United League Baseball

Boston No-Hits Gorman
Weak-Hitting Beacons Take Credit for 'Pitching' Feat
BOSTON (Apr. 14) -- Tom Gorman threw the United League's second no-hitter today, in Brooklyn's 6-0 romp over Boston at Fenway Park. Boston fans were not impressed by the pitching display, lamenting the fact that no-hitting the Beacons is no major feat. "Hell, that's only a couple hits less than normal," one piss-drunk fan complained. Boston is off to another rough start, hitting just .220 as a team, and has scored a league-low 46 runs (3.5 per game) in one of the league's best hitting parks. "This has got to stop. It's just f-ing ridiculous," manager Charlie Qualls said after the game.
Boston lost its first seven games, before finally breaking out with a 8-0 win over Brooklyn in the series opener Monday, in which Harvey Haddix (1-1, 3.80) threw a four-hit shutout to beat Lew Burdette. The Beaks made it two in a row Tuesday. Earl Torgeson was 4-for-4 in a 6-4 win. But the fun ended Wednesday, when the 29-year-old Gorman took the hill for his third start of the year. Gorman, acquired in the July 1952 trade that sent Ken Raffensberger and Vern Stephens to St. Louis. The righthander from New York posted a 13-11 record and 3.62 ERA in 35 starts last year, including five shutouts. He walked seven Bostonians en route to his no-hitter, and was twice taken to the warning track (once by his opposite number Warren Spahn), but never relented. After getting two outs in the ninth, Gorman walked Cal Abrams and beaned Clyde McCullough before inducing a Gene Hermanski groundout to seal the no-hitter. New York's Early Wynn made history last July 27 by throwing the first no-hitter in the United League's short history.

Here We (Don't) Go Again; Bye Bye Fenway?
It's becoming an annual ritual in Beantown. The offseason hopefulness, the preseason hype, the April crash. Manager Charlie Qualls is losing sleep mulling questions like: was Warren Spahn's good season last year an aberration? (He's 0-3, 6.45); what is a good return on a $4.5 million (Ned Garver) investment? (He's 0-2, 5.85); and how drunk does Mickey Mantle have to be to bat .163 and slug .245? The MVP is homerless in his first 12 games. The club is 3-3 in their last six and it is too early to panic, but that never stopped anyone, and Quallsies surely has his eye on the expansion (aka sucker) draft, in which he will attempt to unload a few of his high-price duds.
The situation in Boston is getting so bad, that Qualls is considering renovating old Braves Field and moving the team across town, more as a publicity stunt than anything else -- though anywhere but Fenway would be more pitcher-friendly. Boston was seventh in attendance last year, drawing just over 1 million to Fenway Park in a 74-80 season.

AROUND THE HORN

WASHINGTON MONUMENTS 11-2 -- 5-1	Willie Mays is finally becoming Willie Mays (.362-6-17). The "five-tool" centerfielder leads the league in HR, RBI, and slugging, and has homered in 5 of his last 7 games . . . Snider Snaps Out of It: After hitting just 2-14 to start the campaign, Duke Snider is batting .357 (5-14), with 2 HR and 6 RBI in his last 5 games . . . Cy Young winner Stu Miller bounced back from his opening day loss, going 3-0, 0.68 in his last 3 starts . . . Billy Goodman has quietly amassed the third highest hit total in UL history (497), and figures to reach the 500-hit mark sometime next week.
CHICAGO COLTS 9-4 -- 3-3	Lefty Mel "Dusty" Parnell made the most of his "spot" start on Apr. 16, shutting out Boston on four hits. Dusty was 50-36 in his first three seasons as a Colt, but was demoted from the rotation this spring to make room for rookie Bill Henry . . . The Colts are 5-1 in one-run games, and closer Joe Ostrowski is untouched (3 saves and 0.00 ERA) through four relief appearances . . . Bobby Thomson drove in a pair with a ninth-inning single and rookie Jim Finigan drove in the game-winner, as Chicago edged Boston 5-4 in 12 innings on Apr. 15.
NEW YORK GOTHAMS 9-4 2 5-1	The Gothams have won five straight, including a sweep of their crosstown rivals at Ebbets Field, to remain within two games of first place Washington . . . Larry Doby and Lou Boudreau each had four hits, as the Goths exploded for 8 in the 8th to turn a Chicago lead into a 17-10 blowout win Apr. 14 . . . Joe Presko is working out as the #3 starter. "Baby Joe" is 3-1 with a 2.92 ERA in four starts . . . The bullpen looks good too, particularly closer Bob Hooper and setup men Chet Nichols and Morrie Martin, who have yet to allow an earned run in seven combined appearances (7.1 IP).
ST. LOUIS MAROONS 9-4 2 5-1	The Maroons are unbeaten at home (6-0), and are 5-0 in one-run games . . . St. Louis addressed a low OBP in the off-season, and now leads the league with a .380 OBP . . . The Maroons are batting .304 and lead the league in HR (14: Campy 5, Musial 3, Jones 3), walks (55: Stanky 12, Campy 9, Musial 8) and OPS (.848: Jones 1.149, Stephens 1.097, Musial 1.077) . . . The Maroons had 40 hits in three games at Louisville Apr. 12-14 (.351) . . . Zoldak's Back: Remember Sam Zoldak? He does, and he leads the league in Ratio with just 7.2 baserunners per nine (2-0, 3.00) . . . Four days after setting a new UL record with 18 strikeouts in a game, Billy Pierce surpassed 600 career strikeouts on Apr. 13.
BROOKLYN SUPERBAS 4-9 7 1-5	The Superbas lost three games either side of Gorman's no-hitter, during a 1-6 run . . . Ace Fred Hutchinson (1-3, 3.44) has struggled, with only one win in his first four starts, but not as much as Lew Burdette (0-3, 13.09), who has been slammed hard by Louisville, Boston, and New York, never lasting more than five innings . . . Johnny Pesky hit .438 (7-16) in his last five games and leads the team in batting (.410) . . . Slow start for Gil Hodges. The former All-Star averaged 104 RBI/yr, but drove in just four in his first 12 games.
LOUISVILLE COLONELS 4-9 7 1-5	Mark Allen is pleased. "Already 13 games into the season, and we aren't in last place!" But after a 3-1 start, they are 1-8 in their last nine . . . Home woes continue: the Colonels are only 1-4 at Parkway Field . . . Jackie Jensen was 4-for-5 against Washington Apr. 16, and hit .381 in his last 6 games . . . Four regulars are batting below .230 (Collins .182, Bailey .189, Valo .206, Gordon .227) . . . RF Hank Bauer (.273-1-4) will miss 3 weeks with an inflamed medial collateral ligament . . . Bob Feller (0-3, 5.85) has now lost a record 12 straight and hasn't won in nearly two years . . . Things look good down on the farm. AAA Pittsburgh leads the American Association, with Al Kaline leading the circuit in homers (tied) and slugging, and Art Houtteman (0.63) and Herm Wehmeier (0.73) posting microscopic ERAs.
BOSTON BEACONS 3-10 8 3-3	Harvey Kuenn (.188-0-3), batting champion and Gold Glove shortstop, will miss 5 weeks with a ruptured elbow ligament suffered in a 6-4 win over Brooklyn Apr. 13 . . . Not so hot: The biggest contributors to the league's worst team batting average are Cal Abrams [.150, 1-15 (.067) in last 5 games], Mickey Mantle [.163, 1-20 (.050) in last 5 games], and Dick Cole .083 (0 for his last 20) . . . Warren Spahn and Ned Garver, who together make over $12M (a fifth of Boston's payroll), are a combined 0-5, 6.17 in six starts . . . Boston's minor league teams lead the AA Southern League and Single-A Pacific Coast League, and AAA Philadelphia is just a game behind Pittsburgh. Al "Red" Worthington is 1-0, 0.59 in two AAA starts.
DETROIT SOUND 3-10 8 1-5	Lost five straight, in which they have scored 10 runs. The coldest bats during the skid have been Ralph Kiner (3-22), Willard Marshall (2-15), Toby Atwell (1-17), and Fred Marsh (0-13) . . . Marshall homered and drove in 5 runs in a 12-6 rout of Washington Apr. 12 . . . Poor run support (1.9) has Robin Roberts 0-4 for the first time in his career, despite a respectable 4.32 ERA. His matchups haven't helped. He has lost to Johnny Antonelli, Whitey Ford, Stu Miller, and Billy Pierce . . . Kiner (.271-3-11) has just one home run in his last 10 games . . . Club is a league worst 0-4 in one-run games. Only two extra-base hits in 52 clutch (close/late) at bats.