The Detroit times., 1912-08-03
FIGHT FOR AMERICAN
LEAGUE PENNAkT is
I JOHNSON-WOOD DUEL
Finger Who Can Keep Up His
Work is likely to Land
Big Bunting
WHICH ONE is THE KING?
Each Has His Supporters, But
Johnson Looks a Little
the Better
WHICH ONE is THE KING

yesterday waiter Johnson beat the
Tigers 4 to 0. Joe Wood won from
the Browns. to 0.
Wood VS.. Johnson.
This is the way the American
league pennant race is beginning tc
size up.
Which will it be, the Boston Red
Sox and Joe Wood or the Washington
Nationals and Walter Johnson?
No single twirler is doing as much
to keep his team in the running as
either Wood and Johnson, both right
handlers, young. and practically each
owning the same sort of puzZlers-a
fast ball that simply whizzes over the
plate and whistles, as 1t passes the
batter.
So far Wood and the Red Sox are
in the lead. Boston has won 6S and
lost 81 games for a .6S7 percentage,
/. with Wood winning 81 and losing four
for an $40 average.
Washington has won 62and lost 81
games, which puts its percentage at
.626, with Johnson winning % and los
ing 6, giving him 1893 average.
The pitcher who sticks II out TO
the very last, to Oct. 8. probably is
going to win this American league
pennant for his team. The odds are
in favor of Wood, because he is sup
ported by the better team, one of more
experience and class, but even these
odds do not look TO be too great a
handicap for Walter Johnson to win
the championship for the Nationals.
The table which appears herewith
proves the remarkable and phenomen-
al pitching of Wood and Johnson. The
Idaho wizard has participated in 81
games and has yet to get real bump
ing. Wood has operated in % for his
team, and only once has he been
chased of the rubber. Quite sterl-
ing exhibition.
Gazing over the records of these
two marvels We find that Johnson
really has outpitched Wood where
runs are concerned, but that Wood Is
the steadier in allowing the foe 10 hit
him safely. The most runs scored
or Johnson In a full game this year
we're six. and that mas May 20 when
the Yanks tanned him 6-3. Wood has
been clouted for eight runs twice and
six on another occasion.
However just a glance through the
scores of their games proves that they
are the king bees in the American
leagues Ringing colony Johnson has
seven shutout games; Ave times he
has given one stingy run and eight
times but two.
Wood is not so much on pitching
the shutouts, as he has but five to his
credit Still, only two teams in the
American league have been able TO
defeat him. Joe started badly when
he lost two of his first FIVE games, the
Nationals beating him to and the
y Athletics to 1. Later the Athletics
repeated over him twice. After the
Champs trimmed him May 25 his only
defeat from that day to the present
moment Is July 4. That's a record
OF one reverse in two onths.
Johnson has the peculiar record of
three successive defeats, which are
marked on June 20, 2S and 80 He
hooked up with hisr ival, Wood, June
26, just after recovering from his at
tack Of tonsilitis, and was stopped, 3
to 0. Two days later he worked one
inning, and the Athletics scored the
winning run off him. The next day
the Athletics nosed him out to /.
But now waiter Is on record or nine
straight victories.
OF course, Johnson Is the strike
out king. 207 against 1875. Against the
White Sox recently he breezed 81 in
two games, while he has another mark
OF % In three days, or two games.
And II also might be noted that only
once has the enemy crushed into
Walter for base hits of the double fig.
ure. That total was IL, but he won
just the same.
Each pitcher has his followers
among the fans and players in the
American league. Many players say
Woods fast one has more smoke than
Johnson's, and his hook ball has
bigger break. Others will pick John.
son as the mightiest OF the mighty.
Who Is 1t: Wood or Johnson!
Is Walter Johnson hard pitcher to