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United
League of
American Base Ball Clubs
est.
1951
LEAGUE
FILE (7/23) ·
HEADLINES
· NEWS
LOG · TRANSACTIONS ·
INJURIES ·
FINANCES
STANDINGS ·
BOX
SCORES · SCHEDULE ·
BATTING ·
PITCHING ·
FIELDING · LEADERS
LEAGUE
RULES · TEAM INFO ·
ROSTERS ·
FREE
AGENTS · TOP
PROSPECTS · TOP
FARMS
TOP
PERFORMANCES ·
RECORD
BOOK · PAST
LEADERS · CAREER
LEADERS
BEGINNINGS ·
CITIES ·
BALLPARKS ·
PLAYER PHOTOS (1958)
·
OOTP 6.1 PATCH
TOTAL UL
· 1951 ·
1952 · 1953 ·
1954 ·
1955 ·
1956
·
1957
·
1958 Draft
3/8
· 4/7
· 4/17 · 5/1 · 5/16 · 6/1
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Partners in Crime Snag
First Place
Rush, Robinson Lead
L.A. Over Division Rivals
LOS
ANGELES (June 1) -- Taking advantage of a collective divisional slide of
Howard Dean proportions, the Los Angeles Outlaws went from last to first
with a 17-11 record in May. Louisville and St. Louis went a
collective 6-22 since mid-May, while San Francisco and Chicago played
below .500, allowing the Angelenos' 9-5 surge to vault them over .500 and
into first place for the first time in club history.
Bob Rush, written off by most of the league as a has-been
wannabe, extended the most effective stretch of his career into a second
month. Rush, 31, is 7-1, 2.62, ranking second in ERA, fourth in wins
(tied), and seventh in Ratio.
Offensively, the Outlaws were led by the power tandem of
Frank Robinson and Dale Long. Robinson, 22, 1956 Rookie of the Year,
raised his April average by 26 points, not impressive per se, until
one considers that he hit .342 in April. Robinson leads the Outlaws
with a .357 average, 39 RBIs, and 1.028 OPS. The Beaumont, Texas
native ranks third in batting and OPS. His partner in crime, first
baseman Dale Long, seems to be reverting to his 1956 form, in which he hit
.347 and won the RBI title with 127. Long, 32, is hitting
.309-10-36.
The most dramatic series of the season was a five-game sweep
of defending West champions St. Louis May 20-24. Dale Ennis was
3-for-4 with 2 runs in a 9-4 win in the opener, and Rush tossed a four-hit
shutout in the finale. In between, Jim Bunning, Erv Palica, and Ray
Herbert earned narrow one-run wins. The West division has turned
into a five-way race, with last place Chicago only four games off the
pace.
Robinson,
Snider Out for Season
Careers of UL
Pioneers in Jeopardy after Major Injuries
NEW
YORK (June 1) -- The United League's first batting and home run champions
each suffered season-ending injuries in late May, heralding the sunset
days of a baseball generation. Jackie Robinson, painfully playing
out his sunset years in minor league obscurity, and Duke Snider, fighting
back years in what should be the prime of his career, will sit out the
rest of 1958. Both face uncertain futures in the year ahead.
Robinson, 39, a three-time batting champion, 1952 Most
Valuable Player, and former interim manager of the New York Gothams, has
probably played his last professional baseball game. Since his last
batting title in 1954, Robinson has seen his production decline
inexorably, so much so that new Gothams GM Shawn Martin took the drastic
but necessary measure of demoting the living legend to the minor leagues
this season. It was there, playing for Cleveland, that Robinson
broke his wrist in a game on May 24. Robinson is signed through next
year, at a whopping $12.45 million per year, making him the highest paid
minor leaguer in baseball history (eclipsing Louisville's pitching potzer
Mickey McDermott by nearly $5 million).
Snider, though only 30, fits the profile of a career in
decline. The 'Silver Fox' was the UL's first home run champion in
1951, and rivaled Jackie's Gotham teammate Ted Williams as one of the most
productive hitters in the league. Like Williams, Snider lost his
1953 season to military service. Unlike Teddy Ballgame, Snider
returned to baseball in 1954, and though his numbers were down from his
two monster years, he averaged almost 90 RBI a year for the next three
seasons. Last year Snider had a cataclysmic decline, hitting just
.212 with 58 RBIs in a full-time role. When Snider hit just .175
through the first 18 games this April, new GM Steven Giovanelli came to
the same conclusion that Martin did in New York -- that even legends and
superstars eventually become unmistakable liabilities. Snider had
never played a minor league game in his UL career before his May 1
reassignment to Triple-A Baltimore. Just four weeks into his
Triple-A career (hitting .213 with 10 home runs in 25 games), Snider broke
his knee in a game at Milwaukee on May 28. Like Robinson, Snider is
on a long-term mega-contract, earning $8.4 million through 1960.
Both New York and Washington are facing financial
difficulties, raising the suspicion that the new GMs may have influenced
the so-called 'accidents' to improve their long-term financial positions,
a conspiracy theory that league president Timothy J. Smith dismissed as
'preposterous.'
