Bring On The Monster

It is late in the ball game, and the Boston Red Sox are clinging to a one-run lead. But the Red Sox pitcher is tiring fast. He throws. Ball one. Another pitch, another ball -- and another. The murmur starts in the box seats behind the Boston dugout. Swiftly it spreads through the grandstand and bleachers, picking up cadence, cresting in volume, until all Fenway Park is chanting in unison: "We want The Monster! We want The Monster! We want The Monster!" Manager Johnny Pesky obediently trots out and lifts one hand high above his head, the signal that means: "Send in the Big Guy." In the Red Sox bullpen, Dick Radatz slips on a jacket, grabs his glove, steps out the gate and hops aboard a little red electric cart for the trip to the mound.

"Worth 50 Games." Last week the Boston Red Sox were third in the American League, only 1 1/2 games behind the leading New York Yankees. And the man who put them there was Relief Pitcher Radatz, 26. He stands 6 ft. 5 in., weighs 240 Ibs., wears a size 17 1/2 collar and size 14 shoes. Even his 1963 record is Bunyanesque: seven wins, only one loss, 93 strikeouts, and a phenomenal 1.16 earned-run average, best by far in the majors. At one point this sea son, Radatz went 33 straight innings without giving up a run. Last week, pitching the final innings in both ends of a doubleheader against the fifth-place Cleveland Indians, he gave up only three hits, one run, and struck out seven. The Red Sox won both games. Then Radatz went out and beat the Yankees. "Fifty games," says Manager Pesky. "That's what Dick Radatz is worth to this club."

When the warmup call goes out to the bullpen, Radatz consults his mental book on the hitters that he is likely to face. "If lefthanders are coming up," he says, "I practice throwing overhand. For righthanders, I warm up sidearm." He throws his fast ball about 80% of the time, and some rival batters claim they actually smell smoke as it rips past. "Sal Maglie taught me the importance of getting everything behind each pitch," Radatz says. "He argued that 240 Ibs. was a natural blessing--so why not put it to good use?" Radatz likes to face pinch hitters. "After all, I'm all heated up, and they're coming off the bench cold to try and connect with one of my fast balls."

"I Finally Realized." A Michigan State graduate, signed by the Red Sox in 1959 for a $20,000 bonus, Radatz sulked at first when he was assigned to the bullpen. "Everybody wants to be a starter," he says. "But I finally realized that the only way I was going to make the majors was to obey orders. If they wanted me to be a starter now, I'd regard it as a demotion. Being a relief man pays good."

"Good" for Radatz is about $20,000 a year--and there is plenty more of the same to look forward to if his slingshot right arm holds out. Yankee Manager Ralph Houk has already announced that he will pitch Radatz in the All-Star game and--who knows?--when World Series time rolls around . . . But Dick Radatz is too busy to worry about that right now. Boston fans can't get enough of him. "Whatchya waitin' for, Pesky?" they yell every game, when the seventh inning rolls around. "Bring on Radatz!" According to Manager Pesky, they want the Red Sox to win, but they also want the starting pitcher to get knocked out so The Monster can come in.

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