1897 Temple Cup champion Louisville is off to an outstanding start in 1898, with a 32-8 record at the close of May, holding a four-and-a-half game lead on Brooklyn in the standings. Boston is six back in third with Cleveland (9.5) and St. Louis (10) hanging in the near distance. At the other end of the spectrum, Cincinnati (12-27) is in the basement, but there are four other teams within three games of the cellar.
Buck Roberts leads the league in hitting with a .394 average, but the real story has been the strength of the pitching thus far. The league-wide earned run average is 3.01 with Louisville (no surprise) leading the way at 1.97 with Boston (2.05) just behind. The top five marks in the league are all under 1.65 with George Hughes' 1.39 leading the way.
A fine race is shaping up in the Western League where Indianapolis and Milwaukee are deadlocked atop the standings with identical 25-12 marks. Milwaukee's Bob Gobel has exploded onto the professional scene in his first season, leading the Western loop in batting with a .448 average and driving in a run per game (37). Indianapolis counters with the loop's best pitcher, John Jenkins, whose 1.68 ERA and 8-1 record are tops in the league.
Over in the Eastern League, Wilkes-Barre is dominating the play thus far, with a 24-7 record and six game edge on both Buffalo and Montreal. Pitcher Lionel Frace, a newcomer to the professional ranks is 8-0 with a 1.89 ERA for Wilkes-Barre. Buffalo's Johannes Buchwald, in his fourth pro season, is leading the circuit in batting with a .448 mark.
John Jenkins, INDIANAPOLIS