Veeck had an experiment of his own for his pitching star. Photographers snapped shots of twenty-five hitters standing in the batter’s box with just their hips showing. “We painted out all possible marks of identifications—socks, and so on—and showed the photographs to our pitching staff,” he said. Satchel picked out eighteen from their batting stance alone. The next best guesser got six right. He might not know a young Ted Williams or Joe DiMaggio by face, but Satchel remembered how they stood at the plate and what pitches they typically hit and missed. It paid dividends. He generally stopped
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