JUNE 6, 1938 MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL
MIZE FLYS HIGH FOR REDBIRDS
St Louis Cardinals first baseman Johnny Mize hit 3 more homeruns last week and with 19 after 47 games he is on pace for 62, which would be a new Major League record. It will be hard for Mize to keep it up all season, just ask Giants outfielder Mel Ott who was on track to match Babe Ruth's 1927 record of 60 homers for much of the summer last year before slumping in August and eventually finishing with 46.
Mize also has 51 rbi's, which puts him on a pace to finish with 167. That is a far cry from Hack Wilson's 1930 mark of 191 but would place him in the top ten all time for single season rbi's.
Mize(.369,19,51) and teammate Joe Medwick (.358,12,40) helped the Cardinals win 4 of 6 games last week to gain a little ground on the slumping New York Giants in the National League pennant race. The Giants were swept in a 3 game series midweek by the Boston Braves and there lead on defending champion St Louis is down to 5 games.
In the American League it is looking like the New York Yankees might clinch their third straight pennant by the all-star break. The Yankees have won 10 in a row to improve to 37-12 on the season and enjoy a 10 game lead on both Boston and Cleveland. After slow starts to the season both Lou Gehrig (.345,9,41) and Joe DiMaggio (.286,9,40) have both been hitting up while catcher Bill Dickey (.345,11,46) continues on what is shaping up to be the best season of his career.
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MLB STANDINGS
AMERICAN LEAGUE W L GB NATIONAL LEAGUE W L GB
New York 37 12 - New York 32 15 -
Cleveland 27 22 10.0 St Louis 27 20 5.0
Boston 27 22 10.0 Chicago 25 23 7.5
Philadelphia 24 23 12.0 Boston 23 25 9.5
Detroit 24 25 13.0 Pittsburgh 23 25 9.5
Chicago 22 27 15.0 Philadelphia 22 25 10.0
St Louis 18 29 18.0 Cincinnati 20 27 12.0
Washington 15 34 22.0 Brooklyn 18 30 14.5
HITTING LEADERS
AVERGAE AVERAGE
Weatherly CLE .391 Phelps BKN .400
Gehringer DET .381 Mize STL .369
Rolfe NYY .376 Medwick STL .358
Almada BOS .374 Jurges CHN .354
Moses PHA .367 Wright PHI .342
HOME RUNS HOME RUNS
Trosky CLE 14 Mize STL 19
Foxx BOS 14 Medwick STL 12
Gordon SLA 13 Berger BSN 11
Dickey NYY 11 Johnson CIN 11
Greenberg DET 11 V DiMaggio BSN 10
RBIs RBIs
Gordon SLA 49 Mize STL 51
Dickey NYY 46 Medwick STL 40
Foxx BOS 45 P.Waner PIT 37
Greenberg DET 43 Leslie BKN 36
Gehrig NYY 41 Owen PIT 36
J DiMaggio NY 40 Camilli PHI 32
PITCHING LEADERS
WINS WINS
Gomez NYY 9-1 Tobin BSN 8-2
Grove BOS 9-2 P Dean STL 7-2
Mills CHA 8-2 Gumbert NYG 7-2
Ruffing NYY 8-2 Castleman NYG 7-3
Broaca NYY 7-2 Lee CHN 7-3
McFayden NY 6-3
STRIKE OUTS STRIKE OUTS
Feller CLE 68 Carleton CHN 54
Gomez NYY 61 P Dean STL 51
Mills CHA 60 Mungo BKN 48
Grove BOS 50 D Dean STL 46
Weiland NYY 45 Blanton PIT 43
Allen CLE 44 Castleman NYG 42
ERA ERA
Grove BOS 2.50 Henshaw NYG 1.43
Gomez NYY 2.55 Krakauskas CIN 2.27
Mills CHA 2.55 Castleman NYG 2.38
Brandt BOS 2.57 French CHN 2.40
Broaca NYY 2.65 Bowman CIN 2.45
Lee CLE 3.10 Mungo BKN 2.46
Weiland NYY 3.10 Gumbert NYG 2.54
MAJOR LEAGUE NOTES: The May monthly awards went to Detroit's Charlie Gehringer (.381,8,25) and Boston's Lefty Grove (9-2, 2.50) for the top hitter and pitcher in the American League while in the National League it was Johnny Mize of St Louis and Giants pitcher Slick Castleman (7-3, 2.38). The Rookie of the Month winners were Cardinals reliever Ray Harrell (1-1, 3.20) in the NL and Browns second baseman Joe Gordon (.303,13,49).
Hal Trosky (.332,14,38) had a big game early in the week for Cleveland. The 25 year old first baseman drilled 3 homeruns in a game against Washington, but his Indians team still lost 9-7 to the Senators. It was the second 3 homer game of the season as St Louis Cardinals first baseman Johnny Mize turned the trick in April.
AMERICAN ASSOCIATION
The American Association's top two clubs each had another strong week as both Toledo and Kansas City went 5-1. The Mud Hens remain two games ahead of the Blues in the race for first place.
Toledo continues to lead the Association in both most runs scored and fewest runs allowed. The offense features plenty of balance with the only weak link being catcher Frank Reiber. Here is the Mud Hens batting order:
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1 Lonny Frey 2B .397 3 24
2 Benny McCoy RF .317 9 31
3 Phil Weintraub 1B .270 7 34
4 Roy Cullenbine LF .306 6 40
5 Chet Laabs 3B .233 7 34
6 Willie Wells SS .307 2 31
7 Lennie Pearson CF .282 6 26
8 Frank Reiber C .217 0 5
Kansas City has the highest team batting average in the loop but the Blues have not been able to match the Toledo run production primarily because of a lack of power. On the other hand, the Blues starting pitching has been every bit the equal of Toledo.
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KANSAS CITY ROTATION TOLEDO ROTATION
Al Hollingsworth 8-1 3.84 Gene Schott 8-2 2.91
Tiny Bonham 6-4 3.52 Archie McKain 5-3 3.04
Ted Kleinhans 5-6 3.21 Paul Derringer 8-3 3.94
Fred Gay 5-5 3.64 Lefty Smoll 3-6 4.46
Third place Minneapolis is trying desperately to stay in the race. The Millers have plenty of offense led by Buzz Arlett (.336,11,36), Ted Williams (.336,11,36) and Chuck Klein (.366,3,28) but pitching depth has been an issue. The Millers did suffer a blow this week when they learned catcher Otto Denning (.283,5,23) will be sidelined a month after suffering a concussion. The Millers have a big next 11 days ahead as their current road trip will see them visit Toledo for 3 games this week and Kansas City for four early next week.
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AMERICAN ASSOCIATION STANDINS
W L GB
Toledo 31 16 -
Kansas City 29 18 2.0
Minneapolis 27 20 4.0
Milwaukee 22 24 8.5
Columbus 21 26 10.0
Louisville 21 26 10.0
St Paul 19 27 11.5
Indianapolis 17 30 14.0
LEADERS AVG
Lonny Frey TOL .397
Chuck Klein MIN .366
Cool Papa Bell KC .361
Jimmy Wasdell IND .360
Billy Herman KC .351
Pee Wee Reese LOU .349
Martin Dihigo MIL .345
Bill Norman StP .340
HOME RUNS
Buzz Arlett MIN 11
Ted Williams MIN 9
Benny McCoy TOL 9
Bill Norman StP 9
Stan Spence MIN 8
Jimmy Wasdell IND 8
RBI's
Roy Cullenbine TOL 40
Buzz Arlett MIN 36
Ted Williams MIN 36
Buck Leonard LOU 35
Chet Laabs TOL 34
Phil Weintraub TOL 34
Martin Dihigo MIL 33
Tommy Henrich StP 33
PITCHING
WINS
Denny Galehouse MIN 9-4
Al Hollingsworth KC 8-1
Gene Schott TOL 8-2
Paul Derringer TOL 8-3
Carl Hubbell MIN 8-5
Max Macon COL 7-6
STRIKEOUTS
Dizzy Trout IND 65
Ted Kleinhans KC 65
Carl Hubbell MIN 59
Max Macon COL 57
Johnny Rigney StP 54
Wayne LeMaster LOU 53
Lefty Smoll TOL 53
Denny Galehouse MIN 52
ERA
Gene Schott TOL 2.91
Archie McKain TOL 3.04
Tot Pressnell MIL 3.10
Ted Kleinhans KC 3.21
Joseph Shaffer LOU 3.28
Lloyd Johnson IND 3.34
Denny Galehouse MIN 3.38
Tiny Bonham KC 3.52
AMERICAN ASSOCIATION NOTES: Kansas City outfielder Ival Goodman (.264,2,26) had a big week as he broke out of a season long slump by going 14-for-28 to help the Blues win 5 of six games last week. It was the first such honour for the 29 year old outfielder who is in his second season in Kansas City after stints with Cincinnati and Philadelphia of the National League.
St Paul has not had a lot to cheer about but Saints fans learned that 27 year old second baseman Bill Norman was named the Association's Batter of the month for May. Norman (.340,9,28) hit all 9 of his homers this season in May, including 3 in one game against Indianapolis. The pitcher of the month was Toledo ace Gene Schott as the 24 year old went 6-1 in May to improve his season mark to 8-2 while Louisville's 19 year old shortstop Pee Wee Reese (.349,3,20) was named rookie of the month.