Tomorrow, Golf

Mickey Mantle was benched with an abscess on his right hip. In left field, Yogi Berra, a displaced catcher, fell on his sunglasses and opened a bloody gash on his forehead. Pitcher Whitey Ford bounced a foul off his big toe and had to hobble to the showers. In one game alone, the Yankees committed three errors. But injuries and bonehead plays only added a dash of excitement to the dullest World Series in years. Coldly and efficiently, the Yankees butchered the hapless Cincinnati Reds in five games, won their 19th world championship without even working up a sweat. Growled Cincinnati Manager Fred Hutchinson: "We just got the hell kicked out of us."

First game, to be sure, was fairly close: Whitey Ford gave up two hits, Cincinnati's Jim O'Toole gave up two home runs as the Yankees won 2-0. And in the second, Cincinnati's Joey Jay pitched a neat four-hitter to square the series. That set the stage for Yankee Outfielder Roger Maris. Emotionally and physically exhausted after his season-long assault on Babe Ruth's home-run record, Slugger Maris was still looking for his first Series hit when he came to bat in the ninth inning of the third game. With the score tied 2-2, Maris finally connected with a hit that took its place in baseball history with Babe Ruth's homer in the 1932 Series and Cookie Lavagetto's 1947 double.* A home run, it broke up the ball game and broke Cincinnati's heart. "That was the turning point," said Manager Hutchinson later. "We never were the same after that. We got no lift, we had no spark, and we went nowhere."

The last two games were carnage incarnate. The Yankees scored 20 runs on 26 hits, including seven doubles, a triple and two home runs (by Reserve Outfielders Hector Lopez and John Blanchard). The Reds, on the other hand, continued to swoon at the very sight of Yankee pitching. Outfielders Vada Pinson (.343 season average) and Frank Robinson (.323) managed only five hits between them in five games. Poker-faced Pitcher Ford extended his string of scoreless World Series innings to 32, and broke Babe Ruth's favorite record. For a team that had every right to crow, the Yankees were remarkably restrained about their easy victory. The Yankee front office dutifully scheduled a champagne-and-steak victory celebration, but it fell flat when half the Yankee squad--including Mantle and Maris--went home instead. Pitcher Ford put it best: "Gee, I hope I can get out and play golf tomorrow."

* Ruth's home run was his famed "called shot" into the bleachers of Chicago's Wrigley Field. Lavagetto's two-out ninth-inning double ruined Pitcher Bill Beven's no-hitter and gave the Dodgers a 3-2 victory over the Yankees.

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