[legendsport]

Nothing much has changed in the first two weeks of August. The Phillies continue to sit on top of the standings, with the Champion Orioles just one game behind. Brooklyn has edged ahead of the other competitors in the next group of teams and is just one behind Baltimore. Two behind the Bridegrooms are Louisville and Pittsburgh.

Brooklyn's Harvey Cart is hitting .399 to lead the loop and holds a sizable lead over Shooter Smith (.378) of Washington. Baltimore's Rick Kushner is once again the class of the pitching corps with 24 victories and a 2.99 earned run mark, both tops in the league.


TOM "SHOOTER" SMITH

[legendsport]

Well, it appears we have ourselves a real race this year. There are not two, but three teams knotted up at the top of the leaderboard. The Phillies, Orioles and Bridegrooms are all 66-43. Since only two of these teams can play for the Temple Cup, someone's going to spend a discontented winter. The question of who will be answered in September.

So who'll take the flag? Well, going by pythag, the Orioles have the edge, with a pythag 6 games better than their actual record. On the flip side, Philadelphia's pythag is 4 games worse than their record. Brooklyn? They're right there at even on the pythag-o-meter.

Brooklyn's Harvey Cart continues to flirt with .400, sitting at .396 and still leading the batting race by a fairly sizable margin. Boston's Harry Ransom is looking to become the first player in history to have two seasons with 20 or more home runs (he has 19 after hitting 23 a season ago).

August's monthly awards went to Zane Bridges of Pittsburgh (rookie) who hit .343 for the month. Top hitter went to Harvey Cart, who posted a none-too-shabby .425 average in August. And pitching honors go to Baltimore's Rick Kushner. Kush posted a 7-3 record with a 1.68 ERA in his 10 August outings.


HARRY RANSOM

[legendsport]

With 120 games in the books, Brooklyn has surged ahead to take the top spot in the National League, opening up a three-game edge over Philadelphia, while the defending champs from Baltimore are now four off the pace. Also four off the pace is Louisville, setting up a three-way battle for the second slot in the Temple Cup (not to mention a potential four-way fight for the top spot should Brooklyn falter).

Brooklyn's success is at least partially due to Harvey Cart. The little second baseman has fallen off the .400-pace off earlier in the season, but his .390 mark is still good for best in the circuit. George Tharp is having himself a solid season for Brooklyn as well. The 28-year-old pitcher has 25 victories (3rd-most in the NL) and a 2.77 ERA (2nd-best).

Brooklyn did suffer a big loss when outfielder Jim Cahoon broke his elbow in an on-field collision and is done for the balance of the season (and may miss the 1896 opener as well). Cahoon had already touched the plate 100 times while hitting .305 and driving home 75 this season, so he will be missed. The question is, will the Bridegrooms be able to hang on with him?


JIM CAHOON

[legendsport]

The 1895 regular season is in the books. Brooklyn did manage to hold off all comers to clinch the club's first pennant since they took three straight from 1890-92. The loss of Jim Cahoon didn't seem to have much impact on the Bridegrooms, even though young Buck Roberts hit just .222 in his place in the lineup.

The battle for second-place was a tight one - and required a playoff to determine who would get to face the Bridegroom's for William Temple's Cup. Louisville and Baltimore squared off in an "extra" game with the winner getting at least another four contests - and the extra gate receipts that come with them. I won't spoil the outcome - go to the site and check it out for yourself.

The awards will be announced in the next post along with the Temple Cup victors as part of the 1895 season wrap-up.

[legendsport]

The Brooklyn Bridegrooms triumphed in six games over the Louisville Colonels to "validate" their pennant win with a Temple Cup triumph. The victory marked the seventh time in the twelve seasons of their existence that the Brooklyn nine had captured the pennant, and was their second win (in two tries) in "postseason" play with the first coming in 1892. That record of excellence stands as a testament to the greatness of the Brooklynites.

The potent Brooklyn offense was led by third baseman Harvey Cart. At just 23 years of age, Cart is already a six-year veteran and enjoyed a breakthrough season in 1895. He led the circuit in batting average with a .384 mark, as well as in hits (221) and total bases (306) as he was not just a singles hitter, a fact attested to by his 41 doubles and 22 triples. Cart was joined by backstop George Christian .340 and right fielder Bradford Brooks (.330). The pitching was solid as well with George Tharp and Arthur Nowlin leading the way. Tharp was 27-14 for the season with the league's second best earned run mark at 2.87 (his 27 victories placed third in the loop). "King Arthur" Nowlin was nearly as effective, with a 20-18 record and 3.27 earned run average, but the truth is that the Brooklyn offense was so potent that the club didn't need a dominating hurler to win the pennant.

Brookyln's Temple Cup opponent, the Louisville club, was forced to play an extra game against Philadelphia to gain entry into the Cup. Their victory placed them just two victories behind Brooklyn, with Philadelphia's 77 wins placing third. The fourth and fifth places were tied with both the defending-champions from Baltimore and Cleveland each notching 76 victories on their 1895 ledger. Sixth-place Boston (72 wins) and seventh-place Pittsburgh (71) both had good seasons on which to build. Eighth-place St. Louis won 69 games, while Washington won and lost 66 to finish ninth, giving the loop nine teams at .500 or above for the first time in history. The bottom three were, as would be expected in a league with nine teams at or above .500, bad. Tenth place Chicago was 49-83. The eleventh-place Cincinnati Reds won 40 and lost 92 and the cellar-dwelling New York Giants managed a mere 39 wins against 93 defeats.

Perhaps the best individual player story from the 1895 season was the continuing emergence of 20-year-old Fritz Behrens as one of the league's best players. The young Pittsburgh outfielder, in just his second season, was named the league's Best Hitter for 1895. He hit a robust .365 with 29 doubles, 25 triples and 8 home runs. He scored 130 runs, drove in 100 and walked 104 times. Attesting to his all-around excellence, he also stole 103 bases. None of which should have been a surprise as he posted almost similar numbers in 1894 as a rookie. Still, one would expect a youngster fresh from the coal fields of western Pennsylvania to require some seasoning before dominating the best base ballers in the world.


FRITZ "THE FLYING DUTCHMAN" BEHRENS

1895 STANDINGS

Team			W	L	WPct	GB	R	RA
Brooklyn Bridegrooms	80	52	.606	-	911	745
Louisville Colonels	78	55	.586	2.5	974	812
Philadelphia Phillies	77	56	.579	3.5	863	748
Cleveland Spiders	76	56	.576	4.0	834	779
Baltimore Orioles	76	56	.576	4.0	827	586
Boston Beaneaters	72	60	.545	8.0	947	833
Pittsburgh Pirates	71	61	.538	9.0	873	828
St. Louis Browns	69	63	.523	11.0	898	808
Washington Senators	66	66	.500	14.0	765	748
Chicago Colts		49	83	.371	31.0	773	933
Cincinnati Reds		40	92	.303	40.0	698	1226
New York Giants		39	93	.295	41.0	763	1142

BATTING LEADERS
Batting AVG
H. Cart		BRO	.384
P. Murphy	BLN	.371
T. Smith	WSN	.367
F. Behrens	PIT	.365
P. Kelly	WSN	.362

Runs Batted In
N. Eanes	PHI	129
H. Ransom	BSN	128
M. Bird		LS3	122
W. Bowling	SLN	114
T. Krupp	CL4	112

Home Runs
H. Ransom	BSN	27
J. Babbitt	PHI	18
I. Montgomery	PIT	18
D. Russell	BSN	17
N. Schmitt	BLN	17

PITCHING LEADERS
ERA
S. Sweetwater	BSN	2.82
G. Tharp	BRO	2.87
R. Kushner	BLN	3.03
R. Lumley	BLN	3.14
A. Nowlin	BRO	3.27

Wins
R. Kushner	BLN	31
T. Fairhead	CL4	29
H. Hunter	CL4	27
D. Jardine	PHI	27
G. Tharp	BRO	27

Strikeouts
R. Lumley	BLN	212
T. Fairhead	CL4	164
R. Kushner	BLN	161
T. Goss		CIN	140
H. Hunter	CL4	128

AWARD WINNERS
Best Hitter Award		Fritz Behrens			PIT	.365/.473/.576, 8 HR, 100 RBI, 71.4 VORP	 
Best Pitcher Award		Rick Kushner			BLN	31-18, 3.03 ERA, 437.0 IP, 161 K, 115.5 VORP	 
Rookie of the Year Award	Emory Crisp			WSN	.332/.413/.439, 1 HR, 74 RBI, 14.7 VORP	 
Gold Glove Award		Pitcher Simon Willis		WSN	.938 PCT., 29 PO, 92 A, 2.63 RANGE	 
				Catcher Norm Schmitt		BLN	.916 PCT., 539 PO, 194 A, 50.8 CS %	 
				First Base Zane Bridges		PIT	.978 PCT., 1604 PO, 96 A, 13.77 RANGE	 
				Second Base Emory Crisp		WSN	.959 PCT., 383 PO, 564 A, 7.21 RANGE	 
				Third Base Quenton Blanchflower	CHN	.947 PCT., 122 PO, 292 A, 3.99 RANGE	 
				Shortstop George Wills		WSN	.957 PCT., 319 PO, 545 A, 6.56 RANGE	 
				Left Field Andy Schoonmaker	LS3	.958 PCT., 249 PO, 3 A, 2.55 RANGE	 
				Center Field Paddy Murphy	BLN	.979 PCT., 462 PO, 4 A, 3.55 RANGE	 
				Right Field Buford Tanner	BLN	.920 PCT., 308 PO, 3 A, 2.59 RANGE

[legendsport]

The Orioles got off to a red-hot 10-1 start as they seek to recapture the pennant after finishing a disappointing (for them) third place in 1895. Newcomer Chris "Whiskey" Rutledge, who joined the Orioles after two seasons with Grand Rapids of the Western League, started his major league career with a 4-0 April, posting a 2.00 earned run average and outshining even veteran team mate Rick Kushner.

The ever-dangerous Louisville nine are sitting in second place at 8-3 with Cleveland and Pittsburgh both 7-3. The Phillies are 7-4 and defending champion Brooklyn is off to a middling start, sitting sixth with a 6-5 record so far. But it is, as they say, very early and the story that will unfold this season has just begun to be written.


Whiskey Rutledge

[legendsport]

The Orioles continue to look like a juggernaut, running their record to a very impressive 19-3. Their only losses this season have been to Brooklyn in the season opener, and then single losses to Cincinnati and St. Louis in May. Rick Kushner has amassed seven victories with both Randy Lumley and Whiskey Rutledge pitching in with six.

Surprisingly - or not depending on your opinion of the bottom of the League - there are several other teams nipping at the heels of Baltimore despite the latter's otherworldly start. Cleveland sits at 17-6 and Brooklyn has shaken off the April doldrums to roar out to a 16-6 mark (10-1 in May thus far). The Bridegrooms' George Tharp has been outstanding this season, posting a perfect 8-0 mark in his trips to the mound and putting up a 0.88 earned run average so far.


GEORGE THARP

[legendsport]

The National League pennant is very much up for grabs again in 1896. After the Baltimore Orioles tore off to a fast start, several other teams also turned their games up a notch and the fight is now tight.

The Cleveland Spiders posted a 19-7 month of May and are holding down the top spot, with a slim half-game edge on both Baltimore and Louisville. With Brooklyn just a game behind Cleveland, it's a four-way fight. And Pittsburgh, five games off the pace, can not be discounted either as there is a lot of base ball left to play.

Rick Kushner of Baltimore was the circuit's top chucker for May, a month in which he posted a 7-2 record with a 2.80 earned run mark. The top hitter was Cleveland's Tom Ewart. The veteran hitter whose speed earned him the moniker the "Erie Eel" when he debuted back in 1879, hit a robust .421 in May and is holding the second highest batting average in the League with a .396 for the season. Ewart has amassed nearly 2500 hits in his career, one that will certainly end with a firm place for Tom as one of the game's immortals.


Tom "The Erie Eel" Ewart

[legendsport]

The champions have re-claimed their spot atop the League's standings board. With nearly half the season having been played, the Brooklyn Bridegrooms have notched a 43-18 record and hold a two-game cushion on the Cleveland Spiders, who had been top dog for the past six weeks. Baltimore, Louisville and Pittsburgh are also very much in the pennant picture with the Pirates being four back and the others even closer than that.

Brooklyn's charge has been sparked by the superb pitching of veteran hurler George Tharp. The Connecticut-bred Tharp has posted a 17-4 record with a miniscule 1.59 earned run average thus far and is easily on pace for his second career 30-plus victory campaign. Lest anyone get the idea that Tharp is carrying the Brooklynites alone, outfielder Bradford Brooks is second in the circuit in hitting with a success rate of .381 and is on pace to exceed the century mark in both runs scored and runs driven in.

In the so-called "minor" loops, there is a tight pennant race shaping up in the Western League. The Kansas City and St. Paul clubs are knotted at 32-25 in a very competitive race with even the last-place club from Milwaukee only nine games off the pace. In the Eastern League, which has struggled the last couple of years at the gate, the Scranton Miners are in control of the pennant chase, with a 36-13 mark, good for a seven-game cushion over the second-place (and close geographical rival) Wilkes-Barre nine.



BRADFORD BROOKS

[legendsport]

NOTE: Shorted the sim by one day (maybe I thought I was running a more modern league with an actual trade deadline or something), so we're sitting on July 31 instead of August 1.

Brooklyn has surged ahead in the race for the pennant. The defending champions rode a 9-3 sim to open up a three-game lead on Baltimore and Louisville, with the Cleveland Spiders three-and-a-half off the pace. Brooklyn took advantage of a "soft" spot in the schedule, feeding on the some of the bottom-tier teams this past fortnight.

There may be a new sheriff in town as well and he's not from around these parts. Welsh-born Owen Upjohn of the Pirates is making a strong bid for Pitcher of the Year honors. "The Welsh Wizard" has racked up 22 victories (most in the League) and also has a stingy 1.44 earned run mark (also tops in the League). His 22 victories (against 9 losses) have the 25-year-old Upjohn just three shy of his career high set last season (when he posted a 25-19 record).

There may be a little gray edging into his crumb catcher, but Boston's Dixie Russell isn't letting it slow his bat any. The eight-year-vet from Alabama is collecting hits at a hearty .380 clip this season to lead the league. Russell has been a quiet star since breaking into the league at age 20. In no season has he failed to hit over .300 and his career mark of .344 would currently place second all-time to the great Carpetbagger Jenkins' .363 mark.


DIXIE RUSSELL

[legendsport]

Brooklyn managed to extend its lead in August, pushing out to a five-and-a-half game cushion on second place Cleveland. The Spiders hold the slimmest of leads over Baltimore in the race for that Temple Cup spot - just a half-game. Louisville (11 back) and Pittsburgh (16 back) have fallen off the pace.

Another young star is emerging in the base ball firmament as 23-year-old Bruno Barbella of Louisville is making his name known throughout the National League. Barbella, who debuted at the tender age of 17 and has been a fixture in the Colonels' lineup ever since, is hitting .372 this season, following on his .346 in 1895 and (thus far) career high of .365 in 1894. His career average has risen to .308, overcoming the struggles (.226 and .225) of his first two seasons in the Big League. Barbella currently sits third in the batting race behind front-runner Dixie Russell of Boston (.394) and Philly's Ed Burrell (.378).

The pitching story has a familiar look to it with Baltimore's Rick Kushner having moved into a tie for the lead in victories with Brooklyn's George Tharp. Both ace hurlers have 26 victories to their credit. Owen Upjohn of Pittsburgh remains in charge in the earned run average category - his 1.74 mark tops the 1.87 of Tharp (Kushner is fourth with a 2.41 behind Pittsburgh's Hans Tenbuckel's 2.38).


BRUNO BARBELLA

[legendsport]

The Brooklyn Bridegrooms are staking a claim to the title of the greatest team in League history as they won yet another pennant and then backed that up with a four-games-to-three victory over the Baltimore nine in the Temple Cup series.

Since jumping from the American Association to the National League after the 1889 season, the Brooklynites have won five of the seven pennants contested with the Baltimore Orioles winning the other two. After winning three straight in 1890, 91 and 92, the Bridegrooms have now also repeated in 1895 and 96. Can they again win three in a row with a pennant in 1897?

This year's champions won despite losing team leader Charlie Shanafelt in late August, importing a 18-year-old hayseed off the sandlots to play in right field. And though said hayseed (Mitchell White) hit a mere .071, the Brooklyn nine still won the pennant and the Temple Cup. Four players scored 100 or more runs with Harvey Cart touching the home base 132 times (the others were OF Bradford Brooks - 110; C George Christian - 100; OF Clement Sant - 100).

The pitching was outstanding as well with George Tharp amassing a 28-12 record with a 2.11 earned run average, while Arthur Nowlin won 30 games with a 2.88 mark and Gary Stevens won 22 with a 3.14 ERA.

Ed Burrell of Philadelphia was the league's best batter in 1896. Burrell led the circuit in hitting with a .378 average finishing slightly ahead of Louisville's Bruno Barbella who finished at .375 for the season. Barbella did lead the loop in runners driven home, however, as his mark of 117 was eight better than Burrell's Philadelphia team mate Nick Eanes' mark of 109.

Randy Lumley emerged from the long shadow of Rick Kushner to lead the league in victories with 31, barely edging out the 30 of Nowlin. Pittsburgh's Owen Upjohn has begun to make a case for himself as the top pitcher in base ball - his 1.97 earned run mark was easily the loop's best and he won 29 contests for the Pirates. Even more scary for National League batsmen is that Upjohn has an able-bodied second in Pittsburgh: Hans Tenbuckel also won 29 games and his 2.22 ERA was third-best in the League.

The Eastern League managed a full season again in 1896 after struggling financially in 1895 and being re-born under new leadership. The EL didn't feature much of a pennant race in '96 as Scranton won 88 games and finished 17 games ahead of 1895 champion (and heated rival) Wilkes-Barre. Buffalo's Peter Gates was named the loop's batter of the year while pitching honors went to Chris Olsen. It would surprise no one if both Olsen and Gates were toiling on a National League club next spring.

Out west, the Western League continues to thrive and rumors are beginning to circulate that the League's owners are considering declaring themselves "major" and competing directly with the National League. These are just rumors however, officially the Western loop's stance is that history has shown the National League is a monopoly not easy to break and they're fine and dandy with their Midwestern operation. Indianapolis was the champion of the loop this year, edging out St. Paul by three games. St. Paul's boosters can take heart in that the Apostles are well represented by being the club of both the league's top hitter (Trey Duren) and pitcher (Bill Moore).



RANDY LUMLEY, BALTIMORE PITCHER

[legendsport]

The Louisville Colonels went on a tear to start off the month of May, rolling to a 13-1 record through May 15 to sit with atop the League standings at 18-3. Martin Bird, the 31-year-old outfielder who has been with the Colonels since he was a fresh-faced 16 years old in 1882, is hitting .444 to lead the team, with ample support from Bruno Barbella (.390) and Moneybags Coyne (.368). All three pitchers: Ronald Mason, Douglas Scrope and Chris Olsen sport 6-1 records with ERAs below 2.25 - well below in the case of Mason (1.23).

Louisville's hot start has pushed the Boston and Brooklyn clubs off the pace, with the Beaneaters four games behind and the Bridegrooms four-and-a-half back.


RONALD MASON

[legendsport]

"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.

[legendsport]

Following an 11-1 start to the month of July, the Louisville Colonels stumbled a bit in the second half, going 7-8 to finish the month but still hold a three-game edge on the second-place Beaneaters. For their part, Boston went 19-4 in July to solidify their hold on a Temple Cup slot, holding a three-and-a-half game advantage on Brooklyn.

The player of the month was Paddy Murphy of Baltimore. Though the Orioles have slipped back to the pack from their recent days of dominance, their young center fielder has stepped up his game. Murphy torched League pitching in July, amassing a .432 average to bolster his seasonal mark to .374 - second-best only to Ed Burrell of the Phillies (who is still hitting over .400, .408 to be exact).

On the pitcher's side, Pat Daly garnered some attention in July by posting a very solid month's work. The unheralded Boston hurler was 8-0 with a 2.27 mark in July. For the season, he has a 17-7 mark and 3.22 ERA.

In the Western League, the St. Paul Saints are running away with the pennant race. St. Paul has a 69-25 record, a full 14 games better than second-place rival Minneapolis. Will Tobin, the 21-year-old pitching phenomenon is 26-4 for the Saints, while hitters Trey Duren (.462) and Harry Lynch (.418) are both in the top five among batsmen.

The Eastern League's top spot is currently held by Scranton. The Miners are 58-29 and have a seven-game edge on both Rochester and Wilkes-Barre. 34-year-old Howard Parks is following up a 21-9 record last season with an even better one this year: 20-3 so far with a 3.01 earned run average. Surprisingly, despite being 57-17 over his past three seasons, Parks has not drawn any attention from National League clubs (presumably because of his age).


PAT DALY, BOSTON

[legendsport]

As the season enters its final month, the matchup for the Temple Cup seems to be set: the Louisville Colonels and Boston Beaneaters are seperated by a game-and-a-half at the top of the standings. The third-place Brooklyn club is nine-and-a-half back of Louisville (and eight behind Boston) and barring an unlikely collapse by one of the top clubs, is probably not destined to win a third straight championship.

Ed Burrell of Philadelphia continues to be the loop's top batter, but he has dipped below .400 and brings a .397 mark into the final stanza. Paddy Murphy of Baltimore (.382) can catch Burrell with a good month, should the Egyptian falter. Ronald Mason remains a virtual lock to win Pitcher of the Year honors as he leads the circuit in victories with 28 and his 1.86 is the stingiest earned run mark.

[legendsport]

The 1897 regular season is in the books. The Boston Beaneaters are the pennant winners, finishing with a 93-39 record, three better than Louisville's 90-42. Pittsburgh finished third at 81-51, followed by Brooklyn, Baltimore and Washington among the teams winning more than half their games. The "second division" finishers were Cleveland, Philadelphia, St. Louis, Chicago, New York and in the basement: Cincinnati.

Ed Burrell captured the batting title, the fourth of his eight-year career, as his .394 average was good enough to keep Paddy Murphy's .385 in second place. Three pitchers topped thirty victories led by Louisville's Ronald Mason (34). Boston's Stanley Sweetwater (31) and Pittsburgh's Gabriel Leiper (30) were the other two. Mason's 1.90 earned run mark was the only one in the league below 2.00 and good enough to make Mason an absolute lock for Pitcher of the Year honors.

St. Paul captured the Western League pennant with a 94-42 record, 17 games ahead of Minneapolis. Scranton's 88-48 mark was seven games better than rival Wilkes-Barre in the Eastern League.


Stanley Sweetwater, Boston

[legendsport]

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

[legendsport]

It's a three-way race for the pennant and with no Temple Cup this year, only first-place matters. The Colonels still hold the edge, with a 52-15 record and four-game cushion on Brooklyn. Boston is also still very much in the hunt, sitting five-and-a-half back of Louisville. After that, there's a big gap with the fourth-place St. Louis club a full eighteen games off the pace.

Bruno Barbella of those front-running Colonels has taken the lead in the batting race with a .358 mark. That number indicates the rising strength of pitching throughout the league as recent leaders have all been near (or above) .400 on the season. A pair of Brooklyn team mates, Buck Roberts and Harvey Cart are at .354 and .352 respectively.

On the pitching side, three hurlers have each notched 18 victories: Louisville's Ronald Mason, Brooklyn's Gary Stevens and Boston's Stanley Sweetwater. It's not surprise that every member of that trio pitches for one of the contending clubs. But the ERA leader comes from a club who is having a down year - Owen Upjohn of the Pittsburgh Pirates. Even though the Pirates are 27-39 and in tenth place, Upjohn has a 1.72 ERA with a 13-9 record. Mason and Sweetwater rank 2nd and 3rd respectively.

In the minors, Milwaukee continues to lead the Western circuit with young catcher Bob Gobel batting .413 and looking like he'll be in the big League before long. Wilkes-Barre is also maintaining its ranking as the best club in the Eastern League and also spots a top-notch first-year player in pitcher Lionel Frace who has racked up 15 victories to lead his league.

[legendsport]

As the season enters the dog days, the Colonels reasserted themselves as the best in the league, building their once slim lead to a more comfortable six-and-a-half game edge on the second place Beaneaters. The Brooklyn club, which had been within a game just two weeks earlier, stumbled badly this past fortnight and dropped to nine-and-a-half back.

Interestingly, Harry Ransom of Boston, who has earned a reputation as the best home run hitter in the history of base ball, had piled up twelve roundtrippers by the end of June. Since then, he's had over 100 at-bats and not made a single home run. He had a similar experience in 1897. Is it possible that Ransom stores up his energy over a long winter and then expends it all within two months of the start of the season? In July, Ransom had 30 hits for a .283 average, but only one was for extra bases (and that one a "mere" two-bagger).

The batting race has tightened up with team mates Buck Roberts and Harvey Cart of Brooklyn tied at .353 each and perennial batting master Ed Burrell (recovering from a "slow" start) edging back into contention at .352 (a nice round .400 in July will help with that). Louisville's Barbella, who was the leader for much of the early part of the season, remains in the picture at .346 and can not be discounted either.

Colonels' pitching star Ronald Mason has firmly stepped into the void left by Rick Kushner when the latter retired and claimed the spot as the circuit's best hurler. Mason has 25 victories (tops in the league) and his 1.77 ERA is second only to Owen Upjohn's 1.63 mark for Pittsburgh.

Meanwhile, the "Baxter Bullet" is earning the enmity of batsmen leaguewide because he has a penchant for not letting them hit the ball. Jasper Ellis, the fine young Reds' hurler has been the bright spot in an otherwise disappointing summer on the Ohio River. Ellis has 163 strikeouts, easily the best in the league. Unfortunately he is also wild - he has handed out a staggering 205 free passes. He has shown improvement of late though: in July he cut his walks to 39 in 75 innings after allowing over 65 apiece in each of the two previous months (in a similar number of innings).


Jasper Ellis, Cincinnati