EC's Southern Association

[Eugene Church]

SOUTHERN ASSOCIATION STANDINGS
Saturday, June 7, 1947

[Eugene Church]

MY LIFE IN 1947

Well, half the year has past... sorry, 7 year-olds like me pay no attention to time and its passage... except for birthdays... and maybe, how many days until school is out... our ears perk up then.

I went to two schools this year... Russell in Mobile and Gilbert in Florence... made A's and B's... yeah, I'm a pretty good student... read well... looking back on it, reading is the key to success... along with self-discipline... and good parents... for the most part, reading comic books and following sports in the newspapers pretty much educated me... yeah, I read trashy comics (Superman, Batman, Captain Marvel, Blackhawks), but every now and then I would get a little culture from Classics Comic Books... it would be one of the great classical books from literature in the form of a comic book... great works like Treasure Island, Robin Hood, Moby Dick, Sherlock Holmes, Huckleberry Finn, Tom Sawyer and Julius Caesar... so you might say, old chap, that I was a fairly well-cultured 7 year old, even if I had to so say myself.

My new father, Johnny Church, is at sea... my mother and I stayed with her family whenever he is on a 3-4 month ocean voyage as a chief mate in the merchant marines... he was due to return in early fall.

I will probably spend the summer in the Tri-Cities, spending time at my Uncle Leonard's farm with my cousins J. R. and Lee... it's about 10 miles out-of-town... Florence is the closest town... will also stay at my grandma's house and at Uncle Russell's with my cousin George... Uncle Russell lives across the Tennessee River in Sheffield.

Much of the time George is with me at Uncle Leonard's... we would spend a lot of time swimming the Cypress Creek... often we would build a raft and float down the creek... Tuesday and Friday were exciting days for us out in the country... a Rolling Store came by on Tuesday... this was a grocery store in a big truck... it kept country folks from having to drive to town during the week... the big grocery stores were 10 miles away... all of us cousins each had a nickle to buy a piece of candy on the Rolling Store... um, boy... nothing better than a Zero candy bar... that was my favorite back then... on Friday, it was even better... my aunt got paid at the knitting mill and she would bring us RC Colas and moon pies as treats... man, I mean to tell my life was heaven in '47.

My weekends in the summertime were always special... movies Saturday morning with my Uncle Leonard and my cousins, George, J. R. and Lee... J. R. and I were both 7... sadly I was a month younger than J.R.... compared to us older guys, George and Lee were mere lads... only 5 years old... every Saturday it was ritual for Uncle Leonard to go to the Majestic or Princess Theatres in downtown Florence to see a double feature, while my Aunt Ruthie went Hills Brothers Supermarket on Court Street for groceries... or to Abram's Department Store to do some shopping, also on Court Street, the main street in Florence... Uncle Leonard always picked the movie... we didn't get any choice in the matter... we each got a quarter... 10 cents to get in... 5 cents for a drink, 5 cents for a piece of candy (my favorite was Red Hots, a cinnamon-flavored candy... also Long Boy Kraut, coconut taffy-like candy) and 5 cents for popcorn... boy, was that great!

We would get to watch a cartoon, 30-minute serial and two westerns... we called the serial a "continued piece" because they would alway end with the hero or his girlfriend... or heavens to Betsy... both of them... in a cliffhanger... we would always wonder if the they would live or die, 'cause there was no way they could escape certain doom in our minds... surprisingly they somehow survived... but the next week we would worry about our heroes all over again...we weren't the sharpest tools in the woodshed in the '40s... the serials came in 15 chapters or episodes, so it would take 15 weeks to see them all... and you couldn't miss one, either... you had to be there every week... Uncle Leonard was... he really loved his movies.

This week we saw "Trail to San Antone" with Gene Autry and his wonder horse Champion and Hopalong Cassidy and his wonder horse Topper in "Marauders"... the serial was Buck Rogers, starring Buster Crabbe... the cartoon was Tom and Jerry, the escapades of Tom Cat and Jerry Mouse.

Hoppy wouldn't do cigarette or beer commercials... he didn't want to give the kids any bad habits... and he drank sarsaparillo, too... only sissies drank that non-alcoholic drink... but Hopalong Cassidy wouldn't let his fans down.

We could have also gone to see Ronald Reagan in the classic "the Voice of the Turtle"... fortunately for us, Uncle Leonard didn't like turtle movies.

And sometimes after the "picture show" (that's what a lot of us called the movies), we would head to Trowbridge's on Court Street for deee-licious homemade ice cream or a milk shake... my favorite flavor was orange pineapple ice cream which had bits of real oranges and real pineapple in it... umm...umm... it was so good... probably only a nickle a scoop, too... Uncle Leonard would let us each get two scoops... Trowbridge's was a great soda fountain with good food, too... hamburgers, hot dogs, chicken salad sandwiches.

Hey, guys... I had it made... my life was heaven in '47.

[Eugene Church]

*

[Eugene Church]

THE MOBILE PRESS-REGISTER
Sunday, June 8, 1947

BEARS BULLPEN SAVES THE DAY
In a key series between two of the top teams in the Southern Association, Mobile manager Al Todd called on one of his starters John Hall (8-5/3.17) in the seventh inning to protect a fragile 6-5 lead over hard-hitting Nashville Saturday and Hall saved the day... he held the potent Vols scoreless the final three innings and gave the Bears their 5th victory in a row and narrowed Nashville's edge to just 4 games in the race for the top spot in the Southern Association... however, Roy Whitaker (4-5/4.82) registered the win, beating Pete Mallory (11-5/3.67), who was socked with his 5th loss, rather than his 12th victory... 1B Chuck Connors (.276) hit his 11th homer for Mobile and drove in three runs... the Vols had a 10-8 hit advantage over the Bears... Mobile climbed up into sole possession of second place with a 39-30 mark, sliding a half game ahead of Birmingham and Atlanta, while Nashville is 43-26.

EATON & RUTNER POWER BARONS PAST CRAX
At Ponce de Leon Park in Atlanta, Birmingham combined home runs by Zeb Eaton and Mickey Rutner with a pretty fair start from Roy Brunner on the mound to whip the hometown Crackers 7-4... RF Eaton (.317) slugged a three-run homer and 3B Rutner (.307) chimed in with a two-run blast paving the way to victory for the Barons... Eaton has 11 roundtrippers and Rutner 4... Bruner (4-6/4.01) notched the win going the route, allowing 10 hits... Atlanta also collected 10 hits with 1B Jimmy Blair (.216) slamming a two-run homer... Birmingham (39-31) is fourth in the tightly-bunched Southern Association, 4.5 games back of the top team Nashville (43-26)... with the loss, the Crackers (38-30) dropped to third place, also 4.5 games behind, but a few percentage points ahead of the Barons.

KENNEDY KO'S PELS
Bill Kennedy, a lanky right-hander for the Chattanooga Lookouts, made the home folks happy with a 5-0 whitewashing of the New Orleans Pelicans... Kennedy (7-9/4.49) whiffed six Pelicans, walked three and held them to just five hits... he was backed up by RF Gil Coan (.370) with a two-run homer and three hits each by 1B Jack Sanford (.370) and 3B Charlie Letchas (.212)... Coan tops the Southern Association with 22 HRs and 84 RBIs... loser Walt Smola (5-6/4.43) was tagged for 13 hits, but went the distance giving up only two earned runs... the Lookouts (36-34) are in fifth place in the league standings, while the Pelicans (34-38) are in the seventh spot.

TRAVS TRIP CHICKS IN 10TH
Scoring six runs in the final three frames gave Little Rock a comeback 9-7 triumph over Memphis in 10 innings and dealt the Chicks their fourth straight defeat... in the top of the 10th 2B Bob Mavis (.302) singled in the winning run and the Travelers tacked on another run via a wild pitch... the Pebs pelted out 16 hits in all, sparked by CF Jack Bradsher (.321), C Kenny Sears (.293), RF Ben Cantrell (.319) and LF Bill Sinton (.238), each with three hits... Bradsher and Sears had two doubles apiece... topping the Memphis 15-hit attack was 1B Ted Kluszewski (.321) with four hits and three RBIs... he was just a double shy of a cycle... C Vince Plumbo (.232) doubled in three runs for the Chickasaws...SS Freddie Hancock (.293) also slapped four hits... Carl Lindquist (2-13), a 13-game loser this season, claimed his 2nd win with two spotless innings of relief... Memphis reliever Al Sherer (6-1/4.34) suffered his first loss of the year... it was just last place Little Rock's 15th win of the season... they have lost 56 times... Memphis is still above .500 with a 36-35 mark, resting in the sixth spot.

[Eugene Church]

SOUTHERN ASSOCIATION STANDINGS
Sunday, June 8, 1947

[abell1198]

C'mon Eugene. Tell the Chicks to get it together!! Two straight losses to the Pebs??

Sent from my SM-T237P using Tapatalk

[Eugene Church]

Originally Posted by abell1198

C'mon Eugene. Tell the Chicks to get it together!! Two straight losses to the Pebs??

Sent from my SM-T237P using Tapatalk

Little Rock can hit the ball... it's the pitching that makes them so bad... and lately the pitching has been a little better.

Sorry to say, but the Chicks may be headed downward in the standings... no power... only 30 HRs (6th)... don't score well... pitching is ranked near the bottom with 4.42 ERA (6th)... only Nashville (4.64) and Little Rock (5.74) are worse... by season end, Memphis (36-35) just might be the seventh-best team in the Southern Association... they may have played over-their-heads so far.

Ted Kluszewski (.321 BA/6 HR/40 RBI/36 R), Cot Deal (.308 BA/3 HR/55 RBI/28 R), Paul Armstrong (.291 BA/3 HR/35 RBI/49 R) and Roy Bueschen (.307 BA/3 HR/47 RBI/35 R) are fine hitters for average, but they can't put up the offense of many of the other clubs.

Ray Harrell (7-5/3.39) and Dick Mauney (6-3/2.91) have done well, but the rest of the rotation hasn't... Lefty Hoerst (1-1/2.93) missed several weeks of play, but is now back in the rotation and should give them three quality starters... but you don't win in the offensive-minded Southern Association without scoring runs.

[Eugene Church]

*

[Eugene Church]

THE NASHVILLE BANNER
Monday, June 9, 1947

MOBILE STAYS HOT, WINS 6TH STRAIGHT
The fast-rising Mobile Bears (40-30) are rapidly becoming a thorn in the side of the Southern Association leader, the Nashville Vols (43-27)... the second place Bears battered them 8-4 in the first game of twi-night twinbill Sunday... it was Mobile's third straight win in the series and sixth straight overall... they cut the Vols' lead to just 3 games... behind 4-2 the Bears finished them off with a four-run outburst in the last of the sixth, highlighted by LF George "Shotgun" Shuba's (.308) two-run two-bagger and C Cliff Dapper's (.296) two-run clout... Mobile's Roy Boles (7-7/6.42) evened his record at 7-7 with a decent outing... he permitted four runs on seven hits, fanned eight Vols and walked four of them in seven innings... Pete Mondorff (4-2/3.06/19 G) came to the rescue and blanked Nashville the final two frames... loser Ben Wade (7-7) went the distance and was tagged for 10 hits.

VOLS CRUSH BEARS, SPLIT TWINBILL
Southern Association-leading Nashville stopped Mobile's 6-game winning string with a vengeance, crushing them 15-5 in the second game of the doubleheader to gain a split for the day, but Mobile won the series two games to one... the romp increased the Vols' lead over the Bears to 4 games... CF Hal Jeffcoat (.348) led the Nashville 17-hit barrage with four hits and six RBIs... 1B George Byam (.298) also pitched in with 4 runs batted in... and 3B Cy Block (.370) and 2B Hank Schenz (.300) each scored four runs in the onslaught... winning pitcher A. J. Matulis (3-2/4.83) defeated the Bears, but departed in the seventh under duress when they rallied and cut the score to 7-5... Nashville improved to 44-27... Mobile dipped to 40-31 and third place in the SA standings... Atlanta is 39-30 and is now in the runner-up spot, a few percentage points in front of the Bears.

MISTOS AND CRAX SMACK BARONS
In a single game Sunday at Ponce de Leon in Atlanta, left-hander George Mistos led the Crackers past Birmingham 5-2 to take over second place in the SA standings... the 29-year-old Mistos (3-3/4.25) limited the Barons to five hits, struck out seven and walked three in going the route... Mistos (.227) was aided by three double plays... he also drove in three runs with a pair of hits... the loss went to John Orphal (2-3/3.16)... he was socked for 10 hits and five runs in seven innings... Atlanta upped its record to 39-30, moving percentage points ahead of Mobile (40-31) with Birmingham slipping to 39-32... both the Crackers and Bears trail first place Nashville (44-27) by 4 games... the Barons are 5 games out.

PELS PULL OFF 13-INNING VICTORY
The fans at Joe Engel Stadium in Chattanooga (36-35) were treated to an extra-inning thriller, but it didn't end their way... their fifth place Lookouts were outlasted 5-2 by visiting seventh place New Orleans (35-38) in 13 innings... the Pelicans tore into reliever Hal Tonnes (11-5/2.18) for three runs in the 13th on an RBI double by Red Lavigne (.316), sac fly by 3B Mike Milosovich (.254) and a single by manager/catcher Fred Walters (.271)... the Pels also got standout performances from starter Tom Sunkel (8-4/3.46) and his relief Roger Wright (4-2/1.59)... Wright picked up the win with two perfect frames... in a splendid effort 35-year-old southpaw Sunkel worked the first 11 innings and held Chattanooga to just two runs and seven hits, struck out nine batters and walked three... there were only 16 hits in the game with New Orleans getting nine of them.

LOSING STREAK STOPS AT 4 FOR MEMPHIS
At home at Russwood Park in Memphis, the sixth place Chickasaws (37-35) blew a 4-1 lead in the 9th, but still managed to escape with a 5-4 win in 11 innings over the last place Little Rock Travelers (15-57) and put an end to a four-game losing streak... the Travs had won the first two games of the series... in the bottom of the 11th 1B Ted Kluszewski (.331) doubled CF Paul Armstrong (.299) to third and LF Roy Bueschen (.309) drove him in with a game-winning single... Lefty Hoerst (2-1/2.67) chalked up the victory with two and two-thirds scoreless innings... Memphis starter Dick Mauney (6-3/3.03) fired 11 strikes past the Peb batters, but tired in the ninth, allowing four runs on seven hits... the Chicks collected 14 hits off four Little Rock hurlers with the defeat going to Al Piechota (4-11/4.12)... four walks and three hits in two-plus innings were his downfall.

[Eugene Church]

SOUTHERN ASSOCIATION STANDINGS
Monday, June 8, 1947

[Eugene Church]

*

[Eugene Church]

THE NASHVILLE BANNER
Tuesday, June 10, 1947

CONGER AND CLUTCH HITS LEAD VOLS
The number one team in the Southern Association continued their winning ways and maintained its 4-game edge over Mobile... on the road Nashville got clutch hits and a decent job on the mound from Dick Conger to beat Memphis 6-4 last night... Conger (5-3/4.72) gave up 11 hits to the Chicks, but held them to four runs... Conger got five Ks and walked three while going all nine innings... 3B Cy Block (.373), the SA leader with a .373 BA, homered for the Vols... and SS Hal Quick (.285) and 1B George Byam (.302) drove in a pair of runs apiece... Nashville is first in the SA with a sparkling 45-27 mark and Memphis is in the sixth spot at 37-36 and 8.5 games behind.

NO'S MODICA MOWS DOWN CRACKERS
In Atlanta, the New Orleans Pels and Pete Modica mowed down the Crackers 7-1 in the opener of the 4-game series and knocked them out of second place in the Southern Association... Modica (6-5/3.70) breezed to a complete-game win, stopping them on five hits, while fanning three and walking only one... SS Mel Rue (.240) had three hits and two RBIs to pace the Pelicans... New Orleans got all their runs and 10 hits in six innings off losing pitcher Dewey Atkins (5-7/4.81), who walked seven batters, too, in a dismal outing... the seventh place Pelicans are now 36-38 for the year with the Crackers at 39-31.

BEARS LATE MAGIC TRIPS TRAVS
Out of town in Mobile, last-place Little Rock (15-58) started off well with a 4-0 first-inning lead, but the Travelers couldn't hold off the determined second-place Mobile Bears, who came back to nip them 7-6 with a flurry of late-inning runs... behind 6-3, the Bears got a pair of runs in the last of the seventh and two more in the bottom of the eighth... Shotgun Shuba's (.301) 17th roundtripper and an RBI double by Stan Wasiak (.235) settled the issue... Mobile got four undeserved runs in the game... reliever Pete Mondorff (5-2/3.46) earned the victory with a runless eighth... Paul Minner also worked a scoreless ninth to nail down the win... C Cliff Dapper (.300) drove in two runs for Mobile, while RF Ben Cantrell (.323), 3B Dean Scarborough (.271) and C Kenny Sears (.308) had two RBIs each for Little Rock... Traveler starter Len Perme (2-2/5.79) deserved better, but was done in by faulty fielding... Perme luckily didn't get the loss, it went to Bill Evans (1-10/7.82)... Perme pitched the first seven frames, permitted only two earned runs and eight hits with six strikeouts and two bases on balls... both teams socked 11 hits each... Mobile (41-31) kept pace with first place Nashville in the Southern Association race... the Vols (45-27) still have a 4-game lead on them.

KNERR & WOOTEN LEAD LOOKOUTS PAST BARONS
The fifth place Chattanooga Lookouts (37-35) won a squeaker at home over the fourth place Birmingham Barons (39-33)... Lou Knerr on the hill and Junior Wooten at the plate led the Lookouts to a 4-3 victory... Knerr (1-1/2.81) went all the way, checking Birmingham on six hits, struck out eight and walked three, topping Alex Ronay (8-6/3.90), who also tossed a complete game, yielding four runs on 10 hits... CF Wooten (.282) batted in three runs with three hits, including two triples... for the Barons 1B Robert Reid (.255) hit his 13th home run and pinchhitter Mel Hoderlein (.275) got his 2nd... Birmingham fell to 6 games out of first in the SA standings... Chattanooga trails Nashville by 8 games.

[Eugene Church]

SOUTHERN ASSOCIATION STANDINGS
Tuesday, June 10, 1947

[Eugene Church]

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[Eugene Church]

THE MOBILE PRESS-REGISTER
Wednesday, June 11, 1947

MEMPHIS TOPS NASHVILLE ON MAUER'S HIT
Pinchhitter Johnny Mauer (.214) delivered the key hit, an RBI single in the last of the eighth that enabled the Memphis Chicks to top Southern Association leader Nashville 5-4 at Russwood Park and chop the Vols lead over runner-up Mobile to just 3 games... the win went to Ray Harrell (8-5/3.36), who came on the ninth in relief of starter Chuck Eisenmann (0-1/7.50)... red-hot Memphis first sacker Ted Kluszewski (.335) homered, doubled, drove in a pair of runs and scored twice... Vols SS Bo Boguskie (.212) went deep for the league leaders... young Bob Rush (2-2/3.72) was the loser... he also pitched the entire game, permitting five runs on nine hits, while striking out seven and walking four... RF Red Treadway (.376) also added three hits and two runs to the Nashville 11-hit attack... it was Harrell's last appearance for the Chickasaws... he was sold to San Francisco in the Pacific Coast League.

HALL SKUNKS TRAVELERS ON 5 HITS
Manager Al Todd has his Mobile Bears blazing hot in the Southern Association... 24-year-old John Hall blistered basement-dwelling Little Rock 3-0 on a 5-hitter for his 9th victory of the season and moved the Bears within 3 games out of first place in the SA behind front-running Nashville, who lost to Memphis... Hall was in total command and struck out nine Travelers at Harwell Field in Mobile... the Bears managed only six hits and one earned runs off Little Rock loser Carl Lindquist (2-14/4.55)... Mobile has captured 8 victories in 10 games, improving to 42-31, while the Vols are 45-28.

PELS HOLD OFF CRACKERS
At Ponce de Leon Park in Atlanta, the New Orleans Pelicans knocked off the Crackers 6-4, sparked by homers by 2B Al Kozar (.326) and 1B Al Flair (.279)... the Pels staked big Walter Cress (1-1/5.21) to a 4-0 lead early and held on for the victory despite being outhit 12 to 9... the 6-5 Cress got his first win of the season, struck out five batters and walked one in eight innings of work... creeping up on the .500 mark, New Orleans (37-38) is on the rise, has won their last three games and 8 of the last 10... but the Pelicans are still resting in 7th place in the Southern Association, trailing by 9 games... third place Atlanta (39-32) has dropped three in a row and is 5 games back of first place Nashville.

BARONS EKE BY LOOKOUTS
In spite of allowing 13 hits, Birmingham hurler Gene Babbitt went the distance as the Barons eked out a 4-3 triumph over Chattanooga at Joe Engel Stadium Tuesday night... two convenient double plays helped him out of trouble... Babbitt (1-0/3.00) fanned six Lookouts and issued two bases on balls for his first victory since joining the club... topping the Barons at bat were SS Dick Atkins (.270) with two hits and two RBIs and 1B Lou Kahn (.386) with 3-4 and two runs scored... leading Chattanooga at the plate was 1B Jack Sanford (.373) with three base hits... Marvin Stevens (3-4/5.30) took the loss, going the route and permitting four runs on nine hits... Birmingham (40-33) is fourth in the Southern Association, 5 games back of Nashville (45-28)... the Lookouts are in the sixth spot in the league standings with a 37-36 record and 8 GB.

[Eugene Church]

SOUTHERN ASSOCIATION STANDINGS AND LEADERBOARDS
Wednesday, June 11, 1947

[themonk]

Alarmed that Atlanta has slipped to 3rd place...


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[Eugene Church]

Originally Posted by themonk

Alarmed that Atlanta has slipped to 3rd place...


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Could just be a little short-term downturn... 4-7 for the month so far... the Crackers have a solid lineup except for left field and first base... but in the long run, Forest Thompson has got to get some pitching help... he is carrying the club with his 12-4 record and 2.28 ERA.

Batting order is strong 1 through 6 with football star Charlie Trippi (.318 BA/4 HR/30 RBI/53 R), Ben Steiner (.279 BA/1 HR/13 RBI/29 R), Ted Cieslak (.353 B/3 HR/38 RBI/53 R), Babe Ellis (.289 BA/17 HR/66 RBI/65 R), Charlie Glock (.332 BA/6 HR/60 RBI/39 R) and Red Mathis (.344 BA/0 HR/30 RBI/23 R)... none of the other regulars and backups are hitting .250 for average.

Atlanta owner Earl Mann is known for going out and buying talent for the stretch run... other clubs will do the same thing... import some ex-major leaguers and vets from Triple A leagues.

Nashville has a slew of hitters and offense... Mobile and Birmingham look like they will be pennant contenders... look for New Orleans to make some strides, too, if its pitching comes around... Chattanooga and Memphis appear to be just middle-of-pack teams... don't have the depth of the top four clubs.

The Southern Association is pretty well-balanced except for Little Rock, which has terrible pitching and is destined for the league cellar.

[Eugene Church]

*

[Eugene Church]

THE ARKANSAS POST-DISPATCH
Thursday, June 12, 1947

BEARS WIN 3RD STRAIGHT, PEBS DROP 4TH
Only three games in the Southern Association yesterday... the second place Mobile Bears kept the pressure on first place Nashville in the pennant chase with their 3rd straight win.... the Vols did not play... they had the day off... the Bears sent Little Rock to its 4th defeat in a row 4-1, getting a solid outing from starter Roy Whitaker (5-5/4.55) and reliever Pete Mondorff (5-2/3.33/22 G)... Whitaker, the winning pitcher, stopped the Travelers on a single run and six hits over the first seven innings with two walks and eight Ks... Mondorff blanked Little Rock the last two frames... the Travs lost starter Wes Livengood in the bottom of the third... he was tossed from the scoreless game for arguing balls and strikes... Mobile only got six hits with three of them provided by CF Cal Abrams (.339)... he went deep in the fourth frame and had a two-run double in the fifth... Little Rock reliever Milo Johnson (0-9/6.24) lost his 9th straight... Mobile tapped him for four runs in three-plus innings... the Bears (43-31) now trail Nashville (45-28) by just 2.5 games

PELS TROUNCE CRAX BEHIND DIEHL
Recent trades with New Orleans came back to bite Atlanta as former pitcher George Diehl (10-5/3.13) tamed them on four hits 7-1 at Ponce de Leon Park... the sizzling Pelicans swept to their 4th straight victory with the help of 1B Al Flair's (.281) three-run homer and two RBIs from 3B Mike Milosevic (.256)... Milosovich also was recently traded by Atlanta to New Orleans... Flair, CF George Stumpf (.284) and LF Red Lavigne (.315) all had two hits and scored two runs in the win... it was Diehl's 10th triumph... he whiffed seven Crackers and issued only one walk, while going the distance... the seventh place Pels finally got back to the .500 mark with a 38-38 record... third place Atlanta lost its third in a row and is now 39-33 for the season and 5.5 games behind the Southern Association leader Nashville (45-28).

LOOKOUTS OUTSCORE BARONS
At home in Chattanooga, the Lookouts rolled up an early 9-3 lead and then staved off Birmingham 9-7 in Southern Association action... 2B Jim Clark (.262) led the 13-hit parade with a 3-run homer and five RBIs... Birmingham kept it close with 12 hits, including three by 1B Robert Reid (.262) and a solo shot by CF Bud Matheny (.343)... Reid singled, doubled, tripled and batted in three runs... the Barons shaved it to three runs and got rid of winner and starter Ronny Miller (3-0/5.32) after six frames... reliever Alex Zukowski (0-5/3.38/23 G) worked the final three innings to put Birmingham away... Alex Kellner (5-6/4.04) suffered the loss... the Lookouts rocked him for nine runs in five innings... Chattanooga (38-36) moved into a tie with the idle Memphis Chicks for fifth place, 7.5 GB... Birmingham is in the fourth spot in the SA standings with a 40-34 mark and 5.5 GB in the race.