Travis, former Washington Senators star, dies at 93

<p>Cecil Travis, a hard-hitting former farm boy who colleagues say would have made the Baseball Hall of Fame long ago if his career wasn't interrupted by service in World War II, has died.</p><p>Travis died at his home in Riverdale, Ga., just south of Atlanta, on Saturday, according to Carmichael-Hemperly Funeral Home. He was 93.</p><p>Travis, a shortstop for the Washington Senators, batted .314 for his career and had an American League-leading 218 hits in 1941 _ the same year Ted Williams batted .406 and the Yankees' Joe DiMaggio had a hit in 56 consecutive games.</p><p>"It was almost a dream year," Travis once told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. "But I knew all season I was on borrowed time."</p><p>On Christmas Eve 1941, Travis received his induction notice and went to serve in World War II, not returning until the final few weeks of the 1945 season.</p><p>He served much of the war as a foot soldier and suffered frostbite on two toes while serving with the 76th Infantry in France.</p><p>Travis hit .359 the year before the war and .252 in his first season afterward.</p><p>Bob Feller, a Hall of Famer who won 266 games with the Cleveland Indians and also served in World War II, said Travis' name will be at the top of his ballot when he casts a veterans committee ballot for the Hall next month.</p><p>"He was a very good hitter, and he did a very good job in the war," Feller told the Atlanta paper. "If it had not been for the war, he would have had a lifetime average of .325, .335."</p><p>Travis twice finished in the top 10 in MVP voting and was selected to three All-Star teams. The Sporting News named him the best shortstop in the Major Leagues in 1941.</p><p>He died at his home on the same farm where he grew up and where he was helping his father farm when he was discovered by an Atlanta baseball scout.</p><p>Funeral services were held Thursday at Carmichael-Hemperly Funeral Home in Peachtree City, just south of Atlanta, with burial at Crestlawn Cemetery in Atlanta.</p><p>___</p><p>HASH(0x1d00e1c)</p>