Los Angeles herald., 1909-09-23

chine in it's familiar resting place.
Some detective, our George.
Speed is what is winning baseball
games for Detroit this year, says a
Cleveland follower of the Tigers. Other
things are counting. Sure Cobb and
Crawford have batted in many a run.
Mcintyre and Bush coax many base
on balls and then those outfielders
send them home. That's all true. But
speed is the thing that the Tigers
have that their rivals have not.
For instance, the Maps have made
within thirty as many hits as have
the Tigers. Yet Detroit has scored
100 more runs than Cleveland has.
One hundred and three more stolen
bases is what tells the story. Cut
out half of those stolen bases and
Detroit would not be leading the
league today.
Good batters are necessary to a
pennant winning aggregation, but good
batters who are fast are better. A
few years ago Cleveland had a set
of sluggers. There were Clarke, Con-
galton, Rossman, Stovall, LaJoie ana
Bradley, all of whom were batting
close to the 300 mark or in excess OF
that mark. But not one Of them was
what could be called a star base run
ner. Congalton and Rossman were
released to increase the speed of the
club.
A faster team was secured but the
batting strength was sacrif1ced ana
until recently, the Maps failed to show
either speed or batting proWess, Flick
has lost his former speed, although
he may regain it next year. Turner,
the fastest man on the team, is out
of the game. Stovall is improving as
a base runner, but the remainder of
the club will never win any medals
on the paths.
Year for Tanning Pitchers
This does not seem to be a year for
the strike out pitchers to shine and
the majority of the pitchers who are
breaking into print frequently as Gre
ating strike out records do not seem
to be winning as many games as DO
the fingers who go along and depend
more upon the men behind them. Stlll
a strike out pitcher is a mighty handy
man with the bases filled and two out.
Here is Hefne Berger for instance
He has been knocked out of the box
oftener than his colleagues yet he leads
the Cleveland pitchers in strike outs
and Is high up among the league
twirlers in that respect. 'Ruoe MAI
guard of the Giants strikes out more
men to a game than Mathewson YET
he cannot win. Only few days ago,
"Chlef' Bender famed ten men in six
innings and was knocked out of the
box in the seventh. Cy Falkenberg,
who leads the Nap fingers in percen-
tage Of victories. has famed only three
men to a game. Nap Rucker of the
Brooklyn club has struck out 174 men,
vet his bases on balls has caused him
to lose many game.
Five American league pitchers have
made home runs this year. They are
loss. Cleveland; Plank, Philadelphia;
Johnson, Washington Hughes, New
York. and Wolter, Boston, Joss being
the only western finger to make al
four-sacl1er "Heine" Berger of the
Maps and Frank Smith, Of the White
Sox are the boss sluggers of the
league pitchers, each having five two
base hits. Smith has made two triples
and Berger one.
The sIugglng Catcher
Although only a youngster, Teddy
Easterly, the Los Angeles boy, who
has done such good work behind the
hat for the Maps this year, is the
owner of one league honor this sea-
son, That is, he has made more extra
base hits than any other backstep in
the circuit Easterly has made sixty
three hits, and twenty-four of them
were for two or three bases, giving a
total of thirty-five extra bases. Jack
I<leinow Is his closest rival with twen-
tv extra sacks. Carrigan, Stanage, LiV-
ingston, Thomas, Street and Stephens
follow with from thirteen to fifteen ex-
ira bases.