Arizona republican., 1914-09-13
MANY FAMOUS PAST|MERSARE
 FALLING DOWN
Great Veterans Have Not Shown Same Ability on the National Ball Lot in the Present Year Expect ed of Them

NEW YORK, Sept. 12.-A glance at the seasons baseball records to date shows that a surprisingly large number of the famous pastimers have been unable to catch the step thls year. In both the National and Amer ican leagues are to be found players who heretofore have been at the top of the heap, but who now appear to be slipping back.
 Heading the list of baseball won ders" who have slowed up this year are Harry Lajoie and Honus Wagner These two wonderful pastimers are the oldest of all the prominent play CTS in the game, both in age and in point of service. It is doubtful if their records as big league players will ever be equalled.
 Lajoie enters upon his fortieth year today, having been, born, September 5 1875. He has been in major league company since 1896 and has batted over 300 in sixteen out of his nine teen seasons in the fast set He has failed to reach the 300 mark this sea son, though his hating has shown a marked improvement since he was moved from second to first base. There is a possibility that the great F:enchman may yet close the season i in a blaze of glory. At any rate he has the best wishes of thousands of | fans who hope to see him up there" 1 in the batting list once more. HonuS Wagner, the second of the l pair of veterans, has been up against it this season in the same way as La l icie. Failure to hit is the answer in 1 10th cases. The Plying Dutchman' is now playing his eighteenth season
 in the National league and up to the present time has always hit for .300 or better Hitting for 300 or better 1 for seventeen consecutive seasons is considerable hitting. But that is what Wagner has done regularly since 1896. and bis failure to keep up the pace this year is the first indica ton of his skidding.
 But Lajoie and Wagner are not the l Cnly star players to show form re- versal this year. Ty Cobb has not teen "bustin 'em' as in former years and some of the critics have named him among the tobogganers It is to be borne in mind, however, that Cobb
 has not played in half the scheduled games this year and this may have affected his work. Unlike Laioie and Wagner, he is still a young man and has a far better chance of ebing able to come back
 Some of the stac pitchers have shown a surprising slump in their
 work this year. The great Walter
 Johnson comes first on the list of
 prominent fingers who have had a
 Wobbly season. At this time last year Johnson was so far out in front in American league pitching averages
 that he could not have been reached
 by a Zeppelin dirigible But this sea
 son he got a poor start and has not
 Teen able to land among the first
 dozen in the list of pitchers His dropping back is generally attributed to lack of control.
 The failure of Joe Wood, the star
 pitcher of the Red Sox. to keep up his gait this year is attributed to the fact that he has never fully recovered from the effects of an operation fer appendicitis that lie underwent last winter It was largely owing to the brilliant work of Joseph that the Red SoX won the American league pen nant and the worlds championship | in 1912. Since then Wood has been oe little help to the Carrigan crew. In the few games in which he has pitched this season he has not dis played the old steam that formerly terrorized the batsmen
 Ed Walsh of the White Sox is an other pitcher who has not been able to live up to hiss past record as a winner. It has been given out from tune to time that Walsh was a "come tack," but the Missoucians are still
 waiting
 The list of slumping pitchers would not be complete without the name of Demaree. Last season the splendid work of Al Demaree was a subject of discussion wherever baseball fans consregate. Seldom has young 1ilnger broken into the big show and made such a record as that achieved Dy the Giants pitcher Even the great Mathewson had very little on Demaree when it came to brilliant work in the box But this season Demaree seems to have curled up and faded, which accounts in no small degree for the difficulty the Giants have experienced in holding their own at the front of the National | league race.
 All or which goes to show that
 the tune ain't long" before we shall
 nave new crop of diamond stars to place in the headlines.