Baseball: Wounded but Winning

Minnesota Twins Manager Sam Mele felt pretty much like that great Peanuts Pitcher-Manager Charlie Brown after a hard day on the mound. Outfielder Bob Allison was playing with a hairline fracture of the right wrist. Outfielder Tony Oliva was nursing a chipped knuckle in his right hand. Catcher Earl Battey had a strained back. Worse still, Ace Pitcher Camilo Pascual had to go to the hospital for surgery on torn muscles in his right arm pit. And then, last week —good grief! First Baseman Harmon Killebrew, Mele's star player—he is tied for the league lead in home runs (22) and third in runs batted in (70)—collided with a base runner and dislocated his left elbow. Killebrew's arm was encased in an inflatable plastic splint, and arm and the man are expected to be out of action for at least two weeks.

What effect have all those injuries had on the Twins? So far, almost none. Substitutes have played like regulars; the Twins have won ten of their last twelve games, and at week's end were still leading the league. Says Manager Mele proudly: "No club in the history of baseball, not even the champion Yankees of two years ago, when both Mantle and Maris were injured, have experienced the hardships the Twins have fought through this season. But each day a different guy picks us up. I hope and expect it will continue."

So do baseball's most cynical observers. Despite the Twins' casualty list, Las Vegas bookmakers have refused to change the odds. The Minnesota club is a solid 3-to-5 favorite to win the American League pennant.