Circuit clouts  Official Newsletter of the United League
LEAGUE FILE (6/25) · CONTRACTS · INFO · HISTORY · FORUM
1966 · 2/28 · 3/1 · 4/1 · 4/16 · 5/1

 
Colts Race Back to the Top
Adcock to League: 'We Are Still Here'
CHICAGO (Apr. 16) -- The Chicago Colts went on a 9-2 tear to surpass Atlanta and San Francisco and reclaim first place in the West Division.  A 7-7 start had some critics speculating that age had finally caught up with the seven-time defending division champions.  Joe Adcock, whose .217-0-3 in his first seven games contributed to the aura of skepticism around the club, served noticed that the Colts are far from dead, hitting .405-9-32 during a hitting rampage in his last 19 games.  Adcock leads the league in RBI and VORP, and is second in home runs.
   Adcock, 38, needs just seven home runs to join the 300-home run club.  When he does, he will become just the fourth player in UL history to tally 300 home runs, 2,000 hits, 1,000 runs, and 1,000 RBIs.  Last September, he collected his 2,000th hit and 1,000 run in back to back days.
   Adcock was Washington's 11th round pick in the inaugural draft in 1951, and was a solid, if unspectacular hitter in nine years with the Monuments, hitting above .300 just once and never driving in more than 85 runs.  Since joining the Colts in 1960, however, Adcock's numbers have jumped.  His last three seasons have been particularly dominant, hitting .315 and averaging 30 home runs and 100 RBIs a year.  After topping 125 hits just one time in his first nine years, Adcock collected 202 hits in back to back seasons in 1965 and 1966.
   The Colts have had mixed results with their two rookie starters.  Bill "Sing Sing" Singer is 5-2 with a 3.41 ERA in seven starts, leading the league in wins.  But Wilbur Wood was thrashed in his first three starts (0-3, 6.75) and has been demoted to a spot starter role.

Barb's Wired, But Franny Is Uncanny
by Charlie Qualls
ATLANTA (Apr. 20) -- It was a reverse homecoming of sorts as Atlanta's Steve Barber squared off against his former team, the Cleveland Barons, for the first time since being traded.  But the contest would take place on Barber's new home turf of Atlanta-FCS.  A crowd of over thirty-four thousand Hilltoppers faithful were on hand, expecting a pitcher's duel but hoping to see sparks from their high voltage offense, no easy feat against visiting pitcher, the ever-improving Earl Francis.
  The game started with both pitchers pumped, each holding opposing batters hitless through three inNings.  In the top of the fourth, the top of the Baron's order scratched out one run, small ball style.  The top of the fifth found Barber facing down his friend and former battery mate, Johnny Roseboro.  The at-bat came up Roses as the Barons backstop pasted a bleacher shot, a two-run job to pad the lead to 3-0.  "I'm almost embarrassed to say I knew what he was going to throw," said Roseboro after the game, "I was there when he learned that pitch."
  Barber answered with his bat in the bottom of the fifth, breaking up Francis' no-hit bid with a gap double, but was erased trying to stretch it to a triple.
  Both pitchers were spotless the rest of the way, neither needing bullpen back-up.  The damage was done, however, and the 3-0 lead stuck.  Barber pitched well, making only a couple mistakes and normally Atlanta's offense would have had no trouble covering three runs.  But the day belonged to Earl Francis who handed in one of the young season's top pitching performances, going nine full and allowing just the one hit, walking three and striking out three.  Francis' record improves to 3-1 and notched POG honors.

Notes From the Other Tradees:
Notorious slow starter Eddie Mathews went 0-4.
New Barons benchman Dick Green had a pinch-hit single.
Barons platoon man Norm Siebern - DNP.

Whitey Goes 12!
by Rick Magar and Jeff Tonole
BROOKLYN (Apr. 20) -- In a pretty dismal start that has most of Brooklyn's players underachieving, Whitey Ford turned in a real gem on April 28 against San Francisco, in a losing effort of course.  Whitey pitched 12 innings of 3-hit, no-walk, shutout ball while striking out 11. Even though he pitched 12 innings, he faced only 38 batters and threw 138 pitches, 5 fewer pitches than he needed to notch an 8-inning win against Atlanta 2 weeks earlier.  He even went 1 for 3 at the plate. Brooklyn lost to the spiders 2-1.

Fergie Jenkins matched Whitey inning for inning, giving up six hits and four walks in 11 shutout frames (a nice outing, but not as nice as Whitey, who had a game score of 107 -- first one I've seen over 100).  Spiders closer Paul Lindblad singled off of Dick "8.16 ERA" Kelley to start the top of the 15th, and Lou Brock followed with his first homer of the year for a 2-0 lead. Lindblad tried to blow the game in the bottom of the 15th, loading the bases with one out. A sac fly made it 2-1, but the game ended on another long fly out from pinch-hitter Glenn Beckert.