10^th Season 

STANDINGS
EAST	W	L	GB	Last
Brooklyn	52	19	--	6-7
Cleveland	45	32	6.5	9-3
New York	37	39	14	8-4
Detroit	30	47	21.5	5-8
Washington	29	47	22	3-9
WEST	W	L	GB	Last
Louisville	45	33	--	7-5
Chicago	41	37	4	10-3
San Francisco	38	41	7.5	7-6
Los Angeles	35	42	9.5	5-8
St. Louis	35	43	10	2-9

INJURED LIST

TRADES

A Quick Editorial
Charlie Qualls

Let it be known, I never asked for the “draft lottery” system to be changed.  In fact, if memory serves, I cast the only “nay” vote when it came time to re-re-tool the system.  True, it was for selfish reasons:  I simply felt that I was eventually due to screw someone else out of a high draft pick.  In addition, while I’m the first to bemoan my bad luck in the league, I’m also the first to give my Initial Draft strategy the proverbial kick in the ass it deserves, as I tended to focus on “Historical” picks, i.e., "names" rather than game ratings. 

Cleveland Wins Nine Straight
Barons Ride Dick into Pennant Contention
CLEVELAND (July 1) -- The Cleveland Barons won nine straight games from June 18-27, closing the gap with first place Brooklyn to six and a half games in the UL's East Division.  The Barons enjoyed the production of a most unlikely batting star in June.  Third baseman Dick Williams led the team in batting (.348) and RBIs (20), and wollopped eight doubles in 23 games, posting a team best 1.011 OPS.  Williams, 30, a 41st round pick in the UL Initial Draft in 1951, has only played one full season in the league (with expansion San Francisco in 1956), before assuming a utility role in '57 and '59, either side of a full season with Class AAA Atlanta in 1958.  Williams drove in just nine runs in 33 games through May, and his June RBI tally is more than half his career high (39 in 1956).
   The Barons allowed just 19 runs during the streak (2.1 runs per game), which included six wins by two runs or less.  Cleveland finished the first half 13 games over .500 (45-32), their best midseason record in franchise history.  Jack Sanford and Billy O'Dell turned in perfect 4-0 records in June, and new acquired ace Billy Pierce had his best month of the season, going 5-2 with a 3.26 ERA.
   Cleveland started the win streak with a three-game sweep over division rivals Brooklyn at the Frank June 18-20.  Williams' three-run homer keyed a 4-2 win, as the Barons handed Gene Conley just his second loss in 19 starts; Hal Jeffcoat had three hits and drove in three runs in a 6-3 win; and Billy Goodman was 3-for-3 in the finale as Pierce beat Lew Burdette 4-2.  The Barons opened the season with a sweep of Brooklyn, the but Bas retaliated with a sweep of their own May 17-19.  Cleveland leads the season series 6-3, with 11 games remaining.  The clubs meet next July 24-26 at Municipal Stadium and will play six games in the season's final three weeks.

Gothams in the Spotlight
Bressoud Homer Hat Trick
NEW YORK (July 1) -- Eddie Bressoud slugged three home runs in 8-7 win over Detroit June 20 to become the 11th player in league history to complete a homer hat trick.  Bressoud (.319-11-46) leads the Gothams with 11 home runs and 46 RBIs at the midseason break, and is the first New York player and the second shortstop to accomplish the feat.  All three blasts came off Griffins southpaw Sandy Koufax.  The last players to hit three dingers in a game were Chicago's Ernie Banks and San Francisco's Rocky Colavito in June of last season.  Gus Zernial is the only player in UL history to do it twice (1952 and 1957).

Gibbon, Cepeda Win POW Honors
   Gothams players won Player of the Week honors back-to-back in late June.  Rookie pitcher Joe Gibbon won the honor on June 21, after going 2-0, 1.59 including a four-hit shutout on June 19.  Gibbon (7-3, 3.43) has won four of his last five starts and leads all rookies in wins, innings pitched, and strikeouts.
   Orlando Cepeda pounded opposing pitchers the week ending June 28 to claim his first POW award.  "Cha Cha" (.301-6-43) was the Gothams' first round pick in 1958 and at age 22 is already closing in on 400 career hits and 200 career RBIs.
   Before this month, only three Gothams had won Player of the Week honors since 1958.  The last Gothams to win back-to-back POWs were Bubba Church and Jim Busby in July 1957.

Louisville, Chicago Brace for Pennant Race
Hank Aaron Player of the Month, Erskine Top Pitcher 

Detroit Shortstop Wills Out for Season

Founding Fathers: Gregory Bish
Brother Can You Spare a Pitching Staff?, or 
Let the Walking Man Walk
#4 of 8 part series by Glen Reed
Teddy Ballgame. Jackie Robinson. The walking man. Gilberto. Wertz. Noren. Boudreau. Ginsberg. If this roll-call reminds you of the 1951 UL OBP leaderboard, that's probably because it essentially *is* the 1951 UL OBP leaderboard. Gregory Bish and his walking Gothams led the league in runs scored in 1951 and '52, the first and third most offensive seasons registered by any UL side, ever. Arguably, Bish assembled the greatest offensive contingent in UL history, with those two teams posting OBP in excess of .350 and coming within a hair's breadth of that fabled team .800 OPS barrier.
   Unfortunately, Bish apparently failed to account for the fact that while OBP scores you runs, opponent's OBP wins you games--despite those amazing offensive tallies, his teams barely outscored their opposition in either of those years, giving you some idea how truly bad his pitching staffs must have been.
   But you can't throw baby Bish out with the pitching bath water--he had the foresight to draft such young talents as Bob Friend and one of my personal favorites, Baby Joe Presko. "The Whip" Blackwell. Bubba Church. Cloyd Boyer and Chet Nichols out of the 'pen. The disconnect, of course, is that his hitters were typically thirtysomething mashers in their prime, while his pitchers were mostly twentysomething youngsters that would take years to come into their own.
   But credit the Oklahoma native with recognizing a need and moving to address it--he plucked young starters Billy Loes and the supremely talented Mike Fornieles from the 1952 draft. Certainly, Fornieles is the emblematic player of the New York franchise. Drafted immediately ahead of Stu Miller, Gene Conley, and Tom Gorman--who between them share in two ROYs, four CYs, and six league titles--the Havana native with the slight frame was every bit their pitching equal. The Forni-cator stuck it to the opposition to the tune of back-to-back appearances on the "wins" leaderboard in '53 and '54, and it looked for all the world like Gothams had a starter worthy of their phenomenal offense. But the inconceivable happened--a torn rotator cuff ended Forny's career at the age of 23 with 48 UL wins already under his belt. To this day, I believe that's the only player in league history to suffer a career-ender.
   Bish stepped with pep mid-way through the 1953 season, taking with him a 188-181career UL mark and ushering in a revolving-door of mostly indifferent and ineffectual managers until current owner Shawn Martin was found at last to right the ship.
[Editor's note: also in the Fornieles lousy luck file, Ted Williams, the Gothams' first round pick, had his career shortened in 1953 by military service in Korea.  The "Splendid Splinter" hit .322-25-107 in 1951, and led the league with 121 runs in 1952 with a .338-26-96 season.  Williams was in the top three in OPS, hitting over 1.000 OPS and finishing behind teammate Jackie Robinson both seasons.  But after one year in Korea, Williams decided to retire in 1954, at the age of 34.  We'll never know how good those Gotham teams in the mid-50s would have been with Fornieles and Williams on the roster, and Jackie Robinson's delayed retirement stalled new GM Shawn Martin's rebuilding process (at the age of 40, Jackie took his $12.5 million salary to play 23 games in AAA before breaking his wrist in late May finally ended his career).