The Washington times., 1937-08-05
BOOSTS PACE.
TO 1884 MARK.
With 3 HITS.
DeShong Blows Tilt
In One Frame
BY FRANK BUCK" O'NEILL

Cecil Travis hammered his way
farther to the front in the scramble
for hitting honors in the American
League, and today surveys the
world from the eminence of a bat
ting average of 1884.
Travis made three hits out CT
four times at bat yesterday, and
scored two runs, but there was
none to follow his illustriouS eX.
ample, and the GriffS bowed to
the Brownies in the second game
of the current series. One OF the
Georgian'S drives was a double
to left field, another was a single
to that same sector, and the third
was a blow to center. Each was
as clean as hounds tooth. Travis
added nothing to his record in
driving in runs, for the reason
that each time he hit safely, the
bases we're empty.
Travis now is on one Of those
spurts when everything goes just
right. He seems to be picking
good balls. and he has developed
a happy knack of hitting when the
pitcher pitches. One of the fall
lacies in working on the Georgian
is that he's weak on inside pitch
ing. He does get a lot of handle
hits, that slice into left field.
But those slices are caused by a
popularity in hitting style.
Clubbed Way
Never a free swinger in the
sense that many another man
who dubbed his way into the
upper brackets must be regarded,
Travis waits until the last frac-
ton of a second before hitting.
Joe Sewell, who holds the all
time record for a minimum in
Strikeouts, was such a swinger,
and Sewell struck out only four
times in one season. In CTS
games, with 1855 times at bat,
Sewell struck out only 10 times.
Travis never may equal the rec
ord Of the pudgy little Sewell, but
whether he does or not will make
a good story one of these days. The
fact remains that he is not strik-
out out often, and right now he's
blazing hot.
Al Simmons drove in one of the
Griff runs, whacking a triple to
deep center field after Travis
singled in the sixth inning. Now
that blow must have warmed the
cookies of the puissant Poles
heart, for Hildebrand fractured
Al's hand in a previous series,
and out Of that incident developed
a right jovial brawl.
Stone In Pinch
Johnny Stone, whose ringing
line drive won the opening game
of this series. poled another blow
in the pinch, following Travis
double in the fourth inning. A
single by Myer, q double by Miles
and an out by Yves Terrell pro.
duced third run for the locals.
OF course, this hitting and scor-
ing was all very fine, but the
trouble was that it was not long
enough sustained. The Browns
are students Of the modern
motif, and concentrated their
power In one productive inning.
That inning took all the Joy out
Of life for Jimmy DeShong, who
pitched we'll before and after that
one outburst.
1t started thusly: With one out,
West singled. and then Vosmik
was out. Cliff bounced a single
off Lewis glove. and Bell singled
off Travis glove At this juncture
DeShong faltered and passed
Hemsley. forcing home a counter.
Then Davis ripped a triple into
the center field corner, and that
was about all there was to the
afternoon.
For purposes Of record we note
that Gifts triple and a single by
Bell pushed a run over the plate
in the fourth inning.
One Of the mastery efforts of
the day was turned in bv Sammy
West. who ran right to the score
board and grabbed hit: a double
at least, off the bat of Johnny
Stone.