New Britain Herald Newspaper, August 4, 1923, Page 8

Vo ' BABE RUTH NOW IS BUT TWO . POINTS BACK OF HEILMANN . IN RACE FOR BATTING LEAD Py Bambino Also Leads American League Home Run Hitters | " _Collins Still King of Sacrifice Hitters and Base Stealers—Hornsby Tops All As National League Bat- ter, With Wheat As Runner Up. ;s By The Associated Press. Chicago, Aug. 4.—Babe Ruth is proving to baseballdom that he is as valuable to the New York Americans as ever before, ac- cording to averages released today which include games of last Wednesday, he is only two points behind Harry Heilmann, the Detroit slugger who has been topping the hst almost from the start of the season. The big Yankee made a net gain on the De- troit star of 24 points in th® last week. Heilmann suffered a loss of nine points, his average dropping from .401 to .392 while Ruth by boosting his own mark from .875 te .890 showed a gain of 15 points. Ruth also maintained his, leadi among the American League home- run hitters with a total of 25, two more than a week ago. In seven games, he scored eight times and is out in front as the best run-getter with 95 tallies. Besides his four bag-| gers, Ruth’s 127 hits include 25 doubles and 8 triples which gave him the lead in total bases of 243. There has been little change among the other leading batters during the past week. Eddie Collins of Chicdgo is leading the sacrifice hitters wth 29 and the base stealers with 28. Cleveland is the first of the major league clubs to make more than one thousand hits this season. Today's figures show that the Indians have cracked out 1006 hits and are lead- ing the American League in club bat- ting with an average of .296. Detroit is* second with ,295 and New York third with .292. s Robers Hornsby, ' champion hitter of the National League, has pounded ° his way in one month from .343 to © .408 according to averages released today and which. include games of last Wednesday. Jimmy Bottomley, spurred on by his ' teammate, Hornsby, has been mak- By ing rapid strides toward the top of the batting ladder, and is in third place with .363. Zach Wheat of Brooklyn added one point to his av- erage. He continues as runner up to ~Hornsby with .382. “Hack' Miller of Chicago appears to be the only player in the circuit ‘' _who is keeping pace with Cy Willlams of Philadelphia among the home run hitters. The elongated Phillies’ out- fielder is leading all those distance hitters with 27 homers, while Miller 18 his closest rical in the National League with 14, Williams has taken the lead in total bases with 209. Be- « sides his home runs hig hits include 15 doubles and 4 triples. Harold Traynor, of Pittsburgh, who . was out in frant a week ago, has been tied by Frankie Frisch of the New York Nationals. Each has 207 total How They Line up in Four Leagues NATIONAL LEAGUE Yesterday's Results No games played. Standing of the Clubs w. L. 35 38 38 47 48 50 67 62 New York Cincinnati ... .61 Pittsburgh . oo 88 Chicago .. U | Brooklyn . ves 49 St. Louis ......... b1 Philadelphia . 64 N Games Today Boston at St. Louis. Brodklyn at Chicago. New York at Cincinnati. Philadelphia at Pittsburgh. 5 By AMERICAN LEAGUE Yesterday’s Results No games played. Standing of the Clubs W. L. . 66 31 . 54 46 oo B1 46 46 46 . 47 49 . 43 55 . 43 52 . 85 60 % Ty New York .. Cleveland St. Louls ... Detroit ... Chicago .... Philadelphia ... ‘Washington Boston ........ Games Today Chicago at Boston. St. Louis at Washington. Detroit at Philadelphia. 7 Cleveland at New York. y‘: . For base stealing honors, Grantham & " the speedy Chicago second sacker falled to add to his string of 27, while | Max Carey, the fleet-footed Plttsburgh , outfielder, swiped a brace of bases ? ,and is trailing Grantham with 25. INTERNATIONAL LEAGUE Yesterday's Results No games played. Standing of the Clubs . L. 64 64 56 54 . 65 38 43 51 52 53 62 62 64 Baltimore . Rochester . Toronto ... Buffalo .,... Reading ! Jersey City Newark .. Syracuse ......... YESTERYEARS IN SPORT 1922—Nedda set new trotting record for one mile unpaced, when she was timed in 1.59 1-4 at Toledo, O. The record for the fastest paced mile is credited to Lon Dillon, who trotted the mile in 1.58 1-4. 1918—Eighth 18-inning game played in American league, Detroit win- ning over Washington, 7 to 6, on Ty Cobb’s double, 1910—Jack Coombs, Athletics, and Ed Walsh, White Sox, had 16 in- . 42 44 Games Today Buffalo at Toronto. Syracuse at Rochester. Reading at Jersey City. Newark at Baltimore. " —— EASTERN LEAGUE Yesterday’s Results No games played. (KID KAPLAN FINISHES '§ MOLLA NOT ANXIOUS TO HAVE SUZANNE VISIT U. S. — HEILMANN'S BATTING # TOMORROW — KID KAPLAN READY FOR FIGHT WITH NOBLE NEXT WEDNESDAY — EDDIE COLLINS STILL KING OF COLUMBIA’S MASTER SWATTER , SEEMS GOOD BET FOR YANKS| MAYSTAND FOREVER —_— LOU GEHRIG New. York, Aug. 4.—Miller Huggins is profiting by Columbia university's loss. Lou Gehrig, individual star of the Columbia nine this last spring, now looks like the most promising recruit the Yankees have picked up for a long while, In school, Gehrig was known as the “Babe Ruth of college baseball.” He hit around .444. 'Slamming out hom- ers was his specialty. When he came to Columbia, Lou essentially was a first baseman. But Coach Andy Coakley .was in need of a pitcher, so he put Gehrig to work on the mound. And Lou justified his confidence. PRELIMINARY TRAINING Meridan Battler All Ready to Polish Offt Tommy Noble in Velodrome Battle August 8. Meriden, Aug. 4.—Kaplan rounded up his training stunts yesterday after- noon with a grand and glorious finish, The old punching bag never rattled so hard as the Kid walloped it and the bag filled with sand and hung in the center of the ring received a beating that no fighter could possibly stand. He put steam in his blows, kept his feet on the move and worked like a Trojan from the time he hit “Shady Nook” until he came away. The local boy leaves today to com- plete his training activities at Long Island for his bout at the New York Velodrome with Tommy Noble August 8, On the same program with Jack Bernstein and Pal Moran, Danny Ed- wards and Frankie Jerome, Sid Terrjs and Tony Palmer and Corporal Izzy Schwartz and Bobby Ruttenberg. Kaplan's affair with Noble is sched- uled for ten rounds. In meeting the hard-hitting En- glishman Kaplan is fighting a man who knocked out Eugene Criqui, ex- featherweight champion. Noble s a) rugged fighter and one watching Kap- lan train yesterday -would have real- ized that the local boy knew he was meeting a tough 'un. In weighing in he tipped the scales| at exactly 180%, allowing three-quar- ters of a pound for his clothes. He surely looked the picture of health In 73 innings Gehrig struck out 78 men. He held his opponents to 53 hits. Gehrig had two more years of var- sity competition at Columbia when he entered the professional ranks. But now, of course, he's out for good. He was a good football man, too, winning a backfield berth on the All-Metropo- litan éleven. Columbia has lost a good man, It will be hard to replace him, But Gehrig’s alma mater is sure he will follow in the footsteps of Eddie Col- lins, George “Célumbia” Smith and other alumni who have won fame in the majors. And Huggins expects great things of him, FAVONIAN COPS BIG RACE ON TRACK AT WINDSOR Son of J. Malcolm Forbes Takes 20th Renewal of Famous M. and M. Stake For $5,000 Purse. Windsor, Ont., Aug. 4.—Favonian, sired by J. Malcolm Forbes and driven by Fred Edman of Memphis, Tenn., won the 29th rcnewal of the Mer- chants’ and Manufacturers' stake, De- troit's most famous trotting stake, the feature of the rtecond day of the Grand Cireuit meeting at Devonshire track yesterday. Favonian, who ruled an odds favorite, took the first heat, but was badly beaten in the second, finishing sixth. In the deciding heat, Tavonian won by a nose from Clyde the Great, This was the 13th time the stake hae been raced and Devonshire is the fifth track over which the horses have trotted the event. Split heats resulted in all three of yesterday's events. Merriam took the 2:10 pace after losing the second heat. Robert Direct, after losing the first heat of the 2:06 pace, came through In the next to win. Rifle Grenade won the first heat. HONORS JOHNSON'S RECORD Doubtful if Any Other Will Equal Strikeont Mark (By Billy Evans) Walter Johnson, famous pitcher of the Washington American league club, irécently passed the 8000 mark in the !mltter of strikeouts. | That is a remarkable pitching re- cord. Unquestionably it will stand for a long time, perhaps forever. A few weeks back in a game with the Cleveland club, runners reached second and third with no one out. The score at the time was 2 to 1 in favor of Washington. A base hit would put the Cleveland club owt in front. Then to the consternation of the Cleveland fans, Johnson proceeded to strike the next two batters out on seven, pitched balls and caused the following batter'to send a ‘harmless fly to left fleld. Johnson had pitched himself out of'a hole. Back ten years ago that was not an unusual feat for Johnson. It was an every-day performance. I can recall a number of games in which I have seen him strike out the side with the bases filled, That was in the old days when speed was a pitcher's greatest asset, when the ball was far less lively than it is today. He's Modest Fellow Talking with Johnson after the Cleveland game, I remarked to him that he must have been right on edge. His reply was characteristic of the modesty of the great pitcher. “I was lucky,” he replied. “A fel- low must be lucky to throw his fast ball by the batters these days. 1 realized I had good speed and de- pended entirely on my fast one. That is a dangerous system with the live- ly ball. A batter doesn't have to meet the ball very good these days to make it travel.” The conversation then drifted to the strikeout topic, for in that game John: son had passed the 3000 mark, It is a rather remarkable fact that Johnson really never tried to set any strikeout records, despite the fact that he holds most of them in the majors. His whif- fing feats can simply be traced to the remarkable ability he possesses, in which his fast ball is his best asset. Raps Lively Ball “Strikeouts have become more or less a secondary matter in baseball,” remarked Johnson. “Thé modern pitcher who tries to strike 'em out is making a grave mistake. The lively ball has taken much of the punch out of the strikeout. The wise pitcher is the fellow who mixes them up, makes the epposition hit the ball, and never forgets that eight other fellows are ou there to help him retire the side.” “I notice that Dazzy Vance of the Brooklyn club is striking out a lot of batters in the National League. Vance is a fast-ball pitcher, No pitcher without a good fast ball ever gets very far in the matter of strikeouts. But the pitcher who keeps handing the batters a fast ball these days is constantly courting danger. Any time the hitter connects there is trouble. “Just so long as the ball contigues lively I don't believe many pitchers are going to hang up a better than 3000 strikeout mark for their major league careers. Naturally I'm proud of my record and hope it stands.” Walter said something. JOHNSTON WINS CUP. Seabright, N. J., Aug. 4—William M. Johnston of San Francisco yester- day gained permanent possession of the Seabright invitation cup when he won the annual tournament for the third time. He defeated R. Norris ‘Williams, 2d, of Bryn Mawr, Pa., in the finals, 8—6, 4—6, 6—4, 6—1. THREATENED BY BABE " ALL-INSURANCE ‘NINE HERE BASE STEALERS ALL St. Louls, Aug. 4.—Last season Rogers Harnsby of the 8t. Louls Car- dinals led the major leagues in home runs with 42 to his credit. This feat came as a surprise to baseball fans since Hornsby while a great batsman was never regarded in the light of a slugger. This year Horngby is batting as well if not better than last season, his mark hovering around the .400 mark, yeét he is not manufacturing nearly as many home runs. ‘While injuries have kept Hornsby out of a goodly number of games, his home run total for 67 games is DEMPSEY NOW IS READY T0 BEGIN HIS TRAINING Champion Arrives in New York and Will Leave For, Saratoga . Today New York, Aug. 4—Jack Dempsey, heavyweight champion, arrived from the Pacific coast yesterday enroute for Saratoga Springs, where he will pre- pare for the world title engagement with Luis Firpo at the Polo Grounds on September 14. The champion appeared as fit as he claimed to be. He intended spénding the night here and starting for the Spa by motor tomorrow morning. His manager, Jack Kearns, and a troupe of sparring mates, including George Godfrey, the glant negro, Jack Burke of Pittsburgh, and Billy Wells, the English middleweight, were ready to accompany him. The training camp of the titlehold- er will be pitched on the White Sul- phur Springs shore of Saratoga Lake Little heavy work will be attempted until about Aug. 10. SEVEN IN LUQUE'S JINX Cincinnati’s Wonderful Twirler Seems to Be Unable to Win More Than 7 Straight Games. Cincinnati, Aug. 4.—Seven seems to be a jinx number for Adolfo Luque, star pitcher of the Cincinnat! Reds. He just can't get past that number of victories without suffering a defeat. Luque, who has been the pitching ace of the Reds this year, has turned in some great pitehing for Manager Pat Moran. Aside from winning 16 of his first 19 starts, hé also, when the club was hard pressed for pitch- ers, worked a double-header and won both games. In his 16 victories Luque has twice |staged winning streaks of seven games. Both attempts to make it eight in a row resulted in failures. On one occasion Chicago nosed him out, while in the other start, Brook- lyn abruptly ended his winning streak. Cincinnati's chances to win the Na- tional league pennant largely depend on the ability of Luque to continue his great work. Luque is 32, far from a youngstér, and some of the experts doubt his ability to go the route at such a fast clip. Salacia Captures the Feature Saratoga Race Saratoga Springs, N. Y., Aug. ¢.— Racing continued here yesterday af- ternoon and another large crowd watched George D, Widener's brewn filly Salacia upset éalculations in the Saratoga Sales Stakes, the featured race, by beating those fine colts, Lord Baltimore II and Peter King. An- other surprise developed in the Me- canicsville Handicap, the other star- red number on the card, in which J. 8. Cosden’s Good Times showed his heels to the Rancocas stable's heav- ily-weighted Knobble and Little Chief. Somebody Is Always Taking The' Joy Out of Life JUST sHOT A WELL l've onLY IT ISN'T — ITEMS HORNSBY EXPLAINS SLUMP IN CRASHING OUT CIRCUIT HITS only 11. What's the reason? Even Hornsby hasn't the slightest idea. “I didn't change my style last year when I made 42 home runs, simply took my usual healthy cut at the ball. I am doing the same this year. “The only reason I can offer for my falling off in the matter of hitting home runs, is simply because I am not hitting the ball as far. This perhaps is due to the fact that I am not con- necting with the ball as solidly. Making a home run is like landing a knockout punch, you must hit the right spot.” FERGUSON TOFIGHT INNEW HAVEN RING Wallingford Scrapper Will Ap- pear in qut on Angust 18 Meriden, Aug. 4.—Tracey Ferguson of Wallingford, who had ,visions of fighting here Monday night and learned yesterday that he wasn't, is going to get a chance to ‘“do his stuff” after all August 13 at New Haven. Ferguson is meeting Young Marcel of Holyoke on that night in-a 10 rounder at 148 pounds. Marcel has just had a suspension lifted on him for unappreved tactics within the padded ropes. He is a hard nut to crack, in spite of the fact that Ferguson holds two previous decisions over him. Winning the first two times does not necessarily mean that he will cop the honors the third and Marcel may have benefitted by his layoff by sticking closer to the prescribed rules of training than ever before. There is a strong rumor prevalént that Leonard and Hickey are in deep--- er than they know and that they may be permanently suspended next Sat- urday for an interval that will be no aid to the Sheik and his mentor. The actions of the two have not made hi many friends hereabouts for there ‘was a general turnout planned for the fight Monday night. Perhaps Young Silverburg of An- sonia will land something in the near future. It is hoped so for the young- stér has trained hard and faithfully at Momauguin beach. His showing at New Haven last month made him a host of fans that want to see him in action again and Silverburg is one of those fighters who always gives his best against great odds. With Kaplan busy next week in New York and Ferguson going on in New Havén the only one of the tri- umvirate that remains idle is Silver- burg, Sarazen and Hutchison Paired in Canadian Match Toronto, Aug. 4.—Gene Sarazen, former national open champion, and Jock Hutchison, are paired for the final 36-hole of the Canadian open golf championship today. Hutchison made his first 36 yesterday in 162, while Sarazen took 154. Laurie Ayton of Chicago and C. W. Hackney of At- lantic City turned in cards ‘of 147 each. MAKES GOLF RECORD Jack' Stait, pro. at the Hartford Golf Club, was playing real golf yes- terday afternoon. Journeying around the golf course, in company with J. L. Goodwin, presi. dent of the club, and playing from tle championship tees, Jack drove, ap- proached and putted his way to a new course record, winding up the eigh- teén-hole trip in a brilliant 67, four strokes under par for the course. BRIG( HARD NOTHING! Jess ['VE THEARD SWEETSER MADE A GT -- THAT'S SHOOTING . andea well-trained fighter when he arrived home, FEW NEW PITCHERS STAR ning battle in which no runs were scored. Coombs allowed three hits and fanned 18, while Walsh gave blows and fanned 10. The catchers and first basemen, accounted for 60 of the 96 put- | outs, | Standing of the Clubs w. L. 60 35 . 89 36 . 51 45 45 49 44 52 42 52 43 55 38 58 BEEN PLAYING A YeAR OR So-- | THINK 'M DpING PRETTY GooD O5 GEORGE - ('M PRETTY STuck LP ABoUT T Too = FIRST Time UNDER A HUNDRED SoME SAY WHY RAY WEISS IT'S A VERY [GETS UMDER HARD CpURSE | NINETY A HARD P.C. COURSE 632 621 .531; 479 | 458 447 .439 396 Hartford .... New Haven .. Springfield . Worcester Albany .... Bridgeport Waterbury .. Pittsfield (Games Today Albany at Springfield. Bridgeport at Hartford. New Haven at Worcester. Waterbury at Pittsfield. BILL HoLSTe~N Lo OF '‘BEm ?QACKED 8o HE DTHER DAY- APL:: u:::: CHARLIE HAMLIN B IS AROCUND 8o -~ JUST THE [ so 1s TommY MURRAY AND JoHN [~ THE DANGER- # 1M SHOOTING SOME [ YouRe AFTer OH ™~ WELL WHAT'S 2 The Use oF WASTING Time LISTENING To A GUY LIKE THAT - | DON'T CARE WHAT HE SAYS | IT DOESN'T AFFECT INSTEAD oF Go0oP GOLF 1884—Galvin, Buffalo, in shutting out This Season is a Tough One For Detroit pitched his fourth, no-hit Young Twirlers Breaking Into the no-run game in eight years time, Big Show. the first coming in 1876, when he was pitching for St. Louts against | Chicago, Aug. 4.—This has been a Philadelphia. tough year for the development of | 1882—Largest run total for fall of one | ycung pitchers, particularly as regards wicket in cricket set at 605 by A. | the American league. H. Trevor and G. F. Vernon at| The pitching records of the John- Rickley Green, Eng. On this and | |sonian organizatien fail to reveal the the next day the Orleans club| name of a single youngster v:ho h:.u scored a record tota 20 ot ' done anything out of the ordinary in B i o ot Mt runs S}lzanne Wants to Come t0 |the pitching line. | U. S. But Molla Doesn’t Care| Thurston of Chicago and Zahniser STOLEN BASE LEADE Paris, Aug. .—Mlle. Suzanne Leng- |°f Washington with five wins to their RS len, the woman tennis champion of |Sredit have been perhaps the most | the world, is very desirous of making is\fxc;s’uful. y:: ne1Tt:»r tgh-eu evitfl::ca another trip to the United State - |of being a star. urston was en Rival Keystone Sacker At Present | cording mpl,e Matin. sSp ::'qf,'mafd ;‘by Chicago from St. Louis over the Are Versatile Bag Pilferers in Big|as saying she is only awaiting an op- | Waiver route, while Zahnister was re- Leagues. portunity or an invitation to again |CeNtly bought by the Nationals trom I meet Mrs. Molla Bjurstedt Mallory, |the Southern league. B ey s ey i “‘:‘»mxn'n: where the French girl was |land and Walberg of Philadelphia got | SRbuld be second basemen and f’m; defeated by her. After visiting some |away good, but apparently their first members of Chicago clubs. i of the French seaside resorts Mile, |few games were merely flashes. Eddle Collink, the \("r-vmn ciad I,rng:fn will go to Ban Sebastian from The National league has fared bet- | sacker of the White e ""mfl’; Y’r;lr"’lf:na € intends to play in the [ter. Jack Bentley, former Baltimore | BBRSWay In’ the American league :p\tomflns singles, the women's dou tar, who while not a youngster, 1is the m-l‘l of theft vh P " 1/ bles and the mixed doubles in the 'making his big league debut with the‘ €r of thefts, while Grantham, | Olympic games, but is unable to ac. |Giants and delivering. & rectuit, playing his first season as|cept invitations to go to South Africa| Other young pitchers in the Na- & regular, leads the National lcague!and Australia tional league who show promise are in base running. * 4 Z = Rocidentally it — Kauffman of Chicago, Greenwich of o ally it might be mentioned | Seabright, N Aug. 4.—When |Boston, Dickerman and Henry of that the two players to press Collins Mrs. Mallory was told here yesterday | Brooklyn, Stuart of St.. Louls and and Grantham for thé base stealing | afternoon that Mlle. Lengien awaited | Keen of Chicago. 3 | honors are outfielders. Johnny Mostil | only an invitation to come to this —_—— of the Sox is het on the trail of Col- | country to play her, she refused (;; ALL GAMES OFF. [ Vins, while Max Carey of Pittsburgh | state whether she would be pleased There is no change in the nfflcul' is close on the heels of Grantham. to meet the French star or not. “I|standing of the baseball leagues to-{ For years Carey has been the pre-|do not see why 1 should have any- |day, since yesterday .there were no| mier bas® runmer of the National thing to do with such an invitation. ' games played in any of the organiza-| ‘eague and he hoped to eventually|It is not sor me to ask her to come,” tions, owing to the death of Presi overtak~ Asantham | was Mra. Mallory's only ecom~—ent. dent Harding