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Show IRIS SPEAKER LEADS IP. WILLOW WIELDING Cleveland Slugger Shows Average of .526; Giants in National. CHICAGO, May 4 Tris Speaker is "over the top" with a comfortable lead In the race for the 191S battins honors of the American league. Averages released today show him blazing the trail with a mark of .526 for eleven games. Gandil of Chicago, his nearest rival, is 62 points behind him. The averages include games of Wednesday. Speaker, in thirty-eight trips to the plate, drove out twenty hits five of them doubles and two triples. He also leads the base-stealers with seven. Chapman, his teammate, and Plpp and Gilhooley of New York are tied for honors in runs scored, each having registered a dozen. Jackson of Chicago. Gedeon of St. Louis, Burns of Philadelphia, Baker of New York, Shanks of Washington and Chapman Chap-man have a home run apiece to their credit. Dave Shean of Boston is leading in sacrifice hitting, with six. Too Early for Ty. Ty Cobb, the 1917 batting champion, does not appear in today's averages, as illness kept him out of the early season games and the Detroit club was idle several sev-eral days, due to weather conditions. Cleveland is leading the club batting with an average of .301; and St. Louis in team fielding with .875. The ten leading batters: Speaker, Cleveland, .526; Gandil. Chicago, .461; Jackson, Chicago, .438; Wambsganss. Cleveland, .432; Ruth, Boston, Bos-ton, .417; McMullin. Chicago, .400; O'Neill, Cleveland, .400; Strunk, Boston, .386; La van, Washington, -3S5; Baker, New York. .376. Members of the championship New York club are in possession of virtually all of the earlv season honors In the National league, with Lew McCarty, the catcher, showing the way to the batters with an average of .500 for eight games. The averages include games of Wednesday. Wednes-day. There are four New Yorkers among the ten leading hitters. Burns Leads Thefts. George Burns, the Giants' left fielder, is leading the base-stealers with seven, and is tied with Young, his teammate, for honors in runs scored, with fifteen. Kauff of New York and Roush of Cincinnati each has made five sacrifice hits. Fred Luderus of Philadelphia is topping the list of home-run hitters, with two In twelve. New York is leading in club batting, with an average of .320, and St. Louis in club fielding, with .970. The ten leading batters: McCartv, New York. .500: Smith, Boston, Bos-ton, .426; Doyle, New York, .405; Paulette, St Louis. .400; George Burns, New York, .390: Bancroft. Philadelphia, .381; Moll- 'witz, Pittsburg. .375; Kauff, New York, .370: Carev, Pittsburg, .367; Stock, Philadelphia, Phila-delphia, .364. I |