No Hits, Few Hitters?

On the books, this looks like a sensational pitching year. With more than five-sixths of their games to go, major-league hurlers have already scored two no-hitters, two one-hitters, three two-hitters.

Three of these performances took place within five days last week. Southpaw Clyde Shoun of the Cincinnati Reds whisked through the season's second no-hitter opposite the Boston Braves' Jim Tobin, winner of the first (TIME, May 8), and bettered Tobin's feat by walking only one man. Day before, the Reds' Bucky Walters just missed perfection against the same team by allowing a single in the eighth. On the fifth day, the Braves' Alva Javery scored a two-hitter on the St. Louis Cardinals.

But these pitching feats obviously owed much to one of the worst batting recesses in major-league history. Shoun's game was saved by the narrow margin of a Red homer; Javery lost his, 2-0. With most of the better sluggers off to war, pitching records seem likely to be a commonplace.

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