New Britain herald., 1926-08-21
.B!G LEAGUE CLUBS
 CLOSELY PUNCHED
HargrtaVe and Fothergil Are
 Leading Batsmen

Chicago, Aug. 21 Pt-The five leading clubs of the National league only six games apart as they round into the last quarter of the baseball season. are almost equally equipped with 300 hitters. Averages issued today including games of Wednes- day, show that Pittsburgh, the champions; St. Louis. half a game behind, and New York, six games back, have six players hitting 300 or better, while Cincinnati, in third place, has seven. and Chicago, fourth, after Wednesdays game, had four.
 All five teams gained in hitting the past week except Chicago. Bressler of Cincinnati was the only one of the leading htiters of the league to gain in batting percentage this week, and he got eight hits in four games.
 Hack" Wilson of the Chicago Cubs got three home runs this week, while his rival, Bottomley, of St. Louis, got but one. Wilson has 1S. to 16 for Bottomley. The lead in two baggers is held by Bottomley. jointly with Heathcote of Chicago. at 32.
 Cuyler of Pittsburgh Is still fur ther in the lead in stolen bases, two more this week making him 26. Frisch of the Giants, his nearest ri- val, has but 20. Cuyler, however, scored but once this week, and Blades of St. Louis tied him in runs scored this season with S1.
 Rhem of St. Louis has tied Carl Mays of Cincinnati for the most vic tories on the mound, each having sixteen. Rhem, however, is charged with but five defeats to 9 for Mays. Root of Chicago has just turned in his tooth strikeout for the season. Root and Pkte Donohue of Cincin- natl lead the league as hard work CTS with 211 innings pitched.
 Leading National league hitters: Hargrave, Cincinnati, 1885; Bressler, Cincinnati, .363; Stephenson, Chi cago. .959: E. Smith, Pittsburgh, .349; Traynor, Pittsburgh. .346; Her man. Brooklyn. .S42; Grantham, Pittsburgh. .SS6; L. Bell, St, Louis, .S35; Cuyler, Pittsburgh, .333; Chris jensen, Cincinnati, .SS3.
 Babe Ruth, trying to reach a mark of 59 home runs, and George Burns of Cleveland, trying to reach q mark of 59 two-baggers, were the only leading hitters of the American league this week to show a gain in batting percentage. Ruth put two over the fence, and got half way around on four other lusty blows. Ruth is just 20 short of his mark, while Burns only needs three. Burns tried hard for those three this week, but all his nine hits were singles.
 Fothergill of Detroit, who two weeks ago had an average of over 400, has dropped to .3SS since he became a regular, but he still leads the big ten.
 Ken Williams of St. Louis is safe ly in second place among the home run hitters of the American league, in averages issued today, including Wednesdays games, with IT. Cos lin of Washington and Simmons of Philadelphia are step behind with Is.
 Hunnefeld, speedy Chicago short stop. added two stolen bases this week to take the lead with 2t, one more than E. Rice of Washington. Coombs. the ex-Louisville star now with the Yankees, seems due to be the third American leaguer to cross the plate 100 times. He made four tallies this week and has 97.
 George Uhle of Cleveland added another victory to his string this week. making 19, still one ahead of Herb Pennock of the Yankees, who