SPB 11 JULY 1957

SPB 2 JUL= Y 1957

HIGHLIGHTS

Both pennant races heated up considerably in July, the= first month of intraleague play. We= still have the unusual situation in that the fifth place team in the National Lea= gue, the Hampton Road Cruisers, would be leading the American League by one game= but that’s the way the cookie crumbles.&= nbsp; In the American League the Frankfort Fortress posted a 16-12 record = in July and were able to pull into the league lead by a game over the South Ri= ver Gladiators. The Gladiators should be able to feast on the lowly Saints and = Hot Rods in August but have a key seven game series with the Fortress at the en= d of the month. Of course, the Sai= nts and Hot Rods also have the opportunity to play the spoiler role.

In the National League the Bishops put together a sizz= ling 18-8 record in July which featured a sensational 7-0 record by journeyman D= ick Drott. If Dick and the rest o= f the Prelates can keep it up, the race promises to go right down to the wire. Of the six series between the three contenders (Bishops, Surfers & Elephants) only one has been played to d= ate so the last two months of the season will be very interesting.

Quite a few individual highlights occurred during the month. The Gladiators pounded= out 26 homers, but allowed 23 in the 14 games played at the homer-happy Polo Grounds. In the first three g= ames of the Aces series, the starting pitchers (Moore, Burdette & Spahn) not only won the games but also hit home runs! In the seventh game of the Monarchs series, the Glads won 13-12 in 10 innings despite 20 hits and 5 ho= mers by the Monarchs. Monarch’s leadoff man Bubba Phillips went 5-6 with two homers = and a triple in a losing cause. <= /p>

The Saints lost five of seven to the Monarchs in a ser= ies which featured back to back 1-0 games and only scored 15 runs in the 7 games. The only highlight for= the Holy Ones was a walk-off bases loaded walk by Daryl Spencer, who was the on= ly batter faced by Monarch reliever Don Elston. However the Saints won 5 of 7 from= the underachieving Goshen Aces who struggled with a paltry .217 average in the series. Erstwhile ace Lou Bur= dette suffered two losses with a putrid 6.85 ERA.

The Aces did with three of five from the fading Hampto= n Road Cruisers as the H-R crew is starting to feel the effects of a long season a= nd the need to rest key players. The Cruisers could only muster a miserable .192 batting average in the series.<= span style=3D'mso-spacerun:yes'> The Aces are suffering from a lack of offense from their three big guns (Roy Sievers, Gus Zernial & George Crowe). It looks= like the cavernous reaches of County = Stadium are seriously impacting the entire Goshen team.

The Monarchs won three of the first four against the Fortress but then dropped three in a row to give the series to the Frankfort crew. Frankfort pulverized the hapless Hot Rods at home, winning six of seven and then rall= ied from a 0-2 start to take four of seven from their arch rivals, the Gladiators. Overall the Forts= were 10-4 at home during the month.

Those same Monarchs ripped 22 hits and 21 runs in winn= ing the first game of the Hornet series but then the offense went to sleep and only scored four runs in the next four games (three in one game) and lost all fo= ur before rallying to win the last two and salvage a 3-4 split.

Speaking of 21 runs, the Evanston Elephants also score= d 21 runs in a game against the Dayton Flyers but they lost the series 2-5! It seems that 21 runs is some kind= of hex. The Pachyderms opening t= he month with a convincing 5-2 series win over the Cruisers, who may well have seen their pennant hopes go up in smoke after this and several other poor performances during July. In = the Elephant series, Ritchie Ashburn went 18-33 with 11 runs scored and had bac= k to back five-hit games! The next series was critical for Evanst= on as they were playing the mighty Los Angeles Surfers. In the first three games the Surfe= rs outscored the Elephants 28-9 and posted three easy wins; it looked as if the Elephants season might be headed for the scrap heap but they rallied to win three of the last four and keep the pressure on LA. Evanston then went 6-1 in an away series with the Lakers which featured three saves = by ace reliever Turk Farrell who after four months is now 18 of 19 in save opportunities!

I will quote my on the spot expert, Mike See on the Ju= ly antics of the Route 66 Hot Rods:

The Route 66 Hot Rods blew a gasket in July, sporting = a 2-10 record at home, 7-19 for the month overall and sank to a league worst 31-69= for the season. Billy Martin got = into a fight at the Copacabana with teammates Wally Moon and Gino “Holy Cimoli” and while he got in a few good hits at = the club, he still failed to get many at the plate, as his .157 average through= 268 at bats showed.

Moon and Billy Garner remain the lone bright spots for= the Hot Rods. Moon has slugged a = team leading 13 homers and Billy Garner, the June player of the month, continued= his hot hitting, batting .311 with 29 doubles through July. On the mound, poor Earl= y Wynn can’t wait for the off season as he continues to get no offensive support. Through 21 starts, E= arly is 4-14 with a 4.29 ERA and 109 K’s. Not great but a lot better than a = 4-14 record. Early was quoted as s= aying “I’ve pitched for this franchise since 1944 and I ain’t never seen a team this sorry. We’ll get better but I’m just looking forward to going fishing at this point”.

Dom Mossi leads the team w= ith 6 victories and bullpen ace Seth Morehead has been fantastic, sporting a 1.21= ERA in 19 games and saving 5 of the Hot Rods 31 wins. The biggest loser so far has= been Russ Kemmerer who in 17 games, including 10 starts, is 0-9 with an 8.39 ERA. The Hot Rods are definit= ely looking forward to 1958 and more trading from Frank “Trader” La= ne who was quoted as saying “We’ll have some good players on the b= lock and it shouldn’t be too hard to improve on 1957.