United League Baseball

Mays Goes on Homer Rampage,
Big Klu Breaks Wrist
WASHINGTON (June 16) -- Willie Mays homered five times in five games, driving in 11 runs, to earn POW honors for the fourth time in his career. The clouts came in games on June 7-8 against Brooklyn and June 11 against New York, and June 13 against Chicago. The Monuments actually lost the last two games, including a 7-4 loss on the 11th, in which The "Say Hey Kid" homered twice. Mays raised his average to .294, is tied for fourth in home runs (13), and leads Washington with 39 RBIs.
   The day Mays' homer binge ended (June 13) was the day Ted Kluszewski fractured his wrist. "Big Klu" was hit by a Mel Parnell curveball in the sixth inning, and x-rays revealed a hairline fracture that will sideline the slugging first baseman for five weeks. Kluszewski (.219-5-32) is having an awful year after batting .340 with 27 doubles in 118 games last year. Klu won the starting job on both sides this year, after platooning with Joe Adcock last year. Adcock, too, has fallen on hard times in '54 (.229-8-31).
   Washington split it 14 games down the middle in early June, as did the other top teams, resulting in very little change in the standings. Brooklyn was 9-4, climbing within three games of fourth place Chicago.

Expansion Short List Unveiled
NEW YORK (June 10) -- The league announced a short list of six cities for the forthcoming expansion of the United League. The eight-team circuit will add two teams in 1955, and a vote of the owners whittled the list from 13 to six cities. The top vote-getter in the voting was Cleveland, which earned 19 votes, 54% of the total possible. Los Angeles and Philadelphia tied with 16 votes (46%), San Francisco got 14 (40%), and Atlanta and Pittsburgh tied with 10 votes (29%). Each owner chose fives cities on a sliding point scale. The maximum possible number of votes was 35 (7 owners * 5 pts for #1 vote). Brooklyn abstained from the voting.
   When the United League took shape in the wake of the major league bankruptcies in 1950, the founders had to make some tough choices. With only eight teams in the new league, three former big league cities were left without teams (Philadelphia, Cleveland, and Pittsburgh). But that is no guarantee than those cities will be awarded expansion franchises. The league has professed its desire to expand the geographic reach of Organized Baseball, and the owners agree, as the strong support for western and southern cities attests. But the final choice will be determined by the strength of the ownership bids. "All that has been decided today is that the league's expansion teams will be in two of these six cities," league president Timothy J. Smith stated, refusing to reveal his own voting preference.
   The league will now accept expansion bids from the six cities, and anticipates announcing the new owners and franchises by the end of July.

United League Expansion Vote
Expansion Short List			Rejected cities
City Cleveland Los Angeles Philadelphia San Francisco Atlanta Pittsburgh	Votes 19 16 16 14 10 10	% 54% 46% 46% 40% 29% 29%	City Baltimore Dallas Kansas City Minneapolis Cincinnati Milwaukee Buffalo	Votes 7 5 4 2 1 1 0	% 20% 14% 11% 6% 3% 3% 0%

Brooklyn Honors Billy Hitchcock
by Glen Reed
BROOKLYN (June 16) -- The Brooklyn Superbas have christened the north-facing entrance to the newly minted Frank Thomas Memorial Stadium "Billy Hitchcock Gate". The tribute is to memorialize the broadly built second-sacker who survived World War II, only to be felled in the so-called U.N. "peace action" on the Korean Peninsula. In the batter's box, the tale of the tape shows that Billy knocked his first ever UL hit off the infamous Maury McDermott. On the park, William Clyde Hitchcock did a journeyman's job for the Superbas, finding time on the hot corner and both middle infield positions in 1951 and '52. But after giving of his best baseball years in the fight against Nazism, the aging Hitchcock was put to the test by the young, lefty-hitting Pete Runnels and found wanting, eventually being demoted to AAA late in '52. Against this backdrop, Billy heeded Uncle Sam's call for the final time, shipping out to his final resting place--and a spot in Superba history--in 1953.

AROUND THE HORN

WASHINGTON MONUMENTS 42-24 -- 7-7	Stu Miller and Steve Gromek won back-to-back games June 14-15. It was the 10th win for each, giving Washington three 10-game winners less than half way through the season. The Mons are thus on pace to equal their amazing feat of last season, having three 20-game winners. . . Fourth starter Carl Erskine is 4-2, 2.79 in his last 7 starts. . . Joe Ginsberg hit .500 (9-18) in his last 5 games.
ST. LOUIS MAROONS 39-27 3 6-7	Dom DiMaggio was 4-for-5 with 4 RBI in a 12-5 win over Brooklyn June 14. He is hitting .500 (10-20) in his last 7 games. . . Only team with winning record against Washington (7-2) . . . Sam Zoldak (9-4, 3.90), who won five straight decisions in May, was 1-2, 7.08 in his last 3 starts. . . Billy Pierce got his 10th win of the year and 700th strikeout of his career in a 7-4 win over Detroit June 3 . . . Chico Ain't the Man: futility infielder Chico Carrasquel hit just .143 in 49 at bats since moving up from AAA Indianapolis a month ago.
NEW YORK GOTHAMS 37-29 5 7-6	Won 4 straight June 6-9. 7-1 from June 6-14, including 4-1 extra inning win over Detroit June 14 won by Irv Noren's 3-run homer in the 10th . . . Frank Thomas managed to drive in 10 runs in the last 13 games, despite a .182 batting average. He and Joe Astroth each drove in 5 runs in a 14-1 blowout of Detroit on June 13 . . . Lou Boudreau, approaching his 36th birthday, is hitting like an old man, batting 2-21 (.095) in his last 6 games. . . AAA Cleveland (43-23) leads the American Association.
CHICAGO COLTS 36-30 6 6-7	Ernie Banks has a 7-game hitting streak and is batting 8-20 (.400) in June . . . Despite intermittent playing time (he basically plays when Yogi is tired), catcher Andy Seminick has a hot bat, batting 7-13 (.538) with 7 RBI in his last 5 games (spread over 3 weeks) . . . LF Jim Delsing hit 7-12 with 7 RBI in a three-game span June 7-11 . . . Better and better: Whitey Ford's ERA by month: 3.54, 2.34, 1.88 . . . Cooling off: After an 8-2 start, Don Newcombe is winless in his last four starts (0-2, 4.41).
BROOKLYN SUPERBAS 33-33 9 9-4	Gettin' On and Gettin' In: Leadoff man Richie Ashburn is having a hot June, with a .467 OBP, 7 stolen bases, and 10 runs in 12 games. He was 4-4 June 11 in 12-2 win over Louisville . . . Gene Woodling drove in 5 runs with a 4-for-5 day in an 8-0 win at St. Louis June 15. Harry Dorish threw a 10-hit shutout in his third start of the year . . . Fred Hutchinson has won three straight starts with a 1.33 ERA . . . 5-1 loss at Washington June 7 ended eight-game winning streak.
BOSTON BEACONS 29-38 13.5 7-7	Swept by Louisville June 13-15, first team swept by last place Colonels since April 19-21 (also Boston). 2-9 against Louisville . . . Leads league in home runs (64: Zernial 13, Mathews 12) . . . Mickey Mantle strained his back June 9, will take 1-2 weeks to recover . . . AA Atlanta (42-25) leads Southern League, Single-A Los Angeles (41-26) leads PCL.
DETROIT SOUND 26-40 16 6-7	Kiner broke out of homer slump with six homers so far in June (13 games) . . . #2 and #3 hitters are heating up ahead of Kiner: Catfish Metkovich hit .375 (9-24) with 5 RBIs in last 5 games, and Willard Marshall hit .417 (10-24) in last 6 games . . . Hot and Cold: George Kell was Player of the Week June 7, batting .556 with a .600 OBP and 8 RBIs, but hit 2-32 (.063) in last 7 games. . . Fifth starter Jim Wilson is still winless after six starts (0-4, 4.42). . . Robin Roberts has won three straight after 1-8 start . . . No starter has a winning record.
LOUISVILLE COLONELS 23-44 19.5 6-9	Snapped 1-9 slump with three wins over Boston June 13-15, one in extra innings, and two by one run . . . Alvin Dark hit .429 (12-28) in his last 8 games . . . Return of Crappy Pitching: Johnny Antonelli 0-1, 7.13 in last 3 starts, Dick Donovan 0-2, 10.14 in last 3 starts . . . Art Houtteman struck out nine Beacons in 8 shutout innings June 12, but got no decision in a 2-0, 10-inning loss.