BASEBALL'S WEEK

AMERICAN LEAGUE

The Chicago White Sox won four straight and opened up a 1½-game lead, longest of the season. Runs remained plentiful (5.17 per game vs. 4.28 in 1959), and though Starters Billy Pierce and Bob Shaw were hit hard, the relief pitching was again superb: Gerry Staley beat the Red Sox and Yanks, flattened his ERA to 0.31. Equally effective were the Cleveland Indians' surprising relievers, Johnny Klippstein and Dick Stigman. Klippstein, a National League retread, ran his batters-retired string to 24 straight, Southpaw Stigman saved games against the Yanks and Red Sox. The Baltimore Orioles' pitchers had a wild week. They walked 35 Athletics in four games, lost two of them. But Jerry Walker pitched well for the first time all season, and Jack Fisher, Steve Barber and Gordon Jones won in relief. Barber, a Class D performer last year, celebrated his '60 success with a few new clothes: five suits, three sport coats, eight pairs of slacks, eight shirts, eight pairs of socks and 14 ties. Against Cleveland and against Chicago, the New York Yankees wilted under pressure. Ralph Terry pitched well and Bob Cerv (retrieved from the A's) hit hard. But Ryne Duren, John Gabler and Bobby Shantz were woeful in relief, and the team frittered away both early leads and late opportunities. The Detroit Tigers won a couple and found themselves in fifth place. "We'll just have to wait for Al Kaline and Rocky Colavito to start hitting," said Manager Dykes. It looked like a long wait. Kaline went 5 for 22, Colavito was benched, and the team batting average stayed near .200. The pain of the Boston Red Sox' nine-game losing streak was softened by the return of Ted Williams. Starting for the first time in over a month, Williams played a full game, got two singles in three at bats. Good pitching lifted the Kansas City Athletics out of the cellar. Lanky Dick Hall won his fourth without loss and began to look like the major leagues' best control pitcher; in 40 innings he has issued only 4 walks. Trade talk grew louder around the Washington Senators. Biggest names dropped were those of Camilo Pascual and Pedro Ramos. Tough-luck Ramos (record 0-5 until he won on Sunday) wasted few words: "Me no good here. Maybe me do better with new team—like the Yankees." Replied Owner Cal Griffith: "The Yankees have no chance of getting either or both."

Standings: Chi 18-12, Bait 18-13, Clev 16-12, NY 14-12. Det 13-14, Wash 12-16, KC 12-18, Bos 10-16

NATIONAL LEAGUE

The Pittsburgh Pirates (see page 60) and the San Francisco Giants came head to head, and the Giants staggered away, confused and still in second place. Hounded by injuries and illness (including a bleeding ulcer for Jim Davenport), Manager Rigney rummaged around his bench; Joe Amalfitano went to third, Andre Rodgers to first, slump-ridden Don Blasingame back to second. They responded well enough, but the team could not cope with the Pirates' late-inning lightning. The Milwaukee Braves made little headway. Chief problem was the weather (nine postponements already), which made a shambles of the pitching rotation, sorely tested the hitters' timing and assured a fatiguing succession of doubleheaders in days to come. The Cincinnati Reds made it 13 wins in 16 games, even poked into third place. But their best pitchers couldn't keep them there: Jim O'Toole and Bob Purkey failed in starts, and reliever Bill Henry was racked up. Manager Hutchinson had his Reds running—they stole five bases to overtake the Giants for the major league lead. Solly Hemus and his road-weary St. Louis Cardinals came home to a storm of controversy. Some critics urged the hiring of Leo Durocher. Others charged Hemus and the Cardinals with "humiliating" Stan Musial by shoving him in and out of the lineup. Solly stayed two jumps ahead of the hangman by beating the Reds three straight, climbing to fifth. Like all slumping teams, the Los Angeles Dodgers lost the tough ones. The Reds beat them once in the 12th, once in the ninth. But Frank Howard began to gather steam. He hit a grand-slam homer, a triple and a bundle of singles; better yet, he showed an awareness of the strike zone. The Chicago Cubs put men in scoring position, but they couldn't get them home. One exception was Ernie Banks, who drove in four runs, edged toward his rightful place as league leader. The Philadelphia Phillies kept losing more than they won, but the peppy play of Tony Taylor and the hitting of the kid outfielders had the fans thinking big. "This is some club," exclaimed a cab driver. "Hell, we could go all the way!"

Standings: Pitt 23-11, SF 21-12, Mil 15-11, Cin 18-17, StL 14-19, LA 14-19, Chi 10-17, Phil 12-21

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Boxed statistics through Saturday, May 21

TWO PHOTOS

ROBUST HITTERS Ted Kluszewski (.560) and Roberto Clemente (.414) led White Sox and Pirates up into first place again.