Word: shortstop
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...afternoon shadows crept over the stadium, then opened up with a still hopping fast ball, retired 17 of the last 18 batters in fashioning a two-hit 3-0 shutout. Gloated Spahn: "Somebody got the impression that I can't throw anything but junk. Well, somebody is misinformed." Shortstop Tony Kubek let in the first Milwaukee run with an error, and Outfielder Norm Siebern played three fly balls into base hits...
...with 42 home runs and the league with no runs batted in.* Far behind were such famed sluggers as the Giants' Willie Mays (23 homers) and the Yankees' Mickey Mantle (83 runs batted in). Banks seemed a sure bet to become the eighth player-and the first shortstop-ever to hit more than 50 homers in a single season. Moreover, Cub fans with a faith in miracles hopefully noted that Banks was just three games off the 1927 pace of Babe Ruth when he hit his record 60 homers...
What makes Banks's blasts so remarkable is the fact that he is as lean and limber (6 ft. 1 in., 176 Ibs.) as any good-field-no-hit shortstop, a breed that traditionally has had trouble banging the fences. But Banks has powerful wrists and forearms. "You grab hold of him and it's like grabbing steel," says Cub Manager Bob Scheffing...
...Cubs bought him for $15,000 and gave him what he lacked. Infielder Eddie Miksis loaned him a glove, and Coach Ray Blades bought him a book called How to Play Baseball. Banks has still never learned how to play shortstop in the manner of Honus Wagner or Marty Marion. Tired by the grind of playing day after day (he has started every game this year), Banks has trouble getting the right jump on the ball, sometimes boots the play that sets up a rally. But, better than any other shortstop in history, Ernie Banks can right the score...
...Playing in the dead-ball era, the National League's late Honus Wagner of Pittsburgh, the greatest all-round shortstop, had a lifetime batting average of .329 (1897-1917), but never hit more than 10 homers in a single season...