Word: sain
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...subject of his big righthander, Johnny Sain, Manager Billy Southworth of the Boston Braves may be prejudiced, but he is dead serious. "He's going to be recognized as one of the greats," says Southworth. Certainly, Johnny Sain's pitching arm was the biggest reason the Braves had for hoping to win their second National League pennant in a row. Last week in Bradenton, Fla., with the opener three weeks away, the arm was run through its first nine-inning test of the season...
Thoughtfully shifting his cud of tobacco, John Sain wound up and fired in the first pitch. Big John, a boy from Arkansas, retired the first three Cleveland Indians in order. Whatever hopes the underdog Boston Braves had of winning the first World Series game were pinned on his strong right arm. At $35,000 a year, he was the National League's highest paid player...
Then Bob Feller, carrying no tobacco but more dough (the American League's highest paid player, at $87,000), strode stiff-legged to the mound. At 29, Fireball Bob, like Sain, was pitching his first World Series game. Down went the first three Boston Braves in order...
...nine innings at Braves Field, a crowd of 40,135 sat spellbound by the tightest World Series pitchers' duel since Art Nehf beat Sad Sam Jones in 1923. Sain kept feeding the Indians big, jug-handle curves, interspersed with little curves, until they were fit to be tied. His control was uncanny; he allowed four hits and not one walk. Feller, who pitched a two-hitter, gave up three bases on balls, which led to his undoing. He lost a heartbreaker...
Silent Bats. It went on like that for four days: good pitching and terrible hitting. Cleveland's brilliant southpaw Rookie Gene Bearden, shutting out the Braves (2-0), only twice let the count go to three balls on any Boston batter. Knuckle-bailer Steve Gromek, who out-pitched Sain in the fourth game (2-1), gave only one base on balls. The 1948 World Series was in danger of being remembered only for precision pitching. Grantland Rice called it the Series of silent bats. Disgusted fans and sportwriters complained that it was the dullest World Series in memory. What...