United League of American Base Ball Clubs          est. 1951
 
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So Sad About Sam
Maroons Lose Zoldak But Stay Close
ST. LOUIS (Aug. 16) -- Cy Young candidate "Sad Sam" Zoldak pulled his rotator cuff muscle on Aug. 10 and will miss seven weeks, effectively wiping out the rest of his season.  The injury came in a 3-1 win at Chicago, in which Zoldak, 36, earned his 18th win of the year.  "Sad Sam" (18-5, 2.58) and ace Billy Pierce (20-7, 2.95) packed a powerful 1-2 punch for the Maroons, who have the circuit's best ERA and fewest runs allowed.  Zoldak was one of the leading contenders for the 1956 Cy Young Award, an honor he won in 1951.  At the time of his injury, he led the league in ERA (2.58), and was second in wins (18) and ratio (9.4).
   Zoldak's was the latest of a rash of injuries that have shelved key Maroons this summer.  Leftfielder Gil Coan (.302-0-29, 19 SB, .766 OPS) tore an ACL on July 8 and Bob "Smiley" Keegan (8-7, 4.27, 21 GS) suffered a season-ending torn bicep muscle on July 27.  Ironically, the Coan injury led manager Timothy J. Smith to scramble for replacement outfielders.  In addition to signing free agents Hoot Evers and Hal Rice, Smith traded for Bob Cerv and Bill Bruton.  The latter trade involved Erv Palica, the Maroons' best AAA pitcher, whom they now sorely need to fill the latest hole in the rotation.  Instead, Smith has slotted lefthander Paul Minner (0-2, 4.94) and righthander Dick Donovan (1-4, 5.03) into the bottom of the rotation, moving Spec Shea (11-13, 3.60) to the #2 spot.
   St. Louis blew an opportunity to overtake Washington for first place.  Trailing the Mons by just a game, the Maroons were swept at Griffith Stadium, scoring just four runs in three games.  After then losing two of three to San Francisco, St. Louis sat five games behind on July 8.  Then came the Zoldak injury on the 10th, and it seemed to the Maroons as if the season were unraveling before their very eyes.  But the club won six straight games with key sweeps of rivals Chicago and Brooklyn.  Both clubs are now 7.5 games off the pace and at risk of dropping out of the pennant race.

 
Herb Score's Near No-No
BOSTON (Aug. 1) -- San Francisco's Herb Score came within two outs of the fifth no-hitter in United League history.  Score (9-11, 5.76) took the no-no and a 6-0 lead into the ninth at Fenway Park.  Boston's Harvey Kuenn led off with a deep flyout to center, then Jim Delsing and Mickey Mantle walked.  Then Matt Batts singled down the line, erasing the no-hitter and the shutout in a single stroke.  Score was left with not even a complete game, as Cliff Chambers came on in relief.  The last United League no-hitter was pitched by San Francisco's Hal Brown on Aug. 16 of last season.  Ironically, Score was coming off of his worst month; he was 1-5, 9.17 in six starts in July.
   San Francisco has won six of its last eight games, led by Score (3-0, 1.85 in August) and Don Newcombe (2-1, 2.49 in August).  Eleven days after his brush with greatness, Herb again mystified Beacon hitters with eight innings of three-hit ball and 13 strikeouts on Aug. 12.  Newcombe is 7-1 with a 2.92 ERA in his last 8 starts.  The offense has come to life, led by Vic Wertz (.358-6-15 in last 13 games) and Rocky Colavito (.293-3-11 in last 13 games).  Wertz had three hits and 5 RBIs, and 
Colavito had three hits and 4 RBIs in a 13-4 win over Boston on Monday the 14th.  The Spiders are just two games behind their expansion rivals Los Angeles.

Fading Away?
Bas Stall, Colts Stumble; Is There Yet Hope?
BROOKLYN (Aug. 16) -- Both were swept by second place St. Louis, and both now sit 7.5 games off the pace with about 40 games to go.  So should Brooklyn and Chicago still be considered 'in the pennant race'?  The answer is yes and no.  Brooklyn manager Glen Reed pretty much wrote off the season after losing Cy Young winner Tom Gorman in May.  But the defending champs have kept close, at least until this month.  The Bas are 4-11 in their last 15 games, and suffered series losses to New York, Louisville, Detroit, and St. Louis.  The latter hurt them the most, a three-game sweep at Sportsman's Park that turned a two-game gap between the clubs into a five-game gap.  So what's up with the Superbas?
   Start with the pitching.  In 16 games in July, the Superbas allowed five or more runs just twice.  Since July 31, they've allowed five or more runs 10 times in 15 games.  Once upon a time (July 17, actually), righthander Lew Burdette was 15-4 with a 3.98 ERA.  Since then, Lew has lost six straight starts (he allowed 9+ hits in five straight starts).  "Sphinx" Mossi ended July with four straight wins, but in three August starts, he is 0-2, 7.48, including an 11-4 embarrassment at St. Louis on Saturday the 12th.  And what of Bob Porterfield, who ably settled the rotation after the shock of the Gorman injury with four straight wins and a 1.64 ERA in June?  Porterfield is 1-2 with a 4.94 ERA in August, and was knocked out of the box after 6.2 innings in an 8-0 loss at Detroit on Aug. 7 (Johnny Podres got the shutout win).  
   What about the offense?  The Superbas have scored 63 runs in their last 15 games, a respectable 4.2 runs per game.  But those runs have disproportionately come in their wins.  Their four wins (10-5, 4-2, 9-4, 9-3) have come by an average margin of 4.5 runs, while they have been held to four of fewer runs in 10 of 15 games, including shutout losses to Antonelli and Podres two days apart.  Gil Hodges is hitting .125 (4-32) with 4 RBIs in his last 8 games.  Gene Woodling, the club's #2 RBI man, had two homers and 4 RBIs in the 14-9 loss on the 14th.  But before that game, he hadn't driven in a run since July 19 (a game-winning three-run homer against Detroit).  That's a 25-day rib drought!  Minnie Minoso has a season-worst .293 monthly average, Richie Ashburn got hurt, etc.
   Some key games loom on the horizon for Brooklyn.  A three-game set at Chicago Aug. 22-24, a home series against first place Washington Aug. 30-Sept. 1, and a couple two-game sets with St. Louis and Washington during the week of Sept. 10.  Plus, of course, the final week's quasi-playoff of six games with its closest neighbors in the league standings.
   So what's Chicago's story?  After all, with Stu Miller struggling, and Brooklyn and St. Louis wracked by injuries, it seemed to be a tailor-made scenario for the revamped Chicago Colts to finally claim their first UL pennant.  The Colts were within 1.5 games on July 16, but have since gone 11-15 to fall six games in the standings to 7.5 games back.  The Colts were 2-7 from Aug. 3-11, including three one-run losses.  July Player of the Month Ernie Banks is hot, hitting .346 with 14 RBI in 13 games.  But Gus Zernial, supposedly a shoo-in to break Ralph Kiner's single season home run record, has an 11-game homerless streak, just two dingers in his last 21 games, and just 4 RBIs in his last 11 games.  Meanwhile Yogi Berra, Bobby Thomson, and Gus Bell have a combined 14 RBI in 13 games in August.  The three had 145 RBI thru July.
   The pitching has come on some hard times as well.  Whitey Ford is 2-3 in his last seven starts, after going 5-1 in his previous six.  Joe Presko's magic month (4-1, 1.62 in June) seems like a distant mammary (Presko's ERA is 5.06 in his last 8 starts).  Early Wynn is 1-4, 9.27 in his last five starts, and Robin Roberts is 2-4 in his last 7 starts, despite a 3.14 ERA.
   After being swept by St. Louis, the Colts were 9.5 games back.  They then swept the Sound at Briggs Stadium Aug. 12-14 to claw back with 7.5, but with just 41 games to go, time is running out.  The Colts have three games with Brooklyn Aug. 22-24, then four games with Washington (Sept. 2, 3, 10, 11) and four with St. Louis (Sept. 8, 9, 17, 18).  It is no exaggeration to say that the Colts must win nearly every one of those 11 key games in order to close the margin in the homestretch and sprint to the winner's circle.

Gutsy Move in Louisville
By George Plimpton, columnist Louisville Sun-Times (by Mark Allen)
   Team owner Mark Allen made a gutsy move today, one that may very well backfire if his star player does accept accept the decision well.  The obviously talented OF (arguably Louisville's best player since their inception) has been assigned to AAA Pittsburgh.
   "Jackie's been struggling all year, average, power and base stealing are all well below normal for him.  I know he's been working hard and I believe he's a big reason the 3-some of Aaron, Post and Kaline are all having good years." says Mark Allen. "It all came to a head these first 12 games in August.  He went 9 for 48 which is .188!!!  He's striking out more and basically has been in almost a season long slump.  His only decent month was May when he hit .298 with 3 HR.  I think part of the problem now is mental, he's trying to hard and I honestly think with the 3 young stars we have now he's even a little worried about his job.  We've tried to reassure him that he has a bright future with this team.  We are hoping that getting out from under the pressure of the bigs and working with our hitting coaches in AAA he can get this debacle of a year turned around.  We will wait and see how things go before we decide how long he will be there.  He seemed to understand and took it well but you know appearances sometimes can be deceiving."
   Jackie did not return my phone call as of the time of this article.