"The Egyptian" is at it again. Philadelphia's Ed Burrell is hitting like a house afire, putting up a .394 average for June after hitting an unbelievable .484 in May. His mark as the season enters July is a very solid .424 average, fully 52 percentage points ahead of his nearest competitors (Boston's Russell and Louisville's Barbella are both hitting .372). At just 25 years of age, Burrell has established himself alongside Charlie Shanafelt as base ball's best hitter. His career mark is a robust .342 and with averages of .371, .419, .358 and .378 in his previous four campaigns, his .424 this year can not be considered a fluke.
Ronald Mason continues to be the story on the pitching side of the ledger. The Louisville ace has his team sitting atop the League standings board with a nice five-and-a-half game cushion. Personally, Mason himself leads the circuit in victories with 17 (three more than his nearest competition) and in earned run average with a stellar 1.56 mark. The ERA is the best indicator of Mason's dominance. The second-best mark in the National League is held by Boston's Bob Harrison who has posted a 2.28 ERA.
Louisville's 45-16 mark is the best in the League with Brooklyn (39-21) and Boston (38-22) currently battling for the second spot in the Temple Cup championship this October. Pittsburgh (34-26), Baltimore (31-29) and Cleveland (30-30) round out the top six teams.
The New York Giants have rebounded nicely after their disastrous 1896 campaign and a slow start to 1897. Are the Gotham nine preparing to contend in the near future? After a 1-7 start in April, New York improved to go 12-15 in May, but floundered to 8-17 in June. The question is whether the Giants are really the team which played well in May, or the shoddy nine which played poorly in June. Overall, the team is 21-39 and in tenth place, having escaped the League's basement, currently occupied by Cincinnati (19-41).
ED BURRELL, PHILA.