Campy Elected to Hall of Fame
NEW YORK (Nov. 1) -- United League owners today elected former St. Louis Maroons and Los Angeles Outlaws catcher Roy Campanella the fourth inductee into the UL Hall of Fame.  Campy beat out Washington Monuments righthander Carl Erskine in a runoff vote, 36-24, after both candidates failed to reach the majority in the first round.  Both were five-time All-UL selections, but in the end voters gave Campanella the edge.

Campanella was the second player ever drafted, joining the Brooklyn Superbas in the 1951 Initial Draft, but he was traded to St. Louis midway through 1951 and spent the next three and a half years with the Maroons, helping them win the first UL championship in 1951 and establishing a league record 26-game hitting streak in 1952.  In March 1955, Campanella joined the expansion Outlaws in one of the biggest trade blockbusters in UL history and went on to produce his best season, batting .350 with 31 home runs and 132 RBIs to capture the Most Valuable Player Award.

No player was as dominant at his position as Campanella in the league's early years.  Campy consistently outperformed his rivals Ed Bailey of Louisville, Joe Ginsberg of Washington, and Yogi Berra of Chicago.  Campanella hit least 20 home runs and 80 RBIs every year from 1951-59, and won five straight All-UL selections 1952-56.

Erskine and Campy split the first round vote, with 48 and 46 percent respectively, but Campanella was the choice of 8 of 12 owners in the runoff.  Willie Jones and Stu Miller also received first round votes, and slugger Gus Zernial was voted off the ballot.

Johnny A Calls It A Day
LOS ANGELES (Oct. 11) -- Four-time Cy Young winner Johnny Antonelli announced his retirement today, after an illustrious 16-year UL career.  Antonelli, 38, leaves the league as the all-time leader in wins (312), strikeouts (4411), shutouts (53), games started, and innings pitched.  Though the southpaw pitched for five teams, he will forever be associated with two of them: the Louisville Colonels, with whom he won his first three Cys and the 1958 World Series, and the Los Angeles Outlaws, with whom he enjoyed a late career renaissance, including his fourth Cy Young at the age of 36, and the Outlaws first pennant in 1968.

Brooklyn made Antonelli the third overall pick of the 1953 Reentry Draft, but a week later traded him to Louisville in a package for Richie Ashburn.  He exacted revenge on his former club by striking out 16 Superbas on May 18, en route to a record 258 strikeouts in his rookie campaign.  Antonelli won the Cy Young Award in his 1956 breakout season, posting a 24-10 record, 2.42 ERA, and striking out a then-record 372.  He led the Colonels to a championship in 1958 and a division pennant in 1960.  In 1961, he became the first pitcher to win 30 games and only the second to win back-to-back Cy Youngs.  He played the second half of 1963 with Boston, then pitched two years in Washington, again winning 21 games in 1964, before joining the Outlaws on a deadline trade in 1965.  He enjoyed a late career renaissance with Los Angeles, going 62-32 with a 2.72 ERA in 116 starts -- all after his 35th birthday.  In an incredible three-and-a-half year run with the Outlaws he grabbed his fourth Cy Young (matching Gene Conley's haul) in 1966, notched his 4,000th strikeout in 1967, and became the first 300-game winner in UL history in 1968.

During his peak seven years with Louisville (1956-62), Johnny averaged 23.5 wins and 296 strikeouts per year.  Over his career he won 20 games eight times and four times surpassed 300 strikeouts.  He was named to a record eight All-UL Teams, matched only by Ernie Banks, and his 2.92 career ERA ranks third all-time.  He leaves the UL just in time to be elected one of the first five inductees into the UL Hall of Fame next year, and probably will be the first to win that honor on the first ballot.