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. . _, Snider Has Simplest Theory About Those Long Home Runs » t We Just Swing Hard/ Says Duke of Clouts Uncorked By Mantle, Adcock, Himself By STEVE SNIDER United Press Sports Writer NEW YORK, N. Y., May 2.— Theories ex- J plaining those record home runs rocketing j skyward this spring put the rap on every- t thing from the atom bomb tests to a live- i lier baseball, but Duke Snider of the * Dodgers has the simplest — and probably the best. "We just swing hard," said the Duke, t commenting on the prodigious clouts un- J corked by Mickey Mantle of the Yankees, Joe Adcock of the Braves and by the Duke, J himself. Snider has belted a few over 400 feet this spring, including his opener that splintered , a window across the street from Ebbets j field. He and Mantle each powdered the , ball almost out of sight during the World j Series last fall but nobody dared suggest ■ that the baseball was any livelier then than J it had been all season. "The ball hasnt changed any," said I Harry Amtmann, representing A. G. Spald- t ing Company, which makes official Major : League balls. "The resiliency is governed i strictly by Major League specifications and 1 they havent been changed for several i years. Same Old Baseball "Might as well blame it on the atomic bomb tests in the west as on the ball," he added with a chuckle. "Maybe the particles in the air that used to hold back the long hits have been dispersed by the bomb tests. Anyway, were sure its the same old baseball." Its also Amtmanns idea that theres no such thing as a livelier bat in the Majors, either, thus returning the blame — or credit — strictly to the players. "These queries always come in the spring before the pitchers really get into form," he said. "We rarely hear the word jackrab-bit mentioned in connection with the ball once the hot weather sets in." There was little speculation about a lively ball until Adcock reached the center-field bleachers in the Polo Grounds, the first time it ever had been done in a Major League game. Snider s long hits more or less were taken for granted and three long ones by Mantle, including one of 565 feet at Washington, merely added to the growing legend surrounding the kid phenom from Commerce, Okla. But when Adcock slammed a ball into the Polo Grounds bleachers, speculation on a needled baseball really began to pour out. Adcock simply isnt that kind of a hitter. His best home run year in the Majors was 13 last season. He had been in a batting slump and, in fact, was lifted for a pinch hitter the day after his record shot. He is, however, a six-foot, four-inch giant weighing 210 pounds. When a big man is in a slump, desperation might produce almost anything and what it produced this time was a record belt into the bleachers. Snider still is riding the crest of his World Series heroics in which he matched a record of four series homers held by Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig. Mantle is a youngster full of eagerness and strength. Some of the older clouters like Ralph i Kiner, Larry Doby, Al Rosen and Yogi I Berra havent exactly murdered the ball in i the early doing, so the Dukes theory may be the best in the lively ball discussion. He and Mickey sure do swing hard — all the time. [
