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About to close out the month of July 1951 and once again the Dayton Dragons and Memphis Redbirds sit atop their divisions. Looking like a rematch of the 1950 League Championship Series may be in works. The Toledo Mud Hens have clawed their way to within 6 games of the Dragons, but unless they can get that lead down to 3 or 4, I'm not going to get all that excited. Memphis leads the Birmingham Barons by 9 games in the Southern Division. The Barons once again are crushing the ball, leading the league in home runs by more than 50. Newly acquired Hank Aaron leads the league with 38 home runs and Mel Ott has 30. Ott has already driven in 100 runs on the season and Aaron should reach the century mark himself in the not to distant future. Meanwhile, the Redbirds are the leagues best pitching team. The Redbirds top 4 starters are Corbin Burnes, Tom Seaver, Pedro Martinez and Mark Prior. The Redbirds actually lost Don Drysdale to free agency, but when you can replace him with a Pedro Martinez, that loss is a lot easier to stomach.
It's early but Bob Watson, who came on strong at the end of 1950 to win the batting title, is once again leading the league with a .350 average,
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