March 23, 1952
Kingston, Pulberry to Play Tie-Breaker for Western League Wild Card
After battling each other for the wild card all season, it only seems fitting that the Pulberry Trolleys and Kingston Pelicans will need one more game to settle the matter once and for all. In late February, it appeared that the Trolleys were going to come out on top, as the Pelicans went into a severe tailspin. By February 20th, Kingston had gone just 3-14 on the month and were in the midst of a 12-game losing skid. But the Trolleys didn’t exactly take advantage, as they put up just an 8-9 record over the same period and enjoyed only a 5-1/2 game cushion.
Then Kingston got hot. After finishing the rest of February 5-2, the Pelicans went 16-7 in March. That included a 10-game winning streak. Meanwhile, Pulberry went just 15-14 the rest of the way, allowing the Pelicans to catch up. On the last day of the regular season, with Kingston a game up on the Trolleys for the wild card, the Pelicans needed just one more victory over the Fort Richmond Generals to lock it up. But they didn’t get it. Despite taking the first three games of the series, Kingston fell to the Generals, 8-6. Meanwhile in Pulberry, the Trolleys defeated the Hespeler Stars, 6-3 to split their four-game series and finish in a tie for the wild card.
The tie-breaker game is scheduled for March 24 at Kingston Park. It’s expected that Pulberry will tab their No. 2 starter, 30-year old RHP
Alexander Ellacott (12-9, 3.67 ERA, 1.39 WHIP, 3.65 FIP), to take the hill, while Kingston’s No. 3 starter, 26-year old RHP
Brian Marsland (13-14, 3.30 ERA, 1.38 WHIP, 3.80 FIP), will counter for the Pelicans.
In the Eastern League, the wild card went down to the final day as well. In the last weeks of the regular season, both the Embro Suns and Downie Chiefs caught up to the faltering Queensland Eagles. In fact, on the morning of the final day of the season, all three teams were tied for the wild card. But the Suns’ playoff hopes were dashed when the Cobourg Red Stockings defeated them, 7-5. Meanwhile, Downie and Queensland faced each other in a four-game series to end the season. The Chiefs swept the series, and punched their ticket to the playoffs on the final day, defeating Queensland, 6-5.
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Hawking Wins Western League Triple Crown
Wolseley Unions’ 30-year old LF
Carlton Hawking (.348/.476/.587, 26 HR, 126 RBI, 138 BB, 7.9 WAR) enjoyed a season for the ages, as he won the
Western League Triple Crown. It’s the first time in seven years that a position player has won the Triple Crown and third overall. Before Hawking, Balmoral Giants' RF Carlton Broadbent was the most recent position player to win it, back in 1944-45. Embro’s SP Arthur Bence won the pitching Triple Crown five years ago in 1946-47, when he was with the Wellington Athletics.
Hawking finished second overall in batting average in the entire United Leagues, behind Brunswick’s 1B Stuart Bentham (.348) and tied for top spot in home runs with both Queensland’s LF Rod Dennis and Cobourg’s 3B Alexander Tolmie. However, he led all of the United Leagues this season in Runs batted in (126), Walks (138), OBP (.476), OPS (1.064), Runs (120), OPS+ (181), WPA (7.17) and WOBA (.460).