The globe-independent. (Hagerstown, Md.) 1943-19??, 1951-10-18
BEHIND
HOME PLATE
By DOUG STEWART


Last week l received the final
1851 official averages for the Inter
state League, compiled by William
B. McKechnie, Jr., general manager
of the Sunbury Giants and also the
official statistician for the league, and
they are quite interesting. Here are
some of the highlights:
Club Batting: Hagerstown had the
highest average, .283; Allentown was
second with 266; Lancaster third
with 1858, and Wilmington fourth
with 254
Individual Batting 600 games or
better): Billy Smith, Hagerstown's
first baseman, finished the season
with an average of 1878; Jim Solt,
also of Hagerstown, was second with
1872; Charles Neal Lancaster, third
with 1928 and Everett Joyner, AL
lentown, fourth with 321.
Club Fielding: There were only
four points difference between the
four clubs who had the highest av-
erage. Wilmington finished the sea-
son with an average of 1865; Hagers-
town was second with 1854; Allen
town third with 1868, and York
fourth with .961.
Double Plays: York led in dou-
BILE plays, winding up the season
with a total of 1T; Lancaster was
second with 146; Hagerstown is list
ed third with 40, but according to
my record they had total of IA;
and Allentown was fourth with 1876.
Pitching: The Hagerstown pitch
ers finished the season with the high
est record, ST. (not a single mem
Der of Hagerstown's six-man pitch
ing staff had a record of less than
.5OO); Allentown was second with
$50; Wilmington third with 615, and
Sunbury fourth with 529.
Andy Bush, Hagerstown, was the
leagues leading pitcher, with a rec
ord of % wins and three losses, for
a percentage of $50; Niles Jordan,
Wilmington (who moved up to the
Philadelphia Phillies before the sea-
son ended, was the second best
pitcher with a record of 81 wins and
three losses, for a percentage of
1915; Lewandowski, Allentown, fin
ished third with a record of "a wins
and six losses, for a percentage of
800; and Beard, Allentown, was
fourth with record of Is wins and
four losses, for a percentage of .675.
Beard also had the lowest earned
run average for the seacon, 169, but
Andy Bush was right behind him
with an average of ITO; Lewandow-
ski was third with 2.O2, and Jordan
fourth with 214.
No Hit Games: Minton, Salisbury,
pitched no hitter against Harris
burg on June IA, but lost the game
2 to 0; Casagrande, Wilmington,
pitched a seven-inning, no-hit no.
run game against Harrisburg on Au-
gust 20, winning to O. Casagrande
also pitched no-hit, no-run ball for
ten innings against York on July 10,
but gave up two hits in the 18th in
ming to lose the game l to 0.
Keith Kelley, Lancaster, came UP
with the most remarkable no-hit, TO
run game of the year when, on the
first day of the season, April %, he
pitched no-hit, no-run game against
Wilmington, winning by the lop-
sided score of 10 to 0,
The Frederick fans really booed
during the last five or six minutes
of their game with Hagerstown High
on Friday night (see my account of
the game elsewhere on this page),
when the Hagerstown coach moved
his first and second string teams in
and out of the game on almost every
play, like pawns on a chessboard.
The Maroon and Gray team trav-
els to Martinsburg tomorrow night
to meet Martinsburg High School in
rl.r4 Il. Il !