Basebrawl

Tight pennant races and a hot summer combined last week to set big-league tempers on edge. Pitchers reached oftener for the beanball, battered batters responded with expected anger.

When a wild first-inning pitch by Yankee Art Ditmar barely missed the plastic capped head of White Sox Outfielder Larry Doby, protocol demanded a few angry words. Doby obliged. Ditmar answered in kind. Doby countered with a left hook somewhat more accurate than Ditmar's fast ball, and Ditmar dropped. Men from both sides piled in. Even with the Chicago cops to help them, the umpires took 28 minutes to put down the fight. By then, Yankees Enos Slaughter and Billy Martin had been ordered off the field, along with Chicago's First Baseman Walt Dropo and Doby. (All four, plus Ditmar, later drew fines from League President Will Harridge.) The rest of the battlers dusted themselves off and readjusted blood pressures and the Yankees went on to win. 4-3. But they were still four games behind the Sox. wobbling sulkily in a pennant race they were supposed to have won in a walk.

The Brooklyn Dodgers picked the same afternoon to put on a similar performance with the Milwaukee Braves. Already touched for two home runs, Dodger Pitcher Don Drysdale faced Batter Johnny Logan and threw as if discretion demanded a duster. But Shortstop Johnny failed to duck. Drysdale's high hard one hit him in the back. Once more, one word led to another and Shortstop Logan steamed toward the pitcher's mound. Dodger First Baseman Gil Hodges started for Logan, Milwaukee Coach Johnny Riddle started for Hodges, and the fight was on. By American League standards the affair was a flop, lasted a mere five minutes. Out of the game went Logan and Drysdale. For his belligerence Logan drew a $100 fine; despite his beanball Drysdale was nicked for only $40. But the final score, Braves 8, Dodgers 5, was a far more important statistic. It left last year's pennant-winning Dodgers in fourth place, one game behind the league-leading Braves, and a half game back of both the heavy-hitting Cincinnati Redlegs and the surprisingly potent Philadelphia Phillies.

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