Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1939-12-26
Tops With .349
Although Mate
C|outs .399
Also Leads in TotuI
Bases, Homers; Card
Team Bots .294
BY JUDSON BAILEY,
A.~;zx>S n~~.. o-a,k, 1ryr1t>~

Associated Press SPORTS writer.
NEW YORK, Dec. 26.-As the kids
used to say, and probably still say,
"the third time is the charm" for
Johnny Mize, the st. Louis Cardi-
nails hulking first baseman who
finally won the National League bat
ting championship this year after
twice being runner-up.
But what nobody has said, and
apparently nobody noticed until the
official averages were announced to-
day, was that Teammate Don Pad
gett would have copied the title If
he had played in eight more games.
Mize batted a rollicking .349 in 153
of his teams 155 games and well de-
served the honor he nearly earned
in 1887 when Terminate Joe Med
wick beat him by 10 points with .374
and in 1888 when Ernie Lombardf
of Cincinnati nosed him out by
five with .342.
In addition, he topped the league
in home runs with % and for the
second year piled up the most total
bases, 1853.
Spanked Drive of Cards.
But Padgett, playing in only 90
games, slugged gigantic 1893. If he
had played in eight more games. he
would have qualified for the batting
crown, which is based on participa-
ton in 100 or more contests. He was
one of the principal sparks in the
Cardinals nearly successful pennant
drive and although not polished
catcher. undoubtedly would have
passed the O-boundary except for
an early-season illness.
With such pace-setters. st. Louis
had not the least trouble winning
the club-hitting honors with a .294
percentage, is points better than
the Cincinnati Reds.
It was nearly a one-two-three
finish for the Redbird sluggers, be-
cause Medwick was nosed out by
Frank Mccormick of the Reds by
the margin of .3317 to 1916.
The other leaders included Paul
Waner, Pittsburgh, 1928; Morris Ar
novich, Philadelphia, 1924; wal
Goodman. Cincinnati. 1923; Zeke
Bonura, New York, 1921; Enos
Slaughter, st. Louis, 800; Harry
banning. New York, .313, and Hank
Leiber, Chicago, $40.
Slaughter Tops in Doubles.
Slaughter led the league in dou-
bles with 50, and teammate Jim
Brown went to bat the most times,
645.
Mccormick led in total hits for
the second consecutive year with
200, and Bill Werber of the Reds
scored the most runs, us.
Buddy Hassett of the Boston Bees
made the most singles, 1862, and
Billy Herman of the Chicago Cubs
the most triples, 10.
Here are some other miscellaneous
feats disclosed by the averages:
The only player to hit three home
runs in a single game during the
National League season was Leiber,
who did it July against the Cards.
OFT Gains Homer Record.
Mel OFT of the New York Giants,
by hitting q homers, brought his
total to 1863, the best lifetime rec
ord of any player in the leagues
history.
Johnny Cooney of the Bees. a
major Lacquer IA years, hit his first
homer September "a off Harry
Gumbert of the Giants.
The seasons longest batting streak
was the property of Chuck Klein for
the Pittsburgh Pirates, 81 games.
Over this stretch, he hit .412. The
longest run-scoring streak was Wer-
ber's, IL tallies in 10 games.
The longest winning streak was
Cincinnati's 12-game run in May.
The longest game was 23-inning
tie by Brooklyn and Boston. The
teams that set the major league en-
durance record of 26 innings in 1920.
Tie in Sacrifice Hits.
Linus Frey of the Reds and Mer-
rill May of the Phillies tied for the
most sacrifice hits, and Lee Handley
of Pittsburgh tied with Stan Hack
of Chicago for the most stolen bases,
II.
Altogether 278 players took some
part in league games during the sea-
son with four-McCormick, Dolph
Camilli Of Brooklyn, Bill Herman
and Hack of Chicago-participating
in every game played by their re-
spective clubs.
A new record of seven home runs
in one game was set by the Giants
June 6 against Cincinnati and tied
August 10 by the Giants against the
PhilS.