(9 of 9)
But fall, for Hank Bauer, may come a little late this year. Way back in July the Baltimore Orioles reserved 47 rooms at Philadelphia's Warwick Hotel for the second week in October. By week's end it looked as though they might just be picking up the keys. But it was going to be a battle all the way. The second-place Chicago White Sox split with Detroit and beat Cleveland 6-5. The third-place Yankees lost two out of three to Los Angeles, mostly because they scored only six runs in 27 innings— none at all in the nine pitched by Los Angeles Ace Dean Chance, who won his 17th. But they rebounded against Kansas City 9-7. Hank Bauer's Orioles had all they could do to stay in first place. They took two out of three from Minnesota—one of them on a magnificent one-hitter by Miltiades Stergios Papastedgios—only to run into the red-hot Angels and get burned 7-1. Bauer took the loss in stride. "This is the way I see it," he said. "We'll take four out of six against Washington, Kansas City, Minnesota and Los Angeles. We'll take two out of three from Cleveland. We'll split four with Detroit. That gives us 99 wins —and that's enough."
Hey, Hank, wait a minute! But Hank Bauer had already picked up his towel, slung it over his shoulder, and was striding toward the shower.