the team only wanted to pay him $32,500 for the season. The parties agreed to a compromise of $35,000 on February 21, 1952. Maglie started the 1952 season with a nine-game winning streak, including three shutouts. After Willie Mays left to serve a term in the United States Army on May 29, however, Maglie struggled in his next five starts, attributing part of the problem to the loss of Mays. "You didn't have to worry about striking guys out all the time...you knew that somehow Willie would get [balls hit to centerfield]. That takes a lot of pressure off the pitcher and gives him a chance to save his best stuff for the real tight spots." On June 26, he held the Dodgers to three hits in a 3–0 shutout. He also threw a shutout on August 9, allowing eight hits in the first game of a doubleheader against the Chicago Cubs. At season's end, Maglie was again among the league leaders in several statistics, including wins (18, topped only by Roberts's 28), winning percentage (.692, sixth), ERA (2.92, tenth), strikeouts (112, tied with Murry Dickson for tenth), and shutouts (five, tied with three others for third). He finished 23rd in NL MVP voting. On April 30, 1953, Maglie threw a six-hit shutout in a 1–0 victory over the Milwaukee Braves. In the first game of a doubleheader against Pittsburgh on May 10, he gave up just three hits in a 4–0 shutout victory. On June 24, he picked up his third shutout of the season in a 3–0 victory over the Cardinals. However, he suffered from back problems that year and never pitched more than innings in a game after July 16, posting an 8.88 ERA and losing all five of his decisions after that date. In 27 games (24 starts), he had an 8–9 record, a 4.15 ERA, 80 strikeouts, 47 walks, and 158 hits allowed in innings. Maglie's career seemed to be over, but a chiropractor prescribed him an eighth-inch thick lift for one of his shoes to correct a tilted pelvis. In the first game of a doubleheader against Philadelphia on April 25, 1954, he threw a five-hit shutout in a 3–0 victory. On April 30 against the Cubs, he gave up two runs in 14 innings, winning the game after Mays hit a go-ahead run against Warren Hacker in the top of the 14th. He