An Innocent Abroad On The Baseball Diamonds

As the days went by I found myself growing bolder; I wanted to get better and better snapshots. Also there was the illicit thrill of seeing just how far my "Press Only" tag would take me.

I suppose my greatest triumph occurred just before a game with the Dodgers . That day I arranged for a coach to knock a series of balls off the outfield wall so I could get pictures of Duke Snider playing them on the rebound. At Ebbets Field that had been Snider 's specialty. And I still picture him in my mind taking a ball barehanded off the short Ebbets Field wall, then whipping it in to Pee Wee Reese . The coach and Duke were both very obliging. Right off, Snider preserved my regular features by rushing over and gloving a ball in front of my face while I was crouching and loading film into a camera. I suppose this indicated to Duke that I knew nothing about photographing outfielders in action.

"Who are these pictures for?" he asked, shagging a fly that fell short.

I considered saying the regular photographer on a local paper was sick that day and I had been chosen to fill in. But I decided it would be better to take a completely different approach.

"I'm doing a whole series for in-pack premiums," I answered. "Do you know what they are?"

"No," Snider answered. And I felt a sense of relief. For already the tone of his voice indicated he was sorry he'd asked.

"Well, there are two kinds of in-pack premiums," I droned on. "The best kind is the self-liquidating variety. That's the type where the respondee has to send a box top, plus an amount which covers the manufacturer's cost plus, of course, mailing and handling charges. Because it's self-liquidating the sales manager doesn't have to budget anything for the promotion." I had heard two men discussing this in the elevator of an advertising agency I do animated commercials for.

"Man," Snider said, trying to get me off the subject, "it feels hotter than any 72� out here."

He was pointing at a temperature sign the local Chamber of Commerce had placed in the outfield. Then he loped gracefully to his right and picked a ball off the wall barehanded. It turned out to be one of my better action shots. Although Willie Mays said my best action shot was Harvey Kuenn spitting tobacco juice.

LEO DUROCHER