CECIL TRAVIS

Cecil Travis does not belong among the Stars In Their Time. He belongs in the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown and has for many years. A quiet man, as a player he let his bat do his talking for him It spoke loud and clear. His lifetime average for 12 seasons is .312. Among shortstops, only Honus Wagner (.327) and Arky Vaughn (.318) hit higher. 14 other Hall of Fame shortstops had lower career averages. Of course, there are other qualifications to be met in determining HOF status. Some other shortstops exceeded Travis in power, defensive range, stolen bases, etc. However, the main negative confronting the election of Cecil Travis is not statistical. He played his entire career with the Washington Senators, a perennial second division team. He has no World Series ring although he played briefly as a midseason fill-in when Washington won its last pennant in 1933. Playing manager Joe Cronin was the shortstop, Travis flashed a promising .302 in 18 games at third before being returned to Chattanooga of the Southern Association. In two seasons with the Lookouts Travis hit .356 and .352. In 1931, his first season as a Washington regular. Travis hit .319. Through the 1930s. Joe Cronin (moved from Washington to Boston) and Luke Appling of the White Sox, were considered the league's top shortstops. Both are in the Hall of Fame.

When Travis had his peak season in 1941, he did it in relative obscurity. He finished second in the A.L batting race, getting three hits in his final game to edge past Joe DiMaggio. Travis batted .359 to DiMaggio's .357. His final game splurge raised his league leading total base hits to 218. It was 36 years before anyone got more hits in an A.L. season (Rod Carew, 239). However, although Travis got more hits than DiMaggio. the Yankee Clipper got hits in 56 consecutive games and that feat totally overshadowed Travis.

In most seasons .359 would win the batting championship. In 1941 it left Travis 47 points behind Ted Williams, whose .406 was the last .400 average in this fast-fading century. Cecil Travis was hardly mentioned in the post-season wrap-ups, although he was named shortstop on The Sporting News All Star team.

Before another season started. Cecil Travis changed uniforms. Japan's sneak attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7 changed many lives. It changed shortstop Travis into infantryman Travis.

Travis played on the Camp Wheeler baseball team, not far from his hometown. Riverdale, Georgia. He married Helen Hubbard, September 12, 1942. The couple celebrated their 54th wedding anniversary last year.

Raised to the rank of sergeant, Cecil Travis saw intense combat in the pivotal Battle of the Bulge. It was a hard winter campaign and Sgt. Travis earned the Bronze Star and suffered frostbitten feet. When he limped out of service and rejoined the Senators in September, they were in a race for the 1945 pennant with the Tigers. Hank Greenberg had returned to the Tigers' lineup in mid-season and led them to victory over the Senators. Travisıs contributions were small. He played 14 games at third but batted only .241.

In Spring Training of 1946, Travis discovered that although he was only in his early thirties he had lost his knack for hitting big league pitching. It wasn't his feet that failed him, it was simply the loss of bat speed. Splitting his time between short and third, Travis appeared in 137 games, but could only manage a .252 batting average. He tried again in 1947, but his batting average dropped to .216 and Cecil Travis bid a quiet adieu to major league baseball. There was a "Cecil Travis Day" at Griffith Stadium in mid-season honoring him for past achievements.

There they recalled how he had broken in with evidence of his hitting ability. He rapped out five hits in his debut game. All the safeties were to left field. A Iefthanded batter, Travis made most of his hits to left and center; he never was a pull hitter. When his bat speed slowed, he was no longer able to slice hits to the opposite field.

Cecil remained with the Senators as a scout through 1955, settling into a farmer's life. The Travis property had been built up, parcel by parcel out of his baseball earnings. His father's farm, on which he had grown up, was enlarged to over 400 acres with cattle being the main product. In later years, Travis reduced the size of the farm and the stock it supported to its present 70 acres, which he works with his youngest son, Rickey, 41. Cecil, sinewy and weathered, will be 84 on August 8 but still lends a hand with family chores. His farm house is a half mile from the road outside Riverdale, Cecil walks down each day to pick up mail at the box on Highway 138. He drives into town when there is something to do there, but the once keen eyes of one of baseball's sharpest hitters have dimmed and night arising is left to others.

This article was written after a telephone chat with Helen Travis. She explained that I'd called when Cecil was helping Rickey repair fences on the far side of the farm. Election to the Hall of Fame did not seem to be a big concern for the Travis family. They enjoy life the way have chosen to live it. They have raised their children and have four grandchildren.