THE WONDERFUL WORLD OF SPORT
A BEEF GROWS IN BROOKLYN
The city gets hot in the summer, and as if the weather was not enough to bear, ballplayers in the National League were faced with the added pressure of a white-hot pennant race. Something was bound to snap. Last week in Brooklyn it did, and Photographer Hy Peskin was on hand with a sequence camera to record it on film. It will be worth saving as an object lesson which all big league ballplayers are supposed to know: "When you're ahead don't get sucked into a fight on the field." But the Cincinnati players forgot this and it cost them that game and probably the one they had to play next day—maybe the pennant.
The brawl started innocently enough with a bunt in the seventh inning. Cincinnati pitcher Raul Sanchez, after disposing of the first two batters, sent Dodger Junior Gilliam sprawling with a duster on his second pitch. Gilliam, fuming, then bunted a pop foul down the first-base line. Though there was no chance for a play, Sanchez charged after the ball and the pair met, as if by design, halfway between home and first. Fists started flying and, quicker than you could say spontaneous combustion, teammates from both sides joined the battle from field and dugout. Redleg Third Baseman Don Hoak was among the first to join the melee, and very nearly the first to leave it. He immediately ran into a right-hand wallop thrown by Dodger Charlie Neal and dropped to the seat of his pants. Hoak rose from the ground screaming for vengeance. But Gil Hodges, Brooklyn's towering first baseman, pinned Hoak's arms and Neal was hustled off to safety. When the umps finally brought peace they threw Hoak, Sanchez, Gilliam and Neal out of the game. Without Sanchez, the Redlegs lost their 4-3 edge over Brooklyn, finally lost the game 5-4. By week's end, with Hoak out with an injured hand, they had lost the Brooklyn series and had slipped to fifth place.
MUDPACK
Slipping and sliding through Sydney slime, an Australian Rugby League '13' collides in a scrum with a pack from France on its way to the 1957 world league championship. The man with upside-dawn face in the center is an Aussie player and he is waiting for the ball to be tossed in
PHOTO
DODGERS' JUNIOR GILLIAM POPS BUNT FOUL (ABOVE HEAD), STARTS FOR FIRST BASE AND COLLISION WITH REDLEG PITCHER RAUL SANCHEZ
PHOTO
COLLIDING AS PLANNED, GILLIAM (19) ELBOWS SANCHEZ (32). REDLEG FIRST BASEMAN CROWE (15) AND DODGER COACH JAKE PITLER MOVE IN
TWO PHOTOS
GAME IS FORGOTTEN AS BOTH PLAYERS START PUNCHING IN MID-AIR. PITLER AND CROWE ARE RUSHING IN TO SEPARATE FIGHTERS QUICKLY.
PHOTO
NOW BATTLE ROYAL IS ON IN EARNEST. BOTH TEAMS EMPTY BENCHES, WHILE THE UMPIRES CAN ONLY STAND BACK HELPLESSLY AND WATCH.
PHOTO
BUT REDLEG DON HOAK (LEFT), DODGER CHARLIE NEAL (RIGHT) AND ROY CAMPANELLA (PILING ON TOP OF SANCHEZ) ARRIVE FIRST ON THE SCENE
TWO PHOTOS
BELOW: BIG DON NEWCOMBE BRACES FOR A RUSH OF REDLEGS AFTER CHARLIE NEAL IN DUGOUT. BELOW RIGHT: HOAK IS ESCORTED FROM FIELD
PHOTO
TOM HUTCHINS