Oct. 1, 1963 - The respective managers of tomorrow’s World Series combatants, Walter Alston of the Dodgers and Raph Houk of the Yankees, expressed confidence today that their team would get the job done. “I believe we will win the Series the way we won in our league,” said Alston today, “with speed and pitching. We expect to run on the Yankees, just as we have all year. That is our biggest asset along with our pitching. I’m counting most on Koufax, Podres, Drysdale, and in the bullpen, Perranoski. The Yankees have the edge in power and defense. At least that’s how it looks on paper. We may fool you and hit more home runs than the Yanks, but then again the Yanks may fool us and get better pitching. There’s no way to predict a thing like that in a short series.” Alston was asked about his choice of Moose Skowron, the ex-Yankee, over Ron Fairly at first. “Moose is the kind of man who can get hot and have a big Series,” Walter said. “He has played here and knows their team. I platooned at first in the last weeks of the season, and Skowron hit the ball hard. He hits southpaws pretty good.” Whitey Ford, the Yankee starter tomorrow, is a left-hander, as is the Bombers’ Game 2 starter, Al Downing. As for the other manager, Ralph Houk settled back in his chair this afternoon and took a puff on his cigar. “So, you want to know what I think about the Dodgers?” he said with a smile. “Pitching and speed — that’s how I size up their ballclub. On the other hand, we’re a balanced club with a little bit of everything going for us. Yes, Koufax is a fine pitcher, but we’re not going into the Series thinking Koufax is going to beat us. And don’t forget, we have some pretty fine pitching ourselves.” Houk was asked if his scouts had disclosed any vulnerability in Koufax which the Yankees might take advantage of. “They say his overhand delivery makes it a bit easier for left-handers to hit him,” he said. “It exposes the ball sooner. But the records show he hasn’t been too easy for anybody to hit. Still, we’ve hit some fine pitching in our own league,” and he ticked off names like Steve Barber and Camilo Pascual and young Gary Peters of the White Sox.
Comments