Baseball: The Grand Old Arm

It was the second inning at Milwaukee's County Stadium, and the old man on the mound stared coldly at the old man in the batter's box—the Braves' Warren Spahn, 42, baseball's dean of pitchers, against the St. Louis Cardinals' Stan Musial, 42, who had just added Babe Ruth's extra-base hit record to the 54 other marks he holds or shares. Spahn wound up and threw. Crack! Thunk! Oof! A screaming line drive hit Spahn squarely in the belly. He staggered and fell. Somehow he picked up the ball and threw Musial out. He then paused briefly to catch his breath—and...