[Tiger Fan]

RED SOX FALTER, DROP 2 BACK OF SENATORS
As Ted Williams goes, so go the Boston Red Sox. A few weeks ago the Splendid Splinter was ripping the cover off the ball and the Red Sox caught and briefly past the Senators for top spot in the American League. However, this past week Williams went into a 3-for-23 slump that saw him drop behind Washington's Les Fleming in the batting race. Not coincidentally, the Red Sox dropped 5-of-6 during the week and now trail first place Washington by two games. Williams can not solely be blamed for the past week's performance as the Boston pitching staff was absymal - allowing an average of 6.3 runs in the 5 losses. Only Andy Karl (13-7, 2.80), who beat Philadelphia 5-3 for the only victory, can be happy with his week. Meanwhile OF Mel Almada is mirred in a 4-for-21 slump and many other Boston hitters have suddenly had their bats go cold.

The Senators did not have a stellar week, taking 2 from Boston before winning just 2 of 5 against Detroit, but it was enough to regain first place. Milo Candini (3-3), forced into the rotation with the injury to Red Barrett, split his two games with Detroit. Joe Haynes (10-11) and Tot Pressnell (9-6) each beat Boston but lost against the Tigers while Joe Beggs (15-7) was outstanding in his one start of the week, stopping Detroit 9-1 on a 4-hitter. At the plate, Buddy Lewis, Al Evans amd Hillis Layne all hit over .400 for the week.

Elsewhere, Cleveland won 4 of 6 to move within 4.5 games of top spot. The Indians have a crucial week ahead of them as they travel to Washington for a 4 game set before hosting Boston for 4 games over the weekend. The Yankees also edged closer and now sit 5 games off the pace. Max Lanier (10-5, 2.72) became the secon Yankee hurler in two weeks to win the player of the week. Lanier was 2-0 with a shutout and a 1.00 era this week. Last week Tiny Bonham (17-2, 2.10) was the top performer and Bonham got a 4-hit shutout in his only decision of this week.

PIRATES STRETCH LEAD AFTER 6-1 WEEK
The Pittsburgh Pirates are doing their best to try and end the National League pennant race early. The Pirates reeled off 7 straight wins before losing 3-2 to the Cubs yesterday. That streak allowed Pittsburgh to build a 7.5 game lead on the second place Brooklyn Dodgers. Pittsburgh now boasts 3 10-game winning pitchers in Cliff Melton (18-6, 2.53), Ken Heintzelman (10-9, 3.54) and Preacher Roe (10-7, 3.41) but the real key to the Pirates this season has been the league's most potent offense. Infielders Tony Cuccinello (.303,11,60), Arky Vaughan (.332,3,41) and Bob Elliott (.283,5,52) along with outfielders Bill Norman (.305,1,41), Fern Bell (.297,4,49) and Ralph Kiner (.294,3,27) have all been quite consistant. Bill Salkeld (.277,1,5) and Tom Padden (.212,2,30) platoon behind the plate while Dick Siebert (.377,1,28) and George Archie (.250,0,23) do the same at first base.

Vern Olsen (11-11, 2.95) of the Cubs was named the National League player of the week. Olsen pitched a complete game 7-hit shutout against Philadelphia on Tuesday and then allowed just 6 hits in handing Pittsburgh their only loss of the week on Sunday. Olsen went the distance in that game - a 3-2 victory. Olsen was the National League pitcher of the year in 1942 when he went 25-11. Last year he was 26-7 and a major reason the Cubs won their 6th World Championship in franchise history.

The third place Cardinals will be without pitcher Harry Breechen (5-8, 3.05) for at least a month with a rotator cuff injury. He joins an already crowded disabled list for the Cardinals that includes pitcher Stan Ferens (5-1, 2.89) who is out for the year along with top catching prospect Andy Seminick. Pitchers Early Wynn and Mort Cooper are both eligible to come off the DL next month.

FLURRY OF DEALS AS TRADE DEADLINE APPROACHES
With one more day left before the trade deadline a number of teams got to work early as 8 deals were made last week. The Yankees and Cardinals were the only contenders who made any moves. New York added reliever Max Macon (0-2, 6.75) and minor league pitcher Charlie Sproull from the Cards in exchange for backup outfielder Cully Rickard, who was hitting .310 in 145 at bats. Rickard will replace the slumping Don Padgett in rightfield for the Cardinals. St. Louis also dealt rookie catcher Joe Garagiola to the Phillies for 2B George Scharein (.277,4,13). Scharein will replace Jimmy Brown (.227,1,25) at second for the Cards.

Other moves saw the Giants acquire former 20-game winner Ross Bauers (5-9, 5.28) from the Phillies and outfielder Vince Dimaggio (.237,5,24) from the Braves; the A's added pitcher Bill Voiselle (11-9, 3.28) from Giants thru the White Sox , the Phillies picked up outfielder Bobby Estalella (.338,4,47) from the Giants, and the White Sox added pitcher Ed Lopat (11-10, 3.57) from the A's.


TSN BASEBALL FLASHBACK - 1930 WORLD SERIES HERO CHICK HAFEY
Chick Hafey played 45 World Series games and batted .370 in his postseason career but he was never better than he played for 7 games in the 1930 World Series. 1930 was a dominant year for Hafey's Cardinals as they set the single season NL record for victories with 104. The Cards were the best team in the National League for a decade, winning 6 pennants in 10 year starting in 1927, which coincidentally was Hafey's rookie season.

Hafey led the National League in homers with 23 and rbi's with 142 in 1930 but lost the MVP to teammate Rogers Hornsby (.377,19,120). Other Cardinal standouts included Jim Bottomley (.309,10,87), Specs Torporcer (.344,10,99), Austin McHenry (.335,10,69) and rookie of the year George Watkins (.372,17,105) . The rotation had 3 20-game winners in Flint Rhem, Al Grabowski and Watty Clark. I would be remiss in ignoring the fact that they also had Cliff Markle who was 5-3 before being sidelined for the season with an injury in June.

The Cards opponent in 1930 would be the New York Yankees who needed a win on the final day of the season to hold off Philadelphia. The Yanks, who were making their first postseason appearance since 1905, did not have the greatest pitching staff but did have loads of power. New York's offense revolved around MVP Hack Wilson (.315,45,150), a declining Babe Ruth (.318,27,104) and Lou Gehrig (.307,24,102) who missed 30 games with injuries. The pitching staff did have pitcher of the year Carl Weilman (27-6) who at age 40 enjoyed the greatest season of his career. Ted Wingfield (21-15) and Leo Mangum (16-15) were the other main starters.

The series itself was a terrific 7 game affair.

Game 1- Lou Gehrig tied the game with an 8th inning homer and in the top of the 10th Bill Dickey drove in 2 runs to make it 8-6 Yankees. Hafey had 2 hits including an rbi single in the bottom of the 10th but he was stranded there and Yankees drew first blood with an 8-7 win.

GAME 2 - Hafey hit a 3-run homer in the second as the Cards opened up a 7-0 lead. Lou Gehrig had 3 doubles and he, Hack Wilson and Babe Ruth each drove in 2 runs as the Yanks tried to rally but fell short losing 11-9. Hafey finished the game with 3 hits and 4 rbi's.

GAME 3 - George Pipgras limited the Cards to 4 hits and Hack Wilson homered to lead New York to a 4-0 win as the series moved to Yankee Stadium.

GAME 4 - A 14-4 blowout for St Louis. Hafey had 4 hits including his second homer of the series and drove in 4 more runs bringing his series total to 9.

GAME 5 - Hack Wilson hits two homers including a 2-run shot in the bottom of the ninth to give New York a 9-7 victory, Hafey hit his third homer of the series and drove in 2 runs, one of which tied the game at 7 in the top of the ninth.

GAME 6 - Rogers Hornsby has 4 hits as the Cardinals force a 7th game with a convincing 10-4 win. Hafey went 2-for-4 but did not drive in a run.

GAME 7 - Hafey hits two solo homers and scores 3 runs as the Cardinals win big 13-7 to claim the World Series title. Hafey ended up hitting .485 with 5 homers and 13 rbi's. Both the home run and rbi totals are World Series records although Lou Gehrig would later equal the home run mark in the 1938 series. Hafey also set a record with 32 total bases in the series and is the alltime World Series career leader in triples (6), homers (10) rbi's (41) and total bases (124).


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