Just Watching Around the League

By Lyle Kittle

Not a Lot of Infield Singles Here

Five American League hitters are blasting away with averages over .370. Of that group, only one, leader King Kelly (a catcher hitting a league leading .430) can be regarded as having any real speed. Second place Biz Mackey (another catcher at .412) 1b Eddie Murray (.386), OF Joe Medwick (.374) and 1b Cap Anson (.371) won’t exactly clog up the bases, but they certainly represent no threat to the legacies of speedsters like Jesse Owens and Bullet Bob Hayes.

Killer on the Loose

Minnesota’s heavy hitting Harmon Killebrew has overtaken Medwick in the homerun race (16 to 14), but still trails in the RBI race (41 to 38). Killebrew has done more than just blast balls out of the Loons’ Nest, hitting .355 overall. The “Killer” has been remarkably consistent, hitting eight homers and driving in 19 runs in each session.

An Uphill Battle for the “Killer B’s”

Boston’s Takehiko Bessho shows no sign of letting up. Now 4-0, with a 1.75 ERA, the righty has teamed with Chet Brewer (5-0, 3.20) to pace a pitching that has largely let down what appeared to be one of the favorites in the AL> Still time for highly touted Vic Willis and Burleigh Grimes to turn things around, though.

Bruised, But Not Bloodied

New York’s Hughie Jennings has been hit by pitchers 14 times already, more than twice that of anyone else, leading clubhouse joker Hack Wilson to observe, “Even Chuck Wepner didn’t get hit that much.”

Question of the Session

With all the free swingin’ big sluggers in the AL, isn’t it a little unusual to see the versatile Martin Dihigo of Tallahassee leading the league in strikeouts?

Minor League Round-up

Detroit's player-manager Bill McKechnie is in the cat bird seat for a remarkable double achievement.  The ageless wonder is in the front-runner for the Eastern Division Manager of the Year, and is the division's batting leader at .396.

Houston's Bob Bescher, hitting .362, is the dominant force in a number of categories, leading the division in on-base average (.464), runs (39), slugging average (.534), total bases (93), and walks (33) and is in a four-way tie atop the doubles list with 11. The speedy flyhawk is also second in the division with 15 steals, two behind Minnesota City's Jake Daubert.

Bescher's teammate, Bill Killefer, has the division's longest hit streak, a still active 16 games.

Minnesota City's Bill James leads the division in saves with seven.

Houston leads the division in a number of important categories - hitting (.301), ERA (3.17), OBA (..364), and slugging (.403) - some of the biggest reasons the Baby Colts are leading Western Division.

Washington's Kenichi Yazawa continues to hammer away at whichever pitcher takes the mound. Through 40 games, the left-handed hitting first baseman is hitting .444 to lead the league, and also leads in homeruns (12), runs (51), rbi (59), OBA (.582), slugging (.775) and total bases (138).

Washington manager Gabby Street is reportedly begging Portsmouth for a promotion to the big club. Not because his stats (.225, 0, 3) merit a move up, but because he’s apparently tired of dealing with the loose cannons that Portsmouth and Washington have sent to stock the team Street came out of the clubhouse to observe Washington farmhands Maury kent and Bobby keefe standing 20 feet apart, hurling baseballs at each other. Street groaned at the sight, only to have OF Rube Oldring say, “Don’t worry, skip. They’ve been at it for 20 minutes and haven’t hit each other yet.” What can you expect from two hurlers who have issued 24 walks in 45 innings?

Brooklyn catcher Ben Egan thought he’d give his pitching staff a hand by placing a thumbtack in his mitt to scuff the ball for them. In typical Egan fashion, he put the tack in backwards and is listed day-to-day.