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Miksis Sees .300 Season at Plate Cub Infielder Never Had Chance to Prove Ability As Hitter With Dodgers By FRED DOWN United Press Sports Writer NEW YORK, N. Y May 23. Eddie Miskis, who in his eighth year in the major leagues still looks like the kid who took your daughter to the junior prom, predicted today that he will come of age as a .300 hitter this season. "People ask me if I think I can hit 215," the Cubs 26-year-old shortstop said. "Nuts. I believe Ill hit .300." Wid Matthews, director of player personnel for the Cubs, goes even further. "Miksis will be one of the outstanding hitters in the National League," Matthews predicted. "Hell be up among the top dozen hitters and maybe in the first five in a couple of years." Miksis batting average, including games j played Wednesday, is a non-too-gaudy .274, jbut the tall, slender infielder has an alibi. "I pulled a leg muscle just before the season started and sat on the bench for about two weeks," he explained. "When I got back in the line-up, I felt like I was hitting blindfolded." Miksis left the line-up on the second day I of the season as the Cubs second baseman and returned as its shortstop because of another injury this one to Roy Smalley. Part of Double Play Combination He now teams with another former Dodger, Ramazzotti, to form the double-play combination which manager Phil Ca-varetta calls "the heart of the club." "I was sorry to leave the Dodgers tfiats natural," Miksis, who went to the Cubs in last years famous deal for Andy Pafko, said. "But now I realize its done me a world of good." Miksis joined the Dodgers in 1944 at the tender age of 17 and was almost immediately recognized as one of the oustanding "glove men" in the league. But it was obvious he could not beat out Peewee Reese for a regular job, and then Jackie Robinson came along, ending his chances to break into the line-up as the regular second baseman. And so Miksis lingered on the bench, being used occasionally to fill in for a regular infielder, and the legend grew that I he could not hit big league pitching. I The averages .220, .146, .267, .213 and .250 supported the theory, and soon it was accepted as fact by many experts. "How could anybody tell whether I could hit?" Miksis asks now. "I never played ! more, than a week and a half in any season. Nobody can walk off a bench and hit big league pitching just like that." Then came the Pafko trade and Miksis hitting perked up the moment he assumed a regular job with the Cubs. He lifted his average, to .265 by the end of the 1951 season and he seems headed for better things this year. Right now, he seems headed toward stardom as one of the authentic standouts of the league.
