September. During a home game, said one New York reporter, Milwaukee's County Stadium was an insane asylum with bases. But this week, although loyal Milwaukee fans were still sure that the Braves had a chance, the 1914 visions got dimmer. The Braves lost 4 out of 6, stood 7 1/2 games behind the Giants.

Now, as they watched the wild stretch drive, all ball fans began to wonder about one more statistic: the schedule. There was still a chance for frustrated second-division clubs to rough up the leaders and scramble the odds. But while the race went on, baseball was the hottest show in town.

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