World Series Analysis

HITTING
This Series will pit the home run against the single to the opposite field. The Yankees have the power (and the glory): three of them—Roger Maris, Mickey Mantle and Bill Skowron—hit more home runs this season than the entire Pirate starting lineup. But the Pirates hit so many singles they equaled the Yankees in run production. The Pirates are masters at what Broadcaster Mel Allen likes to call "riding the curve to right": right-handed batters Don Hoak, Roberto Clemente, Gino Cimoli and Dick Groat (if his recently broken wrist is sufficiently healed) do it well. There are some Yankees who can do it too, of course, just as there are Pirates who can hit home runs. Bobby Richardson, Hector Lopez and Gil McDougald are good right-field hitters; Pittsburgh's Dick Stuart can hit a baseball as far as anyone. And the Pirate left-handed hitters—Rocky Nelson, Smoky Burgess and Bob Skinner—may make use of the short right field at Yankee Stadium. Certainly the Yankees themselves do, and not just the left-handed ones. A majority of the Yankee right-hand hitters can reach those seats as well—Skowron, Mantle (when he is switched that way), Lopez, Elston Howard and even Clete Boyer. Yankee pinch-hitting is powerful too. If the Yankees fall behind, Casey Stengel will insert a barrage of heavy hitters: Bob Cerv, Howard (or Yogi Berra, if Howard is the starting catcher that day), John Blanchard and Dale Long, once the toast of Pittsburgh. Danny Murtaugh cannot do this. If he starts his right-handed lineup ( Stuart, Cimoli and Smith) he can use Nelson, Bill Virdon and Burgess as pinch hitters, or vice versa, but the rest of his reserves are weak.

SLIGHT EDGE TO YANKEES

PITCHING

The two off-days will permit Pittsburgh's strong right-handers, Vernon Law and Bob Friend, to start five and perhaps even six games between them, just as the Burdette-Spahn combo did for Milwaukee three autumns ago. Both men have pitched magnificently this season. A left-hander, either Wilmer Mizell or Harvey Haddix, will start game three, the first one in Yankee Stadium. Left-handers have been effective against the Yankees this season, so it is possible that if Mizell, say, beats the Yankees in the third game, Haddix will pitch the fourth. When any of these starters gets in trouble, Elroy Face will appear from the bullpen. Also available for relief will be Fred Green and Joe Gibbon, left-handers, and a face very familiar to old Yankees, Clem Labine.

Left-hander Whitey Ford is still the Yankees' best, but he is no longer the game's best. He requires four days rest between starts, so it is doubtful if he can pitch more than twice during the Series. Art Ditmar has been the Yankees' big winner this season and he will probably start the second game. After Ditmar come problems. Stengel has a parade of pitchers as inconsistent as butterflies. Ralph Terry pitched two straight shutouts recently, but earlier, in one spectacularly ineffective stretch, he gave up 11 hits to 13 batters. Bob Turley seems too careful these days and is not the man who beat the Braves two years ago. Bill Stafford was pitching for Richmond in August. He has shown confidence and a good fast ball. Stengel also has Jim Coates, Eli Grba, Ryne Duren and Duke Maas, righties, and Left-handers Bobby Shantz and Luis Arroyo. The way Stengel wheels and deals, all will probably see action.

DEFINITE EDGE TO PIRATES

FIELDING

Position by position, the Yankees and Pirates are as similar as any two teams in the majors. Stuart, on his good days, is only an adequate first baseman. Nelson is more polished. Skowron falls somewhere in between. Richardson and Mazeroski are as good a pair of second basemen as ever made a pivot. Perhaps Kubek is not as sure at shortstop as Groat is, but in seven games the difference should not be important. If Groat cannot play, Schofield will not hurt a bit, mechanically, though the Pirates will miss Groat's leadership on the field. New York fans believe Clete Boyer can play third base as well as anybody—which is the way Pittsburgh feels about Hoak. Both are excellent. If Gil McDougald, a veteran of seven Series, plays third, the Yankees will lose a little defensively.

Neither Lopez nor Skinner makes his manager happy with his fielding. Skinner will have the unhappy experience of playing Yankee Stadium's eerie left-field shadows for the first time. Lopez is familiar with the shadows, but that still doesn't seem to help him much. If the Yankees are leading by a couple of runs in the late innings, Stengel will remove Lopez and switch Kubek to left, thereby starting a chain reaction that often puts Boyer at short, Richardson at third and McDougald at second. Casey loves to juggle. The other outfielders, Mantle against Virdon (or Cimoli) in center, Maris against Clemente in right, are all good. Clemente is the best, with speed and a powerful arm.

The Yankees, with Berra and Howard, have stronger catching than the Pirates, with Burgess and Smith. Neither team steals many bases, so the catchers will not be under great pressure.