Sport: Bumper Crop

Dino Restelli is a rawboned young man (24) with powerful arms, bushy eyebrows and a sunny disposition. Like baseball’s famed DiMaggio brothers, he comes from San Francisco’s sandlots. A fortnight ago, upped to the majors from San Francisco of the Pacific Coast League, Dino pulled on a Pittsburgh Pirate uniform, got into the lineup as an outfielder and began cannonading the fences as few pea-green rookies ever had before.

His first home run, smacked from a wide-legged, right-handed stance, was a tremendous wallop that cleared Forbes Field’s left-field fence by a good 75 feet. His second, landing on top of the scoreboard, brought a gasp of admiration from Teammate Ralph Kiner, the league’s home-run leader and No. 2 batsman. Last week, after playing in only twelve games, Rookie Restelli had collected seven homers, driven in 14 runs, scored 13 himself, and filled the clubhouse with boxes of spaghetti (compliments of Pittsburgh fans).

The Harvest. Since war’s end, fans had been wondering impatiently when baseball’s new crop of talent would be reaped. As the season neared its mid-point they had their answer. Dino Restelli was the most sensational of a bumper crop of rookies who had had to go to war before becoming big-leaguers.

Restelli served two years with the Army Engineers. Another high-flying rookie, the St. Louis Cardinals’ hard-hitting third baseman, Eddie Kazak, was a paratrooper and combat infantryman; he was bayoneted by a Nazi soldier in hand-to-hand fighting near Brest, France (“I think I shot the Nazi, but maybe I missed,” he says), and later had part of his right elbow blown off by a shell fragment. After discharge, with a plastic patch in his elbow, he changed his name from Tkaczuk to Kazak and began slugging his way up the minor-league ladder (Columbus, Ga.; Omaha; Rochester). Last week, with his .309 batting average making up for occasional fielding lapses, the Cardinals’ Kazak was one of the leaders in 1949’s “rookie-of-the-year” race.

The Detroit Tigers had their own prize bit of the rookie crop in Outfielder Johnny Groth, onetime Navyman (TIME, March 28). Chicago’s White Sox had Outfielder Gus Zernial (also ex-Navy), who broke a collarbone four weeks ago chasing a line drive. White Sox fans could hardly wait for Gus to get back into the lineup: he was leading the league with a fancy .355 when he was hurt.

Ike & Mike. The ex-military policeman among the season’s prize rookies is 22-year-old Outfielder Roy Sievers of the St. Louis Browns. Says Umpire Cal Hubbard: “He’s terrific. He can hit a ball a mile with a flick of the wrist.” The Browns, perennially willing to peddle stars for a price, say he is worth a cool $250,000. The Cleveland Indians, who have pennant hopes, naturally have no price tag on Ray (alias Ike) Boone, 25, a former bluejacket who looked good enough last week to take over Player-Manager Lou Boudreau’s old spot at shortstop.

Boudreau says flatly that Ike is one of the two best rookies he has seen come up to the Indians since he became manager in 1942. The other is swarthy Mike Garcia, a husky 200-lb. pitcher of Mexican parentage, who went sleepless all night with stage fright before pitching and winning his first major-league game, in April. Since then, Mike has won 6, lost 3.

In Philadelphia, 86-year-old Connie Mack has a rookie pitcher who looks even better. He is Alex Kellner, 24, a Navy vet whose father once pitched a no-hitter for Tucson in the Arizona-Texas League and whose grandfather once fought John L. Sullivan in a New Orleans exhibition. Last week at Shibe Park, exploiting his breaking stuff and a fast ball that “takes off,” Southpaw Kellner won No. 10 by limiting the White Sox to five hits. With a 10-3 record, he is well on his way to becoming a 20-game winner his first year up.