Sport: A Natural

Spectacled, scholarly looking Pitcher Jim Konstanty never had the mow-’emdown speed of Dizzy Dean nor the big sweeping curve of Lefty Grove. This year he never so much as started a game for the Phillies until the World Series came along, and he lost that in a 1-0 heartbreaker. But last week big Righthander Konstanty was voted the Most Valuable Player in the National League.

Konstanty’s selection was a natural: without his ever-ready arm, Philadelphia could never have won its first National League pennant in 35 years. As a relief pitcher, Konstanty was called from the Philadelphia bullpen a record-breaking 74 times;† he won 16 games, lost seven, saved some 25 or 30 more. Unsung and unwanted (by Boston and Cincinnati) as a starting pitcher four years ago, hardworking Jim Konstanty, a middle-aged (33) ballplayer who neither smokes nor drinks, hauled himself up from minor-league (Toronto) obscurity to become the best relief pitcher in baseball.

† Old record: 70, set by New York Giant relief Pitcher Ace Adams in 1943.