The Rock Island Argus and daily union. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1920-1923, 1920-05-18
|iyar,ss Per Cent in Home Games
isr First Four in Batting
Order Is t351.
GAMES TOMORROW.
wexford at Rock Island.
Moline at Cedar Rapids.
Evansville 1t Peoria
! fsfre Haute ut Bloomington.

One good reason why the island
~ have won nine and lost only
four Games in the IL contests en-
s,xed in at home thus far is the
ouslity OF the stick work. Added to
Ills is effective pitching. But the
team has scored lots of runs and
dis has been due principally to the
heavy batting of the first four men
n the batting order. Murphy, H.
Jones, Elmer Benson and Ben
Smith.
A perusal CT their records as
shown in the box scores of the 13
|. rares played in Rock Island. the
only ones in which the Islanders
figured as winners. the opening
rames being lost to Bloomington
It Bloomington, brings to light the
interesting fact that the quartet
has been clouting the ball an aver
are per cent of .351. good enough TO
win ball games most of the time.
Murphy, shertstop, dropped from
az for games not including Sat-
urday to .319 because it so happen
I'd It was one of the rare games in
which he did not get a hit out Of
thrde chances.
Howard Jones. rightfielder, has
been clouting the apple at $40
pace. In his last As times at bat he
has obtained II safe smacks.
Elmer Benson has been perform
Ing heavily with the stick. his aver
age being .319 for the Is home
games. Elmer has got Is hits out
Of II tries with the willow.
Smith Hits s97.
Ben Smith in the role Of cleanup
has been setting a terrific pace.
The big first baseman has stepped
to bat 81 times in Is games and hit
safely an even 20 times. His per
cent is 1892. 1t might be of further
interest to note that in the first
two games at Bloomington, Smith
got three hits in seven times at bat,
and this makes his per cent for all
games 1897.
Is it any wonder then that the Is
landers have forged rapidly to the
front from lowly position? With
the first four men in the batting
order clodting the ball at such a
terrific pace it is bound to go hard
With the opposing pitchers.
Other members of the team have
not been so fortunate with the bat,
but there is lots of time. Gallegos
Is the next heaviest hitter with an
average of .290 for home contests.
Gallegos has hit safely in the last
eight consecutive games. and prev
ious to this he has missed hitting in
only three games.
Rain Hats Games.
II Old Sol had peeped through
the clouds for a while yesterday
morning there might have been
some interesting doings at Douglas
park in the afternoon, when Rock
Island and Rockford were sched-
uled to get together in their first
clash Of the season. AS it was, the
clouds hung heavily all day and
the moisture that fell Sunday and
Sunday night remained in the
ground, making the playing field
much too soggy for contest. The
game was not declared off until a
half hour before it was set to be-
gin. The managers of both teams
mad the players in uniform, but in
lae end the negatives won the day.
The cancellation of Sundays tilt
with Bloomington was a severe
blow to the Islanders exchequer.
lnere is no questioning the est.
mates that at least 5000 fans would
nave paid their way into Douglas
park. And then Rockford comes
on Tor an important series and the
lrst clash here has to be called
on, but just the same the visiting
eam gets its daily guarantee. But
a. mat 1t isn't so much to have to
postpone the weekday games, but
saturday and Sunday attendance
asufes comprise the backbone OF
.ae seasons source of money sup
Wy. 1t is something that can't be
ieeovered from to watch a Sunday
u! by without a game.
PROVIDING the weather man shows
soeIter spirit from now on, Rock
y .ura and Rock Island still have
ave games to play, including today,
n me series here and at Rockford,
,ne Islanders need to win three in
oQef TO rest in top position at the
'oaeiusion Of the two series.
Inc poor baseball weather seems
oe general all over the circuit
wexford and Terre Haute were the
saly TWO teams able to mix on Sun
aas, and yesterday all games were
.ieq on on account Of rain and
na grounds. This means that June