Baseball: The Dandy Dominican

(3 of 10)

Modern pitchers, by necessity, are a more complicated crew. A lively fastball is no longer a guarantee of success, or even of survival. Bob Feller may well have been the fastest fireballer of all time (his pitches were once clocked at 98.6 m.p.h.), but he struggled for years to perfect the sweeping curve that prolonged his career when the zip in his hummer was gone. Warren Spahn, who retired last fall as the winningest lefthander in history (363 victories), underwent a slow but drastic transition during his 21 big-league seasons: from fastballer to curveballer, from a high-and-tight pitcher to a low-and-away pitcher. Marichal's top contemporaries all rely on deception as well as speed. Cleveland's Sam McDowell, the American League's top strikeout artist last season (with 325), throws a sinker that breaks downward so sharply that opponents (perhaps correctly) assume it to be a spitball. Cincinnati's Jim Maloney (1966 record: 5-1) alternates fastballs with curves. Don Drysdale of the Los Angeles Dodgers relies on a sidearm slider that comes at batters from the general direction of third base; righthanded hitters often dive right out of the box, only to see the ball change direction at the last instant, tail straight across the plate.

Juan v. Sandy. Then there is Sandy Koufax—the highest-paid player in baseball (at $130,000), holder of the modern record for strikeouts in a season (382), the only man ever to pitch four no-hitters, and the National League's Most Valuable Player in 1963. Last week the Los Angeles Dodger lefthander shut out the St. Louis Cardinals on seven hits, 1-0, for his ninth victory (against one loss) of the season, and the big question around the league naturally was: Who is better, Koufax or Marichal?

Statistics are inconclusive. Over the past four seasons, Juan has won 86 games; Sandy has won 84. They have pitched against each other three times in three years; Marichal has won two —but Koufax's victory was a no-hitter. Atlanta's Henry Aaron opts for Sandy: "We have hit Marichal hard a lot of times," he says. Houston's Joe Morgan plays it straight up the middle: "When you get a hit off either one, the umpire should stop the game and present you with the ball." Cincinnati Pitcher Milt Pappas calls Juan "the best I've ever seen"—and Dick Stuart of the New York Mets agrees. "The other day I was having pretty good luck against Marichal," he says. "I had batted three times and was 0-for-3. But then Ron Swoboda walked, and I had to come up for a fourth time." The box score tells the rest: Stuart, 0-for-4.