A Wizard Called Oz

There's a wizard called Oz on Dartmouth's baseball team.

His name is Dick Griebel (though he answers only to Oz) and considering that his fastball is only middling, his curve is worth a deflated nickel, and his changeup is only so-so, he has to be a wizard.

Heading into the final game of the 1970 season (which he was slated to share with two other seniors, John Prado and Bill Saumsiegle) Griebel had a three-year record of 10-2.

Not bad for a guy who wasn't given much of a chance of even making the team three years ago.

"Based on what we'd seen of him as a freshman, we didn't feel he could help us," said Coach Tony Lupien. "But, he was welcome to try and he made me like him."

How did Griebel do it?

"Everybody thinks a pitcher must be fast in order to win," said Lupien. "Here's a guy who can't rely on speed but has won a quarter of our games this spring.

"He's a pitcher who makes you hit grounders—to an infield that made one double play in its first 28 games this season."

There's a fundamental reason why Griebel has been good.

"He's willing to make sacrifices that most pitchers won't make," said Lupien. "He's willing to work when he's not pitching. He's always trying to improve.

"Oz is to pitching what people like Eddie Stanky and Billy Martin are to infielders," continued Lupien, the former major leaguer. "They couldn't throw, hit or field—but they worked and worked and made themselves outstanding major leaguers." Not that Lupien expects the senior from Smoke Rise, N. J., to get so much as a glance from a professional scout.

While Griebel has been plugging along, the pro scouts have been focusing on the Indians' junior fastballer, Pete Broberg, who will probably be one of the first collegians tapped in the major league secondary draft this month.

Their totally opposite pitching styles ("Broberg is the fastest pitcher I've seen since Bob Feller," Lupien once observed) make them an interesting study in opposites. Against Harvard, Broberg lost a tough two-hitter in 10 innings, 10. Griebel then came on and shackled the Eastern League champs 5-1, in the second game of the doubleheader.

"Oz has made the most of everything he has," said Lupien. "You couldn't ask for more than he's given this team in three years."

Pitcher Oz Griebel '71