United League of American Base B

Return of the Big Apple
Superbas, Sox Leading East
NEW YORK (May 1) -- For the first time since the advent of divisional play, two New York team sit atop the East Division. Brooklyn has won six straight and 8 of their last 10 despite injuries to Lew Burdette and Gene Conley. Fourth starter Johnny Kucks has raised his game with a 2.73 ERA and a club-leading three wins. Closer Dave Sisler leads the league with five saves despite an ERA of 5.91.
But it is the Manhattan Gray Sox that have surprised. The Sox led the division until dropping a three-game series to the Superbas. Former Ba Granny Hamner leads the offense with 19 RBIs and 19 runs, and Willie Stargell is on track for a breakout year, batting .348 (nearly 100 points above his career average) with 19 RBI and a .981 OPS. Manhattan's game at Detroit on April 25 was one of the greatest games in Gray Sox history. Sonny Siebert threw a three-hit shutout and Felipe Alou was 5-for-6 with 4 RBIs as the Sox rolled to a 11-0 rout. Manhattan won the next day 8-7 on an 11th inning RBI single by Willie Tasby (and third win for closer Ted Abernathy) to improve their record to 16-9 before losing four straight.

The Doc of the Bay
Spiders Trainer Earning Overtime
SAN FRANCISCO (May 1) -- The San Francisco Spiders have lost two-thirds of their Opening Day outfield, as LF Rocky Colavito joined RF Billy Williams on the DL with a torn rib cage muscle that will shelf him for at least 12 months. Colavito, 32, sustained the injury in Washington on April 17 making a diving catch on a long drive by Dick Howser. The catch turned out to be a game-saver as Tug McGraw later walked the bases loaded before striking out Willie Kirkland for the last out. It was the first save for McGraw and the first win for rookie starter Fergie Jenkins. "Sweet Swinging" Billy Williams tore an ab muscle on April 4 and isn't expected back until June.
Despite the injuries and the third worst pitching staff, San Francisco finds itself in second place at 16-13. The club has mastered the art of small-ball. The Spiders rank third in runs scored, offsetting the second fewest home runs with the most stolen bases and second most walks. And they are winning on the road, posting a 12-7 record away from Seals Stadium that is second only to Chicago.

Point, Counterpoint: Los Angeles Outlaws by Sean Holloway

Point: "Beverly Hills - That's Where I Want To Be! (Jimmie! Jimmie!)"
LOS ANGELES (May 1) -- Yes, Beverly Hills. Where else would a baseball fan want to spend the summer? Ghosts of UL past with Johnny Antonelli; ghosts of UL future with Jimmie "Weezer" Hall. Gene Siskell here, and this local hack of a reporter would like to do nothing more than spend the days watching the L.A. Outlaws send more UL teams to their doom faster than Alycia Lane can e-mail racy pictures to Rich Eisen. Naysayers be damned -- this team is ready.

Reason 1: The line-up is stacked more than Pamela Anderson's 5th boob job.
Bill White would be hitting clean-up for most teams, and instead he leads off, followed by the King of Kong himself, Henry Aaron. When you have the luxury of batting the HR King 2nd in front of Frank Robinson, Hall and Felix "Ch-Ch-Ch-Chia!" Mantilla, you know you will have no power shortages.

Reason 2: The rotation is firing on all cylinders and is a great mix of rookies and veterans.
Jim Bunning is your spot starter? Come on. Antonelli and Aguirre are as solid as any one-two in the League. Combine that with a seasoned Dierker and the rookie leftie Peterson and the rookie rightie Hargan, and LA is building a pitching staff of extraordinary magnitude. Manager Vays has our gratitude. And the pen is no slouch either, with Mahaffey passing to the Stickman and then to a R/L closer combination of Trowbridge and Baumann.

Counterpoint: "Here's the pitch - slow and straight - all I have to do is wait and I'm a hero; but I'm a zero."
Roger Ebert here to refute all of what my esteemed colleague has written. First, who wants to spend a summer in Beverly Hills when you could be in Chicago or St. Louis? Second, by your ramblings, I must ask: are you on dope? Although solid, the Outlaws would need to do some thievin' to make it all the way this year.

Reason 1: The rest of the starting line-up looks like Pamela Anderson *before* the boob job.
White has had several decent years, but he is apt to suffer slumps which greatly impact his average and OBP. Hall has performed well, but is no #4 material, and he has never impressed with OBP either. And once you're past the mashers, all you're left with is a whole lotta glove. Maz and Jim "Favre" Lefebvre put a huge dent in the starting line-up. And with Swoboda only batting versus lefties, will there be enough runners on base for the mashers to drive in?

Reason 2: The pitching staff is held together with duct tape.
Antonelli and Aguirre are as good a one-two as any in the League - provided they stay healthy. Methinks the injury bug may bite L.A.'s posterior. And the rookies are just that - rookies. How will they respond when it's the dog days of summer and they're staring at the likes of a Colts lineup that's loaded from top to bottom? Throwing these guys immediately into the majors is playing with fire, and this reporter thinks L.A. is going to get burned.

Voice of Reason - Somewhere between the two views. An improvement over last year, but not enough horses to overtake CHI or STL. 3rd Place.

Stay tuned for more cutting edge analyses of other UL teams, and for a year-end look at how accurate predictions were.

When Staffs Clash: Part One “Touching Tips”
by Charlie Qualls
The 1966 season’s just beginning, but there was electricity in Cleveland Municipal Stadium on Friday, April 15th. Good thing too, because it was a night game versus the streaking L.A. Outlaws, who after a slow start, won six of their last seven games. This was also a pissing contest between the UL’s two hottest pitching staffs, the surprise being Los Angeles, as most pundits swear it’s their bats that should be making all the noise. Defying even the highest expectations, both teams danced around donut holes for thirteen-and-a-half innings. Finally, it was the Barons who broke through in the 14th. Reliever Terry Fox singled to lead off the inning and was finally pushed across the plate by a walk-off Rusty Staub single. A rare sight to see the pitcher score the run that gets him the “W.”
Despite the heartbreaking loss, the Outlaws are thrilled to see rookie Steve Hargan rebound from a shaky start, and the bullpen (despite one jerk-off reporter likening them to vulture crap) has been the surprise of the early season posting a decidedly non-steaming 1.63 ERA. Hargan and three others gave up only nine hits. Dick Stigman took his third hard-luck loss of the year.
But the home team was not to be outdone. Bob Friend, Pete Richert and Terry Fox put the smack down, giving up one hit in fourteen innings (a sixth inning single by Tom Haller). The vaunted trio of Aaron, Robinson and Mantilla were a combined 0-15.
In spite of all the bonus frames, the game clocked in at just under four hours and the CMS janitor squad was left to clean up the fingernails of 40,000 happy fans.

Shawn Martin: The TSN Quick Hit
The Sporting News One-Question Interview of Boston's GM
TSN: Why is Boston in last place despite Orlando Cepeda hitting the club's first homer hat trick since the Gotham days (see Milestones) and Art Shamsky winning Rookie of the Month?
SM: Orlando's outstanding day and Shamsky's spectacular month were both fine individual achievements that everyone at the Boston Federals franchise are extremely proud of. Having Cepeda come up big is no surprise for us, as he has definitely earned his money for the last 8+ years. Art Shamsky is a guy we expect a lot from, and he has delivered that power pop so far. Herb Score has also had an impressive month (1.85 ERA). That said, those are only individual achievements, and our team is not firing on all cylinders quite yet.
We are at 12-16, 3.5 games out of first place, but last, in a packed East Division. So the plain and simple fact that we are in last place does not concern me that much, when the leader is a scant 3 games over .500. The problems to me have been our lack of luck in 3 tough extra innings games, and admittedly we need to get a bit more out of our #5 starter. We are going to give 1965 1st Round draft pick Jim Lonborg another crack at the rotation, and Bruce Howard will be sent back to AAA Philadelphia.