STL All Sports

Brooklyn once owned a pitcher named Walter Beck who was a very nice guy but whose pitching left much to be desired. So often were his best deliveries slammed against the fences that he acquired the unenviable nickname of "Boom-Boom" from the sound that filled the ball park by opposing batters.

The late Hack Wilson, short pudgy outfielder and home-run hitter, was patrolling right field in Brooklyn one day when Boom-Boom was on the mound, and the hits were flying around his ears. Hack chased them this way and that way, up and down the field, until he was exhausted. At last, Manager Casey Stengel came out to the mound to derrick Boom- Boom. Hack, out in right field, sagged with relief, his eyes cast down.

Beck, however, did not want to leave the game. He argued bitterly with Stengel; then, seeing it was no use, he spun on his heel and fired the ball at the right-field fence. Hack did not see him do it. Startled out of his-reverie, he wheeled quickly as the ball ricocheted off the fence. He chased it down, grabbed it and threw with the same motion -a perfect peg to second base to hold the nonexistent runner to a double off the fence!