Robin Roberts is a Whiz at remembering other Kids

HALL OF FAMER Robin Roberts remembered the Whiz Kids during an interview in Tampa last year:

* Catcher Andy Seminick batted .288 with 24 homers and 68 RBI in 130 games.

"Oh, he was tough. Andy had been an infielder in the lower minor leagues. I don't know when they made him a catcher. But when I came up [in 1948], Don Padgett, Al Lakeman and Andy were the three catchers. And, of the three, Lakeman was the better receiver. He had caught his whole life. Padgett had played the outfield. He had a good bat. And Andy was borderline, you know? If you had asked about the catchers at the time, Lakeman was the best receiver and Padgett was a lefthanded hitter. He could swing the bat. And Andy was just kind of in the middle.

"In fact, at the end of that year when [manager Eddie Sawyer] came in, he had had [Stan] Lopata at Toronto [in the minors]. And he brought Andy up. I never heard him say it, but I think he was kind of leaning toward Lopata being the catcher.

"He and Seminick, I think, alternated at the start of '49. And all of a sudden, the first of June or something, Andy just started believing in himself. And he was a tough, good receiver. Threw adequately. Tough as nails when they slid home. And all of a sudden he won over Sawyer, and from then on he was kind of the head man and Stan was kind of his backup.

"Like I say, he was tough. Once, the Giants had thrown at him and knocked him down. And as he got up, he got a handful of dirt in his hand. Wes Westrum was their catcher and - poof! - Andy threw that handful of dirt right in his face.

"So now he gets on first and he goes into second hard. Bill Rigney was the Giants' second baseman and he fell on top of Andy. And the story goes that's the only time they ever saw a guy on top lose.

"He got on second, I think it was the same game. Guy singles to left and he comes running around third. Hank Thompson is the third baseman. He's just standing there, looking. He's got no play. Wham! [Seminick] hits him with his forearm. We don't know this. So Andy comes home, scores, and we look up and Thompson is laying on the ground. We said, 'What happened?' He said, 'I gave him an elbow.' "

* First baseman Eddie Waitkus played in 154 games, and batted .284. He hit just two homers that season and only 24 in 4,254 career at-bats. He was coming back from a bizarre incident the previous season when he was shot by a deranged fan in the Chicago hotel where the Phillies were staying.

"Quiet. He was a smooth first baseman. He led off all that year. A lot of people think Ashburn did, but Ashburn hit second. That's something Eddie did."

* Second baseman Mike Goliat played in 145 of his career 249 games that season, and batted .234.

"Mike was a character, but [Sawyer] lost interest in him for some reason. I remember one thing that was kind of interesting. Eddie was a deep guy, he really was. We were playing a spring-training game in Lakeland. One out and the bases loaded. We're in the field and a guy hits a ground ball to Mike. Perfect doubleplay ball. And Mike picks it up and throws to first. He forgets how many outs there are. So a run scores. I think from then on Eddie wasn't [too happy with him]. Eddie always mentioned that Mike was about 4 years older than he said he was, too. But it was obvious that Eddie didn't take too kindly to that throw to first when a doubleplay was in order. Even in spring training. If you didn't know how many outs there were, to Eddie there was something wrong with that.

"I see a lot of times now where they won't know. But then I had never seen a guy do that."

* Shortstop Granny Hamner tied for the league lead with 157 games (including three ties) that season, and batted .270.

"Late in the game he could hit with anybody. He had that knack. He'd go 0-for-2, 0-for-3, then it would be in the eighth inning with a man on second and he'd drive that son of a gun in. He only weighed about 140, 145 pounds. There were a lot of smaller guys then. They didn't lift weights and all that stuff."

* Third baseman Willie "Puddin' Head" Jones also played in all 157 games. In the second of his 10 straight years as a regular, he batted .267 with 88 RBI.

"He brought that nickname with him. There was a song at the time called 'Wooden Head Puddin' Head Jones.' I always assumed someone gave it to him as a kid. He was from Spartanburg, S.C. The Phillies signed a lot of the guys from that area. 'Pud' was a real talent. Quick, good hands. Just a fair arm but in 1950 he had 19 home runs at the All-Star Game, then he only had six after that. But good hands. He reminded you of Brooks Robinson. Pud's arm was a little better than Robbie's, but not much. But they got rid of the ball quick, you know, and were accurate. In '50 he had a big year, he really did. Probably the biggest year he ever had."

* Leftfielder Dick Sisler hit only 13 homers during the regular season, but that included a three-run shot in his last at-bat that won the pennant.

"His dad being such a good ballplayer, Dick couldn't run much and didn't throw very well. He hit the ball pretty well. And he was a wonderful guy on a ball team. I mean, he really had a good time. For him to have that home run be so important . . . Because he had always been [Hall of Famer] George Sisler's son who didn't do much before.

"He hit that ball to left-center. He had four hits that day, I think. He hit a line drive. In Ebbets Field it was a short fence. It was 345 to left-center and it went right over that into the stands. It started out just a nice line drive but it carried enough to get in there.

"And his dad was working for the Dodgers at the time and he was in the stands and his kid hit a three-run homer. I never did see his father to ask him what he thought about that.

"[Dick] stuttered, you know. He used to tell the story about going home and he pulled into the gas station and said, 'F-f-f-fill 'er up.' And the guy said, 'I-I-I can't help it if I'm that way.' And Dick said, 'I-I-I'm that way, too.' I don't know if it was true, but Dick could really tell stories."

* Centerfielder Richie Ashburn is the only other Whiz Kid in the Hall of Fame. He was voted in by the Veterans Committee in 1995.

"One of the years he won the batting crown - he always called me Schmo. I don't know why - on the last day of the season he said, 'Schmo, if I get one hit today, Willie Mays will need 5-for-5 to beat me out.' We were playing in Pittsburgh. He goes up his first time and he swings and he hits the ball and it hits home plate and bounces right up in the air. Ain't no way they'll throw him out, right? And he's laughing like hell, because that's when he knew he had the batting crown cinched.

"He had seven hits in a doubleheader. He hit two balls out of the infield. He hit two line shots at the leftfielder and he caught them both. All the rest were bunts and ground balls.

"I was just reading the other day the story about how he's asking [general manager John] Quinn for a raise and Quinn says, 'All you do is hit those little bloopers to the outfield.' And [Ashburn] said, 'If I hit them any harder, they'd be outs.' Now isn't that a hell of a crack?

"But his announcing really made him a solid Philadelphia citizen. He was great. And he and Harry [Kalas] were just a package. I've heard other baseball announcers and they try to be announcers. Whitey never did. Whitey just was at the game, right? When I could hear him, which wasn't very often, I enjoyed every bit of it.

"He told one story, which was kind of silly. He was with Bill Campbell, talking on the air. And the Cardinals had sent their third baseman to the minor leagues, Kansas City was their minor league team at the time. And Bill Campbell says, 'Whitey, it looks like a good spot for Ken so-and-so to pinch-hit.' And Whitey says, 'Well, Bill, he'll need a long bat because they sent him to Kansas City yesterday.'

"Now, Bill Campbell, you have to get a little upset over that, right? But [Ashburn] was still like he was in the clubhouse, just having a good time."

* Rightfielder Del Ennis led the team with a .311 average and 31 homers and topped the NL with 126 RBI. But, oddly enough, he was never popular in his hometown.

"He was from North Philly and South Philly didn't like North Philly. He was a big slugger. I remember one day he dropped a pop fly with the bases loaded and two outs. I think two runs scored and everything else. He comes up and they're really booing him. The bases were loaded and he hits a grand slam. By the time he ran around third, they were cheering him.

"People talk about how Philly fans are tough on their players. He's the only guy that I played with that they were tough on. They didn't boo any of the rest of us.

"He was big and strong. They pop up or strike out and everyone expects them to hit home runs. But he was solid as a rock. He got heavier, as we all have a tendency to do, and it didn't help him in the field. He was a good fielder in '50. He probably weighed 190 pounds and by the time he ended he was probably up to 230, 240. But he was a good hitter. A good offspeed hitter."

* Roberts started an astounding 39 games that year and also made a relief appearance. The rest of the rotation was filled out by lefthanders Curt Simmons and Ken Heintzelman and righthanders Bob Miller, Russ Meyer and Bubba Church.

"We had Kenny Heintzelman and Russ Meyer, both of whom had been starters. In fact, they had both won 17 games in '49. They didn't start off that well. Then when Eddie [Sawyer] used Bob Miller and Bubba and after July, that stretch there, the four guys were pretty well it.

"In fact, it would be interesting to see who else started in July and August. I don't think there were many. See, we used to have off days on Monday and Thursday. So that when the rained-out games had to be played, they had room at the end of the year. That's how we came to play the Giants two doubleheaders in succession in early September."

* Closer Jim Konstanty, 33, led the league with a then-record 74 games. He went 16-7 with 22 saves and a 2.66 ERA while allowing just 108 hits in 152 innings, and was voted the NL's Most Valuable Player. He never came close to those numbers again.

"One time he came in in the 10th inning and the game went 19 innings. And he pitched the whole 10 innings. We won and he shut them out for the whole 10 innings. He would pitch two innings, an inning and two-thirds. They didn't have seventh- and eighth-inning guys. If you had the game won and it was the eighth inning, he came in.

"They didn't have closers in those days, but he was a looong closer. When he came in, it was over. I never saw him get knocked out that year. He may have, but I don't remember it. He threw a slider and a palmball. He was 6-foot-3 and weighed 230. Looked like he was going to throw it right through the wall.

"I saw him one day [years later]. My son was playing [college baseball] in Jacksonville. I happened to be there and Jim came up. He had really lost a lot of weight. I said, 'Jim, what are you doing, you're getting carried away, aren't you?' He was a blunt guy. He said, 'Robin, I'm dying. I've got cancer.' He'd gone down to Mexico and tried that stuff. He had been the athletic director at Hartford College, which is close to Oneonta where he lived. He had a sporting-goods store.

"Jim Jr., when I would go to the Hall of Fame ceremony, would come over. He was a lawyer in Oneonta. And he said to me one day, 'Mr. Roberts, could I ask you a question. Why did they call my dad Yimca?' Dick Sisler named him that. Jim was a clean-living guy, didn't smoke and everything. Couldn't stand guys who smoked. Didn't drink. So Sisler came up with the nickname Yimca. So everybody said, 'Dick, why do you call him Yimca?' And Dick said, 'Doesn't he look like a YMCA instructor?'

"So everybody called Jim Yimca and his kid wanted to know why. I told him and he laughed like hell. Because he had lived with him and he knew all about the clean-living stuff."