Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1955-05-14
Mantle Owes BigDay
ToCasey's BattingTip
Stops Attempting
To xiii Boil and
Buqs 8 Homers
By the Associated Press


Switch-hitting Mickey Mantel.
who yesterday joined the ex-
three homers-in-one-
game club, may have cured one
Of his biggest bugaboos-the
strikeout problem.
I'm trying to shorten my
swing" the 23-year-old Yankee
centerfielder said after he hit
three home runs. two from the
left side and one from the right
side Of the plate in Yankee Sta
dunn. 1--WE been working on it
and I think I'm getting the
idea"
Mantle used a couple of bor-
rowed bats to turn the feat. Bat
ting lefthanded. he homered in
the first and fifth of right
handed Pitcher Steve Gromek Of
the Detroit Tigers and then turn
ing to the right side he homered
in the eighth of Lefty Bob Mil
Ter.
Singles Another Run Home
Batting lefthanded, he also
singled home a run in the third
to account for all the Yankee
runs in So victory over the
Tigers.
Mantle thus became the first
American League player to hit
home runs from alternate sides
and the third player in major
league history to accomplish the
feat. Jim Russell of Brooklyn
did it in 1850 and Red Schoen-
dienst of the Cardinals in 1851.
Mickey disclosed that, in adj
dition to using borrowed bats, he
also had changed his batting tao
tics at the suggestion of Manager
Casey Stengel and Coach Bill
Dickey.
I'm not trying to kill the ball
any more" Mickey said. I'm
trying to swing easy and be sure
to connect"
Mantle, batting .2S9, has hit
10 home runs this season and
shares the major league lead
with Gus Zernial of the AS.
Rain Curtails Program
All yesterdays home runs were
hit into the right centerf1eld
bleachers and one-the second
one-measured 430 feet.
Nantes one-man wrecking
job dulled all other developments
of a major league program
chopped in half by four post
ponements because Of rain and
unreasonable cold.
The understanding Dodgers
forestalled any panic and
snapped a two-game losing
streak by whacking the Braves,
60, on home runs by Junior
Gillian and Roy Campanella.
Willie Mays put shot out Of
the park in the 10th inning to
give the Giants a 4-3 triumph
over the Cardinals.
Red Sox Win Weird Game
The Red Sox won a weird,
rain-plagued game from the
Athletics, AS. in Boston in which
the winning run was walked
home in the ninth.
Lou Boudreau, Kansas City
manager, played the game I'M
der protest, contending play was
resumed after an hour and %
minutes delay before rain had
stopped.
Inclement weather idled two
National League parks-Phila-
delhpia at Cincinnati and Pitts
burgh at Chicago-and. showing
no favorites, did the same to
the American. The Cleveland at
Washington and Chicago at
Baltimore games were rained
out.
This permitted greater focus
ing on Nantes slugging ex-
hibition.
Never Quite Made It
Ever since he was plucked
virtually from a playground
a shy. reticent young man with
fantastic speed and hitting pow
er-Mantle has been tabled as
the personality to fill the gate
attraction role worn by such
men as Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig
and DiMaggio. But he never
has quite made it.
He has had his moments, such
as the 565-foot home run in
Washington in the spring of
1858, and his low ones. such as
the four strikeouts in one game
Of the 1858 World Series after
which he cried. But he has not
been able to deliver on a sus-
tanned scale.
He has been hobbled by a
trick knee. injured in the second
game of the 1851 World Series.
Some say he hasn't reached
maturity. Others say he lacks
~ g q