An Innocent Abroad On The Baseball Diamonds

"Certainly, kid," he said. But as I raised the camera, he held up his hand. "I'll tell you when, kid," he said. Then he proceeded to adjust his socks so there were no wrinkles in them. He also turned the angle of his hat just so. He took time to tug at and adjust the blue flannel shirt that the Los Angeles players wear under their white uniform top. Evidently he wanted just a fraction of solid blue to peek through at the sleeves. Finally he was ready. I took the picture. "Thank you," I said backing away.

"You're entirely welcome," Durocher replied; "you're entirely welcome." Durocher's picture turned out to be a good one. And it did not look posed—proof, I suppose, that Leo is a pro. And I am not.

In closing, here is something I learned about spring training: Don't believe what you see in the training camps. Everyone knows teams like the Yankees don't do well at spring training, because they don't try for wins. They only want to get in shape. But still—it was incredible how good the Cubs looked. So many rookies fielded well, and hit tremendously, that the team almost won the Cactus League title.

On the last day of the spring season a sign appeared in the stands saying, "Bring on the Yanks."

Sure, it's easy to fool fans like me. But a Cub coach's reaction to that sign was along the same lines.

"I'll let you in on a secret," he said. "You're looking at a team that's going to surprise everybody in baseball."

But then, looking back, my own spring opinions proved pretty stupid all around. For example, two of my best pictures in Arizona were taken of a pair of Cub rookies I figured to play big roles in a Cub march to the first division. I "scouted" Lou Brock as a tremendously fast outfielder who would bunt a lot and steal plenty of bases.

If you had asked me what major league player would steal 104 bases in 1962, I would have said Lou Brock for sure. So I could crow about my predictions later, I took special pictures of Brock 's sensational bunting style. However, during the regular season Brock hardly ever bunted safely. He stole very few bases. And the one "big" act he performed used a talent that had eluded me completely. Brock slammed a fast ball so hard he became the first man in history to blast a home run into the dead center field bleachers at the Polo Grounds , which is about nine miles.

On the other hand, I pegged rookie Ken Hubbs as the new long ball threat for the Cubs. He looked to me like a sure bet to knock off National League Rookie of the Year honors. For ammunition to say, "I told you so," I snapped his flawless batting form repeatedly.

Hubbs did make Rookie of the Year, but not because of his hitting. It was his beautiful glovework at second base—something I hadn't noticed at all. By September he had broken Bobby Doerr 's major league record for games played at second base without an error (73). And in the process he handled a record number of chances, too (418). Pretty good year for a rookie, except for one thing. He hit .260, and led the National League in strikeouts with 129.