Evening star., 1938-06-25
BATTING LAURELS
LOOM FOR TRAVIS
Young Nat Pounding at 1862
Pace Big Scorer, Stars
as Long Hitter.
BY BURTON HAWKINS,
Stan Correspondent Of The Star

ST. LOUIS, June 25.-Cecil Travis
the calm. methodical, drawing Geor-
gian who leaves furniture smashing,
rowdy conduct and the more colorful
aspects OF baseball to headline hunters
Of the Mungo. Hemsley and Poffen-
berger pattern, now is attracting at
tention purely on matinee perform
ances between the hours of 3 and S.
Complacent Cecil. it seems. is an
established threat to snatch the
American League batting champion
ship.
BY no stretch of the Imagination a
colorful figure, the 24-year-old Travis
has fashioned a 962 batting average
which hardly can be regarded lightly
No model of form at the plate, Cecil's
slightly awkward style nevertheless
is reaping dividends and it practically
Is impossible to fool him consistently
Af1eld, Travis Is no marvel, vet he is
filling his niche admirably. The crude.
raw recruit who reported to the Ma
tionals in 1888 has become steady. if
not sensational. fielder who no longer
gashes himself with his own spikes
while handling a ground ball. After
much shifting. from third base to the
outfield to shortstop and back to the
outfield again. Cecil has staked a claim
at shortstop which may not expire for
another decade
Rise Patterned After Fiction.
Cecil's story is one of baseballs
more amazing chapters. Travis, plucked
from a baseball school by Scout Joe
Engel for the modest sum of 500, now
is one OF the most cherished chattels
IN the game. Admittedly a gawky,
faulty fielder when he reported to the
Mats to fill the injured Ossie Blueges
shoes for brief span. he made the
majors solely on his swatting.
Travis, however. labored zealously to
diminish his fielding deficiencies and
has been rewarded, not with the
finesse Of Bluege or Gehringer per-
haps, but an effective, passable pro-
cedure of retiring runners. BY the
loose jaws Of fielding averages, which
fail to account for ground covered,
only Billy Rogell of Detroit was better
last year. Meantime his hitting has
prospered flourishing even more
prominently than last year, when he
paced the Mats with 344 average.
In his first game with Washington
Travis smashed five consecutive hits
and for 18 games batted 1902. Bluege
then returned to his post. but Cecil
had gnawed his way toward a berth
in that infield. In 1884 Travis became
Washington's third baseman and
batted .31s. The following year he
batted .3l8 and in 1897 .317. Last
year he scared among the elite and
apparently he will remain there this
season.
Lays In Driving 'em Over.
For some unfathomable reason
Travis is no great producer of runs.
Zeke Bonura and AL Simmons, en-
ployed more sparingly, are far ahead
OF him in that respect, but it hardly
is because Travis "chokes up" in
pinch. If anything he is one Of the
most courageous performers on Clark
Grifflth's pay roll.
In his first year as regular Travis
was sent to the hospital for a week.
Thornton Lee, then with Cleveland,
had struck him in the head with
sizzling fast ball. Travis returned to
action and the first pitcher he faced
was Lee, but he rammed out three
solid hits and drove him from the
mound.
Last Tuesday Travis was hit in
the back by the same Mr.. Lee, now
laboring for Chicago, but Wednesday
Cecil collected two hits and Thursday
he registered three more. His failure
to buoy his runs-batted-in total, then,
hardly is due to lack of "moxie."
1t IS significant that Travis has hit
safely SO times and scored 81 runs
Only Buddy Lewis, his prototype
roomie. can approach him in the mat
ter of hits, while only Lewis has scored
more times for the Nationals. Only
Rick Ferrell has slammed more dou-
bles and Bonura and Simmons more
home runs.
Travis, then, is doing all right. It
is entirely within reason he will wind
up on top.