Evening star., 1953-09-26
Rosen Given Break
By Indians Pilot;
Takes Homer Lead
By Burton Howkins

romping away with his second
American League batting cham
pionship, now is nursing a It's
sue-thin .0011 lead over AL Rosen.
the Indians third baseman who
is threatening to make a sweep
of hitting honors with a late
surge.
The Mats first baseman, held
hitless in four chances last night
by Marion Fricano as Bob Por-
terfeld posted his ninth shut
out and 22d win at the expense
of the Athletics, 10, now is con-
fronted with a determined chal-
lenge by RoSen.
Rosen already has the runs
batted-in crown locked up. With
two home runs among his four
hits against Detroit last night,
AL took over the home run lead
with 43, one ahead of the AS
Gus zernial. And he zoomed
his average to 1922, within whis-
pering distance of Vernon's
1898.
How 1t Figures.
It's this close: If Vernon gets
three hits in eight tries in his
last two games he'll finish with
.3340. If RoSen obtains four hits
in eight attempts AL will take
the title with a .3344 mark.
The Indians manager, Al Lo-
PEI, is giving Rosen every
opportunity. Rosen is leading
off in the Cleveland batting
order. which will give him a
chance to get to bat more often
in an effort to overtake Vernon.
Rosen normally bats in the No.
4 spot.
Both have two games remain
ing. Vernon will be pitted
against Philadelphia's Bob Trice,
Negro rookie, tonight at Griffith
Stadium. Rosen will be stacked
against AL Aber of the Tigers at
Cleveland this afternoon. If
Rosen grabs the lead today, it's
likely Bucky Harris will move
Vernon into the lead-off spot
in the Mats batting order to-
night. Dean Stone. rookie left
handler. will pitch for the Mats.
The game will be televised by
Station WTTG.
Rosen Has Big Night.
Rosen, with his four-for- six,
was the big figure as the Indians
crushed the Tigers, 1913, last
night. Rookie Dick Tomanek,
23-year-old lefthander up from
Indianapolis, held Detroit to six
hits.
Porterfield, making his final
appearance Of the year. finished
with seventh straight victory
and IL triumphs in his last 13
starts. He also closed with a
40 mark against Philadelphia,
blanking the AS three times.
Last nights effort was a neat
six-hitter, but with one out in
the last of the ninth Bob was
getting nowhere. Then Jackie
Jensen, Clyde Vollmer and Jim
Busby singled successfully to fill
the bases and Wayne Terwilliger
sent the 2,403 customers home
with a single through the box.
Ties johnson Mark.
Elsewhere in the majors there
were flock of outstanding per-
formances. Mel Parnell of the
Red Sox joined the great Walter
Johnson as the only pitchers
to shut out the New York Yam
KEGS tour times in a season.
Johnson did it in 1908. In beat
ing the Yankees, SO, Parnell
also became the first pitcher to
whip them five times in one
year since Casey Stengel took
over five years ago.
The Chicago White Sox scored
their 87th triumph at the ex-
pense of the st. Louis Browns.
To, and assured themselves of
their best won-and-lost record
in 33 years despite a third-place
finish.
The pennant-winning Brooklyn
Dodgers won their 104th game,
4-3, over Philadelphia, equal
ing the all-time high in victories
by a Brooklyn team. The Sec
ond-place 1912 club also won
104.
Haddix Stars as Rookie.
Harvey Haddix became the
first rookie of the St. Louis Car
dinals to win 20 games since
Johnny Beasley in 1912. He
breezed to his Goth, 11-2. over
Chicago with the help of 19 hits
Four of those hits were delivered
by Red Schoendienst, now only
two points back of the Dodgers
idle Carl Furillo, leading the
league with a .344 average.
Al Dark of the New York
Giants set a National League
record for home runs by short
stops when he hit his 23d oi
the year in the Giants 6-2 tri-
umph at Pittsburgh. The ole
mark of % was set by Glenr
Wright of the Dodgers in 1890