Sport: How to Torture Pitchers

The Brooklyn Dodgers were two games out in front. One man who had a lot to do with it was a wartime pickup who wasn't very big, had only a fair arm and couldn't outrun his grandmother. But Ed ("The Brat") Stanky, 28, has the Dodger habit of getting into fights (which is good box office) and a high talent for getting bases-on-balls (which is good baseball).

The job of a lead-off hitter is to get on base; Second Baseman Stanky gets there more often than most without having to get a hit. In a game with the Pittsburgh Pirates two weeks...