United League Baseball

Hutchinson Silences Louisville Bats
BROOKLYN (May 4) -- Fred Hutchinson had his best stuff today, in a one-hit shutout of Louisville. Elmer Valo's leadoff single in the fifth was the Colonels' only hit, and in fact only baserunner, as Hutchinson struck out four with no walks. Art Houtteman left the game in the third, but anchored a combined 3-hit effort for Louisville. The game was scoreless until the bottom of the eighth, when Sandy Amoros led off with a double and scored on Smoky Burgess' third homer of the year.
Hutchinson has been hot and cold this year. On Apr. 26 he threw seven one-hit innings in a 2-0 loss at Wrigley. In his next start on Apr. 30, he was touched for 13 hits and seven runs in a 7-6 loss at Briggs Stadium. The 33-year-old is anchoring the Brooklyn rotation again this season after going 17-12 with a 3.23 ERA last year. He was the ERA champion in 1951 and led the league with 23 complete games in 1952.

Hot Stephens Player of the Week
ST. LOUIS (May 10) -- Maroons shortstop Vern "Junior" Stephens anchored the prolific St. Louis offense this week to earn POW honors for the second time. Stephens pounded opposing pitchers, hitting .370 with 3 HR and 10 RBI while slugging .778. His best games came on May 4-5, when he drove in four runs and then had a 3-for-5 game the next day.
Junior leads the league with 38 RBI and is third in OPS behind Larry Doby and teammate Roy Campanella. St. Louis scored nine or more runs four times in a seven-game span from May 3-10. Stephens has 15 RBI in the month of May already, and is joined by Campanella (.359-1-7) and Stan Musial (.349-2-8) as the Maroons hottest hitters.

AROUND THE HORN

WASHINGTON MONUMENTS 25-13 -- 10-3	Stu Miller locked horns with Whitey Ford on May 14, and both left the game with the score tied 1-1. Miller pitched 10 innings, striking out 8, and Washington prevailed 2-1 as Joe Garagiola tripled off Jim McDonald in the bottom of the 13th . . . Jimmy Piersall is batting .478 (11-23) in May and currently leads the team with a .356 batting average . . . By contrast, Joe Adcock is hitting .152 (5-33) this month and has dipped to .198 for the season . . . After hitting .213 in April, Duke Snider is getting his stroke back (.304-2-10 in last 11 games).
ST. LOUIS MAROONS 23-15 2 7-6	Billy Pierce remains hot. He is 2-1 in three May starts with just four earned runs in 24 innings (1.50). He leads the league in strikeouts and ratio, and is second in ERA . . . Won 5 straight May 8-13, including three-game sweep at Detroit . . . 8-2 in one-run games . . . Right fielder Dick Kokos has been a total bust. After batting .273 and slugging .517 with Louisville last year, the 26-year-old is hitting .080 (3-25) with just one extra base hit.
NEW YORK GOTHAMS 23-16 2.5 8-6	Leads league in batting average (Noren, Doby, and Wertz all batting over .330) and home runs (Wertz 11, Doby 10 both in top 4) . . . Won 4 straight May 7-10, including 4-1 win Sunday May ... in which Mike Fornieles shut down Brooklyn for his sixth win . . . Jackie Robinson had four-straight two-hit games May 7-11 . . . Ed "Walking Man" Yost is not adapting well to leadoff role, batting just .171, but with .358 OBP because of nine walks. His OBP last year: .441 . . . 3B Bobby Brown will miss 1-2 weeks with an inflamed abdominal muscle on May 12. He was red-hot, batting .467 (7-15) in the five games before his injury . . . Close Bob Hooper leads the league in saves (14) by a wide margin, despite a 5.51 ERA.
CHICAGO COLTS 22-16 3 7-6	Lost 6 of 7 from May 7-14 . . . Yogi Berra (.222-1-6) and Bobby Thomson (.241-1-6) have had very cold months, but Schoendienst (.500), Lockman (.455), and Hopp (.417, team-high 7 RBI) have been hot . . . Don Newcombe, at 26, is having his finest season. At 6-1, he is well on pace to match his career highs in wins (13), innings, and ERA . . . After 7 saves in April, Joe Ostrowski (3.09) had just one in the first half of May.
BROOKLYN SUPERBAS 18-20 7 9-4	x
LOUISVILLE COLONELS 15-23 10 4-9	x
BOSTON BEACONS 14-24 11 6-7	x
DETROIT SOUND 13-26 12.5 2-12	x