United League Baseball

Monuments Slump
Maroons Cling to First in Tight Four-Way Race
WASHINGTON (May 1) -- Two-time champion Washington Monuments went on a seven-game losing streak, spoiling a 13-2 start that had pundits predicting their third straight pennant. Yes, it's May 1, and we may have an actual pennant race on our hands this year! Through 25 games, four teams are clustered at the top within one game, but it is St. Louis that clings to first place, after a key 3-1 series win over Washington on Apr. 25-27. In three thrilling games at Sportsman's Park, the Maroons destroyed the defending champs twice (12-2 on Sunday on two three-run homers by Vern Stephens, and 12-3 on Tuesday with a balanced 16-hit barrage), and eeked out a 5-4 win on Monday, in one of the best games of the season.
   Cy Young winner Stu Miller battled strikeout king Billy Pierce Monday the 26th, and neither gave away much. Joe Adcock's solo homer in the first was the game's only run until the seventh, when, with Miller apparently headed to his fourth win in five starts, the Maroons managed to get a couple on base with singles by Johnny Wyrostek and Monte Irvin. With two outs, Gil Coan hit a routine fly to left, but left fielder Adcock slipped and the ball rolled to the fence. Del Ennis then added a run with a pinch single for a 3-1 St. Louis lead after seven. Adcock atoned himself with an RBI single in the eighth, but going to the ninth, the home side still held the lead. With Johnny Klippstein on the mound to save Pierce's win, Billy Goodman hit a leadoff triple. Ted Kluszewski drove in the tying run, and scored the go-ahead run on Sherm Lollar's single. Lollar was stranded, but Washington gave Frank Smith the ball and a 4-3 lead going to the bottom of the ninth. Smith, an All-Star reliever, led the league with 37 saves last season and only three blown saves.
   Monte Irvin walked, Big George Crowe slapped a pinch single, and Gene Baker singled home Irvin for the tying run. Then after Dom DiMaggio bunted the runners over, Musial was intentionally walked, loading the bases for Roy Campanella, who singled into short left, scoring Red Wilson and sending 25,000 spectators into a frenzy.
   St. Louis has finished second place each of the last two years, after winning the inauguraul UL pennant in 1951. This off season the Maroons added veterans hitters Monte Irvin and Eddie Stanky, who have helped create the league's top offense (6.0 runs/game). The club features three of the league's top five RBI men (Stephens, Campanella, and Jones), and five regulars are batting .329 or better.

Race Wide Open, So Far
   Other teams in the hunt include Chicago and New York. The Colts have got some quality work from Don Newcombe (3-1, 4.44), seven saves from Joe Ostrowski, and a balanced offense and solid defense. Chicago swept Brooklyn Apr. 25-27, including a 2-0 shutout by Ford/Ostrowski and a 6-1 seven-hit win for Newcombe. 3B Al Rosen is had a red-hot April, batting .352 (100+ point above his career average), with a .685 slugging percentage and 12 RBI. If he had a few more plate appearances, he would be leading the league in OPS.
   New York also sits just a game back, with the league's second most potent offense (5.8 runs/game, .290 average) compensating for lukewarm pitching (4th in ERA, 5th in runs allowed), though Mike Fornieles continues to earn his 'ace' title, with a 5-1 record and 2.36 ERA in April. Bob Hooper has eight saves already, despite a 6.75 ERA. Larry Doby (.364-6-25) gave the team a boost in the last week, with 10 hits and 10 RBIs in seven games, and took home the BOM for the first time in his career. Right fielder Irv Noren is building on a solid 1953 with a spectacular start (.344-2-17, .425 OBP, 20 runs in 24 games).
   Washington is only a game behind, despite their franchise-record seven-game skid. The slump came fast on the heels of a winning streak of the same length. A home loss to Chicago was followed by three defeats in Brooklyn and three more in St. Louis. The slump was caused by unusual celestial alignment that caused a hitters' funk to coincide with a spell of probably the worst pitching Washington has seen in over two years.
   The Monuments batted just .248 during the slump, while posting a 7.84 team ERA. Three times they gave up at least 12 runs, as Carl Erskine, Erv Palica, and Steve Gromek were slammed. The one game of the bunch in which they allowed just two earned runs, Stu Miller was victimized by a Joe Adcock error that resulted in three unearned runs in a 5-4 loss. The streak ended on Apr. 28 with a 13-7 win over the Maroons. Gil McDougald doubled, homered, and drove in four, as Washington chased Ken Raffensberger with a 15-hit outburst. After an extra-inning loss to Boston the next day, Miller shut out the Beacons 4-0 on three hits, returning a sense of normalcy to the champions' clubhouse.

All Smiles in L-Ville
BY MARK ALLEN
We haven't seen a smile on team owner Mark Allen's face this big since the Pink Pussycat Strip Club opened in downtown Louisville. Here it is May and the Colonels are pushing to be a top division club, currently tied for 5th.
   Newcomer Ed Bailey has taken the starting C job away from Kluttz which has freed him up to work with the Colonels young pitching staff. Garcia (3.18), Donovan (3.360), and Mizell (2.67) have all pitched brilliantly and are fighting for that has-been Feller's starting spot. Antonelli has also showed more consistency (3.78) while averaging over a K an inning. Off season pick Cox (.348) along with Peanuts(.323) have led the Colonels with their bats.
   And the future looks bright for Louisville as Kaline, Post, Bilko, Aaron and the surprising Harrry Chiti are all batting over .300 in AAA while Art Houtteman may have just played his way back to the bigs with a 0.59 ERA so far in AAA.

AROUND THE HORN

ST. LOUIS MAROONS 16-9 -- 7-5	Entered a four-game home series with Washington tied for first at 13-6. Won 3 of the 4 games to claim first place. 12-2 blowout in Sunday's opener thanks to a pair of 3-run homers by Vern Stephens. Thrilling 5-4 comeback win Monday in a pitchers duel between Stu Miller and Billy Pierce (see ab0ve). Another blowout Tuesday, 12-3, as Gil Coan went 3-4 with 3 RBI and five other Maroons had two hits. St. Louis proceeded to lose their next three games . . . Four players in the top seven in OPS (Campanella, Stephens, Jones, and Musial).
CHICAGO COLTS 15-10 1 6-6	Bobby Thomson leads the team in home runs (5), RBI (13), and hits (20), despite being off his game (only batting .264, .292 OBP) . . . Pee Wee Reese isn't repeating his awesome April from last year, but he setting the table for the Colts, with a .371 OBP, six stolen bases, and 19 runs in 22 games . . . Chicago is a league-best 7-2 in one-run games. Rookie Jim Finigan leads the league with .625 average in close/late situations, and Joe Ostrowski has converted 7 of 8 save attempts.
NEW YORK GOTHAMS 15-10 1 6-6	Mike Fornieles (5-1, 2.36) has won four of his last five starts (one ND), and is the league's only five-game winner. Frank Sullivan (4-2, 4.34) had a rough start but has won four straight starts with a 3.49 ERA . . . Irv Noren is batting .344 with 13 walks (.425 OBP) and leads the team with 20 runs . . . BOM Larry Doby has driven him in more than anyone else, 25 RBIs for the slugging center fielder who is batting .364 and slugging .682 . . . The team leads the league with 33 double plays (Boudreau to Robinson to Wertz).
WASHINGTON MONUMENTS 15-10 1 4-8	Who's hot? Nobody. In the last week, Piersall, Furillo, Adcock, Mays, Snider, and McDougald have combined for a .134 average (13-97) . . . Duke Snider, in a platoon role (no pun intended) as a cleanup hitter vs. righties, is struggling to get his old swing back. Duke is hitting .213 with just two homers in 47 at-bats. His platoon mate Carl Furillo isn't faring much better (.222-1-4 in 11 games) . . . After his red-hot start and 4/19 POW award, Willie Mays is batting just .195 (8-41) in his last 10 games . . . Fourth-starter blues: in six starts, Carl Erskine and Erv Palica have just one win between them.
DETROIT SOUND 11-14 5 8-4	Ouch: Robin Roberts celebrated his Apr. 30 no-decisions, as it ending a streak of six straight losing starts. Roberts (0-6, 5.66) is off to his worst start by a longshot. He isn't getting much support in the rotation, either. #2 starter Bob Porterfield is just 1-3 in six starts. Among starters, only Ted Gray (4-2, 5.10) has more than two wins . . . League Leaders: George Kell (.402) and Catfish Metkovich (.367) are 1st and 3rd in batting, and Ralph Kiner, last year's HR and RBI champ, again leads with league with 8 and 29.
LOUISVILLE COLONELS 11-14 5 7-5	The Colonels won five straight, including a sweep of Boston, to separate themselves from the bottom of the pack . . . 5-1 in one-run games, solid bullpen work by Vinegar Bend Mizell (2.61), Mike Garcia (3.18), and Dick Donovan (3.60) . . . Johnny Antonelli (2-2, 3.78) and three relievers shut out the Sound 6-0 on three hits Apr. 26 . . . Golden Parachute?: Bob Feller extended his record loss streak to 13 games with two more defeats. "Rapid Robert" has allowed 53 hits and 16 walks in 28.2 innings, and leads the league with the highest ratio (21.7), H/9 (16.6), and W/9 (5.0) . . . Alvin Dark is hot, hitting .565 (13-23), with 3 HR and 11 RBI in his last 6 games.
BROOKLYN SUPERBAS 9-16 7 5-7	Lost 5 of last 6 games, including sweep at Chicago . . . Fred Hutchinson threw seven innings of one-hit ball Apr. 26 and came away with no decision, as Chicago won 2-0 on Bobby Thomson's two-run pinch homer in the eighth . . . League's most feeble offense has only scored 99 runs (3.96/gm) . . . Where's the Bandbox?: cozy Ebbets Field is supposed to be a power hitter's heaven, but this year, Brooklyn is last in home runs and first in fewest home runs allowed . . . Dick Littlefield is only 70% after a torn rotator cuff (3 wks) . . . Minnie Minoso (.365-2-14) is hot, batting .536 (15-28) with 6 RBI in his last 7 games.
BOSTON BEACONS 8-17 8 5-7	Warren Spahn won twice after an 0-4 start, beating Detroit 10-6 on Apr. 23 and then edging New York and Early Wynn 5-4 on the 27th . . . Ned Garver got his first win in six starts despite allowing 16 hits in a complete game effort in a 9-6 win over New York on the 28th . . . A 3-run 11th gave the Beacons a 4-1 win at Washington on the 29th. Harvey Haddix pitched 10 innings with just one unearned run . . . C Bruce Edwards is going nuts, hitting .483 (14-29) with 3 HR and 10 RBI in a platoon role . . . Mantle has snapped out of his funk, hitting .450 (9-20) in his last 5 games, but Zernial (3-17) and Torgeson (1-14) have not.