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. Rizzuto Tops Junior Circuit Hitters; Musial Leads N. L PHIL RIZZUTO " Little Yankee Overcomes Early Slump; Paces Team With Sizzling .419 Mark By FRED DOWN United Press Sports Writer NEW YORK, N. Y., May 5.— Shortstop Phil Rizzuto, the smallest New York Yankee of them all, has been swinging the biggest stick in the American League. Rizzuto, who failed to hit safely in his first nine at bats this year, sported a .419 battling average through Thursdays day games, a figure which placed him far ahead of such name sluggers as Ted Williams, Joe DiMaggio and Tommy Henrich. Stan Musial was the National Leagues leader with a .441 mark. Catcher Jim Hegan of the Cleveland Indians, who hit only .24 last, year, ranked second in the American League with .414. Larry Doby of the Indians was third with .332 and Al Zarilla of the Boston Red Sox fourth with .370. Rizzuto has been hitting a better than .500 clip since his early slump and has knocked in seven runs in 12 games despite the fact he is the Yankee leadoff man. Willie "Puddinhead" Jones, the Philadelphia Phillies broad-shouldered third baseman, has stolen the early jump on Musial and Ralph Kiner in the National Leagues home run and run batted in derbies. Jones Outslugs Musial Jones leads both departments with 18 runs batted in and six homers in 15 games. He ranks second to Musial in. battling among players who have appeared in nine or more games with .361. Musial has clubbed two homers and knocked in only seven runs while Kiner shows, only three homers and eight driven across to go with a disappointing .239 average. Ted Williams of the Boston. Red Sox, and Ken Wood of the St. Louis Browns are tied for the American League homer lead with four each and Vern Stephens of the Red Sox leads in RBI with 20. Virgil Trucks of the Detroit Tigers and Washingtons Steve Nagy are the individual American League pitching leaders with 2-0 secords. Robin Roberts, the most successful of the bonus players, leads the senior circuit hurlers with three victories and no losses. Warren Spahn of the Boston Braves also has three victories but has been charged with one defeat. The Browns -hold the homer team lead in the A. L. with 12, but oddly enough are also tied for the fewest runs scored — only 40 in nine games. The Braves lead the National League in that department with 15 despite a .232 team batting mark. The Red Sox and Dodgers lead in team batting with .303 and .277 marks respectively.
