Evening star., 1914-12-27
BY ERNEST ]. LANIGAN.

| greatest number of runs. The reai
American League batting king of 1915
| was not Tyrus Raymond Cobb, but
his associate in the suburbs-Samuel
Crawford. The man who put Wahoo
Neb., on the base ball map led all the
! Johnsonites when it came to hitting
in the pinches and driving in tallles
! and prevented John Franklin Baker
of the Athletics from .equaling Cobps
record of setting the pace in opportune
clubbing for three consecutive seasons
The Gaints' Nemesis had led the runs
| batted-in brigade of the American
| League in 1912 and 1913, but this year
| Crawford, who bore off the blue rlb-
bon in 1910, came back into his own
and made the Mackian mauler sur
render his laurels Crawford batted
in 112 runs. but by so doing neither
beat his own nor the league mark
Baker, runner-up, added the finishing
touches to ninety seven tallies, this
being the first time since 1910 that the
hard hitting Baker failed to make the
century class.
| This Is the eighth season that the
runs batted in data has been collected
| and made public. Showing that there
| is nothing new under the sun. scrap
| books in the possession of Jacob J.
| Stein, president of the Buffalo Inter-
| national League club, prove that as
long ago as 1879 the National League
| scorers, or at least some of them, used
| to keep track of the number of runs
each player batted in and incorporate
this information in their box scores.
Detroit and Philadelphia have had
a tight monopoly on the leaders in
hammering home counters from 1907
to 1914, inclusive. Tyrus Raymond
Cobb showed the way in 1907. 1908
| campaigns being 116. 101 and lis. In
1910 Sam Crawford ranked at the top
| with 115. The next year Ty Cobb, go
| ing grandly, knocked in 14A runs and
esta ablished a mark that is likely to
stand for long, long time. Craw-
| ford, that year. batted in 1877. In 1912
and again in 1913. Baker was it. The
| first season he stood at the top The
White Elephant drove in 1873 markers;
the second season he hit in 1875.
Crawford had no companions in the
century class last season, Baker falling
to get in the three-figure society by
! three tallies. ]. Franklin led in driv-
| ing in runs until September / and
then Crawford shot to the front and
| stayed there. Sam has batted in 81
| runs in the last eight seasons. Cobb
IT'S. There have been seven men, from
1907 to 1914. inclusive. who have sue
| ceeded in passing the century mark
| in driving in counters. Crawford and
Cobb each got by the hundred notch
| four times. Baker passed it thrice and
| these men skipped by it once: Ping
Bodie, Jim Delehanty, Duffy Lewis and
Jack McInnis
Ten Best Pinchhitters.
The ten best ''pinchmen'' in the Ameri-
can League last season were Crawford,
| Baker, McInnis. Speaker, Clarence
Walker. Lewis. Eddie Collins. Veach.
Gandil and John Collins. The previous
year they were Baker, Pratt, McInnis,
Barry. Crawford. Lewis, Jackson,
Speaker. Eddie Collins and Lajoie. Nc
Innis and Lewis had the same ranking
in 1914 as in 1913, Detroit's ablest
clubber at opportune times was Craw-
ford, who ranked first; Philadelphia's,
Baker. ranking second: Boston's,
Speaker. ranking fourth; st. Louis
Clarence Walker. ranking fifth; Wash
ington's. Gandil, ranking ninth: Chi
cago's. Collins. ranking tenth: Cleve-
lands, Jackson, ranking eleventh:
New York's, Peckinpaugh. ranking
| fourteenth. In 1918 the team leaders
Pratt, for the Browns: Crawford. for
Jackson, for the Maps; Cree, for the
Yanks: Gandtl. for the Nationals and
Bodie, for the White Sox. The hold.
overs numbered four and were Craw-
| ford, Baker. Gandil and Jackson.
| The best timely hitting team In the
American League last season would
have on 1t four White Elephants. one
National. one Brown. one Red Sox, one
would consist Of walter johnson and
Wallie Schang. its infleld would be
made up of Jack McInnis. Eddie Col
| Inns. Frank Baker and Roger Peckin.
apugh. and its outfield would be COM
posed Of Sam Crawford. iris Speaker
son, on the Johnsonites' most powerful
clubbing team, McInnis, Baker, John.
son and Crawford won places. the
other members of this supposititious
Barry. Duffy Lewis. Joe jackson and
Ray Schalk. Pratt failed to hit in
thirty-two as many runs last season
as he did in 1913; Barry. ~; Lewis. s.
jackson. 18: and Schalk, s.
ford. eighty-six were put on the rec
ords through safe hits, sixteen
through sacrifice flies and ten through
infield outs. Sam knocked homo more
taliies on safeties than any one else
Nationals In bringing men over
through the medium Of aerial sacri.
fees McInnis of PHILADELPHIA showed
the way in registering teammates on
infeld outs.
Four runs were the greatest number
hammered home by Leader Crawford
in any one game. Slugging Sam had
three such performances to his credit
one against Washington, one against
New York and one against st. Louis.
! Williams Proved Capable.
Alva Williams of the Grifhthites
claimed the banner performance for
batting In runs In one game-seven-
and by one Of those oddities that croI
up so frequently in base ball he went
on this batting jamboree in a game
against team with which he formerly
played. Batting against Rankin John
son and Guy Cooper Of the Red So1
July ,. Williams. In fve trips to the
plate. poled double. triple and q
home run. His two-bagger. CLEANED
off johnson. scored Moelier and Foster
his triple. garnered off Cooper. enabled
Foster and Milan to tally, and his
homer. harvested off the former ma
rine. found Harper and Milan on the
bases.
The next best performance was
credited to iris Speaker of the Red
Sox. Sir Tristram welded his blud-
geon with such telling effect against
Houck, Wyckof and Plank Of the
White Elephants April % that his
team became possessed of six runs, H
singled Bedient home In the third and
knocked in Bedient and Hooper In tn.
fourth with a One-timer In the eighth