Baseball, Midseason
(See front cover)
Baseball, ''National Pastime" (largest commercialized sport), passed its mid-season mark in the Big Leagues. Familiar to "fans,"* many a fact about the 1929 season has now become visible to laymen:
Lively Ball. Greatest topic of discussion in baseball this year has been the "lively" or "rabbit" official ball. Experts at playing, watching and writing about the game have become convinced it is the cause of a rise of 50 points in batting averages during recent years, the cause of multifarious homeruns, of double-figure scores.
A. G. Spalding & Bros., official ball manufacturers/- maintained that the "lively" ball is a myth, that no change had been made since 1909, when the cork centre was introduced. When the New York Telegram, crusading against the "lively" ball, last week produced cross-sections of a 1919 ball and of a 1929 ball to show that the 1929 ball contains a layer of rubber not found in its 1919 ancestor, Julian W. Curtiss, Spalding president, wrote to the Telegram: "Let me assure you that the life of the ball has not been changed since 1920." He left the inference, satisfying to sticklers, that it had been changed between 1919 and 1920.
There is no argument but that the game has changed since "Home Run" Baker mad? his name by knocking 12 homeruns during the season of 1913. "Babe" Ruth knocked 60 in 1927. Young Outfielder Klein had hit 29 this season up to last weekend. In the old days, the good aver age hitter batted about 25% perfect (.250 in the tabulations). Today an average of .285 is only fair. About 116 batters in the two Big Leagues have surpassed .300 this year, with several of them up around .400.* A good average score used to be 4 runs to 3. A few weeks ago the St. Louis Nationals in a game with the Philadelphia Nationals made 10 runs in the first inning, 10 more in the fifth, 25 in the game. Pitcher Burleigh Grimes of the Pittsburgh club says: "I used to figure on allowing two runs and winning. Now I figure on allowing four and winning."
Perhaps the best indication of the change can be seen in the shift of the spotlight from pitchers to batters. Once upon a time small boys wanted to grow up and be like Pitchers Christy Mathewson and Walter Johnson. Now they want to grow up and be like Hitters George Herman ("Babe") Ruth or Rogers Hornsby./-
It is also probable that the average spectator at a ball game enjoys plenty of hitting and is bored by the old-fashioned "pitchers' battle." No one has ever yet booed a homerun and certainly the greatest crowd-getter in recent years has been Homerunner Ruth. The question raised against the "lively" ball seems only to be whether homeruns may not become too common. In a Brooklyn-Pittsburgh encounter lately, nine homeruns were hit in one afternoon.
Pitchers. The pitchers have been having a hard time. Where once it was something of a disgrace for a pitcher to be batted out of the box, it is now a matter for comment when a pitcher lasts the full nine innings. "Best" pitcher of the year has been Robert Moses Grove of the Philadelphia Americans. A huge young man, Pitcher Grove propels the ball at such speed that few batters are able to time it correctly, and no matter how "lively" a ball may be it will travel no distance when the batter misses it. The Grove record up to last week-end was 16 won, 2 lost. Pitcher Grimes of Pittsburgh had the same record. Part of the Grimes effectiveness results from the fact that he throws a spitball.* Some years ago the spitball was barred except for pitchers who had already specialized in it. There are now hardly any oldtime spitballers left, so Pitcher Grimes has something of an advantage over hitters to whom the spitball is strange and disturbing. But Pitcher Grimes has also an excellent and legal curve, long years of experience, an aggressive disposition, an acute intelligence.
Pitchers Guy Bush of the Chicago Nationals and "Swede" Walberg of the Philadelphia Americans have also been exceptions to the general rule of the sad and battered pitcher. Both are fastball pitchers (like Grove) depending chiefly on their arms, little on their heads.
Batters. The hitters have been thoroughly enjoying themselves. Last weekend "Babe" Herman of Brooklyn was leading both leagues with an average of .404. Batter Herman's record is all the more remarkable in that he is practically a one-handed hitter. Just before bat touches ball he takes his right hand off the handle and is swinging only with his left arm at the moment of contact.
In the American League the batting leadership has varied between young Jimmy Foxx (see below) and Heine Manush of St. Louis. Player Robert ("Fat") Fothergill of Detroit has a higher average than either, but has not played in all his team's games as he really is too fat to get around very rapidly and is no great fielding asset. Meanwhile nearly all the hitters are swinging from their shoetops and watching the ball describe arching parabolas to not-so-distant fences.
The Pennant Race. In the American League, the Philadelphia "Athletics" are so far ahead of the New York "Yankees" that they appear almost certain winners. Last year Connie Mack (Cornelius Mc-Gillicuddy) 66-year-old manager of the Athletics, just missed winning the pennant, probably lost it by starting the season with oldsters Ty Cobb, Tris Speaker and Eddie Collins in his lineup./- About the middle of the season, Manager Mack put in youngsters, made up much lost ground. This year he has had his youngsters--notably Jimmy Foxx, Gordon Cochrane, Al Simmons--in action all year, and with superlative pitching from Pitchers Grove and Walberg, and good pitching from Pitchers Earnshaw and Quinn (Quinn is another relic of spitball days) he is far and apparently safely in the lead. The New York Club, winner in 1926:27-28, is a good old wagon seemingly in the process of breaking down. Player Ruth, several times out of the game for illness this season, last week strained himself charging after a fly. Pitcher Herbert Pennock, after a career of some 15 years, was almost useless during the first part of the season. None of the other clubs have much chance of finishing better than third, unless the Yankees' rate of decay becomes unduly accelerated.
The National League has a more hectic race, with Pittsburgh and Chicago popping in and out of first place. Last year's Champion, the St. Louis Club, is a poor fourth, mostly through collapse of the pitching staff. The New York "Giants" are third but here again the common ailment of poor pitching has been a grave handicap. Pitcher Grimes, whose fine work has held up the Pittsburgh Club, last week had his thumb dislocated by a fast liner. If he is long on the bench, the Chicago Club should be the next champion. Outstanding Chicagoans are Infielder Rogers Hornsby and Outfielders Hack Wilson (who recently got into a fist fight with a Cincinnati player), Riggs Stephenson, Kiki Cuyler. The Chicago Club has three first rate pitchers (Guy Bush, Charlie Root, Pat Malone) precisely two more than most of its competitors can muster.
Youth v. Age. Baseballers grow old quickly and are heard of no more. Youth is a tremendous asset. Example--The Young Athletics, constantly improving, have caught up with and passed the Old Yankees, once undoubtedly one of the most efficient clubs ever put together. And the Young Giants are potential champions, restrained only by their poor pitching. Individual instances are Young Melvin Ott (not yet 21) of the "Giants" and Young Jimmy Foxx (just past 21) of the "Athletics." Player Ott has made 26 home-runs, is hitting around .324, fields with speed and skill. He is an outfielder, gifted with a rare throwing arm. The "Giants" acquired him at the age of 16, without any Minor League experience.
Even more sensational than Player Ott has been Player James Emory Foxx, present first baseman of the "Athletics." A versatile youth, he can play any position except the pitcher's, was used at third base (his favorite spot), in the outfield and at catching before settling down in his present position. Player Foxx went to the Athletics in 1924 from the Easton Team of the litle Eastern Shore (Maryland) League. Last year (the first in which he played more than 100 games) he batted .328. This year he has joined the .400.
Player Foxx, a 180-pounder just under six feet, has a chest expansion of 6 1/2 inches. Like a majority of the Big League players, he is a small town (Sudlersville, Md.) boy. "I worked on a farm," he says, "and I am glad of it. Farmer boys are stronger than city boys. When I was 12 I could cut corn all day, help in the wheat fields, swing 200-pound bags of phosphate off a platform into a wagon. We had games on the farm to test strength and grip. A fellow had to plant both feet in half a barrel of wheat and then pick up two bushels of wheat or corn and balance them on his shoulders. Another trick was to lift a 200-pound keg of nails without letting the keg touch your body. I could do that easily but I never realized then it was helping me train for the Big Leagues."
When the 1929 season opened, TIME (April 15) reported the names of 24 players new to the two big Leagues this year and "great" in spring practice. TIME said: "In July, TIME will publish the same list with word as to which have stayed 'great,' which returned to the bush leagues." The list, the word, follows:
Still "Great."
Player Position Team
Yerkes pitcher Philadelphia (A)
Rhyne infielder Boston (A)
Narlesky infielder Boston (A)
Porter outfielder Cleveland (A)
Averill outfielder Cleveland (A)
Alexander infielder Detroit (A)
Kerr infielder Chicago (A)
McKain pitcher Chicago (A)
Hoffman outfielder Chicago (A)
Ferrell catcher St. Louis (A)
Liska pitcher Washington (A)
Sherid pitcher New York (A)
Seibold pitcher Boston (N)
Susce catcher Philadelphia (N)
Swetonic pitcher Pittsburgh (N)
Sheeley infielder Pittsburgh (N")
Delker infielder St. Louis (N)
Returned to the Bush.
Hassler infielder Philadelphia (A)
Cobb pitcher St. Louis (A)
Grimes infielder St. Louis (A)
Rhodes pitcher New York (A)
Jorgens catcher New York (A)
Pattison pitcher Brooklyn (N)
Lautenbacher pitcher Chicago (N)
* Turn-of-the-century sportwriters' term, short for "fanatics."
/-The National League uses a Spalding ball, the American a Reach ball, but Reach is a Spalding subsidiary.
* Rare though .400 is even in "lively" ball days, the highest season's average was made years before even the introduction of the cork centres--.438 by Batsman Duffey of the Boston Nationals in 1894. Other high season averages:
1901 Lajoie............. 405
1911 Cobb.............. 420
1912 Cobb.............. 410
1920 Sisler.............. 407
1923 Heilman.......... 403
1924 Hornsby .........424
1925 Hornsby..........4DEG3
/-Player Hornsby, an extraordinary hitter, is well aware of his excellence. The story is told that once, at a practice game in spring training, a young catcher asked each batter what kind of ball he was weak on, so that the pitcher could throw such a ball and give the batter needed practice. When Player Hornsby was asked this question, he gave the young catcher an offended look, haughtily replied, "This is Rogers Hornsby batting."
* Literally named, the spitball has saliva applied on one side. The difference in atmospheric friction on the wet and dry sides gives the ball a queer twist or "break."
/-Cobb has since retired. Speaker is player-manager of the Newark (Minor League) Club. Collins is with the Athletics as coach, occasional pinch-hitter.