Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1916-06-24
HOME-RUN DRIVE HAS NOT
DEFEATED ALEXANDER SINCE
WAGNER'S LONG CLOUT IN 1913
Fewer Circuit Swats Made Off Grover Than Any
Other Pitcher in Either of the Major
Baseball Leagues
By CHANDLER D. RICHTER

ND EONETCHY'S home-run drive over
u the rlght-fleld fence yesterday almost
prevented Alexander the Great from win
ming his 18th victory for 1916 An error
by Pete Compton enabled the Phils to
even the count, and Alexander held tho
| Braves in check until George Whitted made
his home-run drive, which gave the cham
pions n sensational victory. If Konetchy's S
homer had been the only run of the game,
1t would have been the first time in three
years that Alexander had lost a game
through circuit drive, the veteran Hans
Wagner being the last National League
| player to beat the Philly marvel with
| home run.
Back in 1913 Wagner lifted the ball into
| the left-held bleaCherS for a homer with
| runner on first, and defeated Alexander
to /. While several players have found
| Alexander for circuit drives, none of the
four-base wallops has caused the Phtlly
stars defeat t-sIDce Wagner made his drive.
Field Small, Too
When one considers the size of the Philly
| field, 1t is really remarkable that so few
home-run drives have been off Alexander.
Charley Herzog insists that it is impossible
to take full swing at Alexander's side
arm ball because the batter does not see
it until 1t is upon him.
the centre field bleachers have something to
do with this, as 1t makes n background in
which the ball is lost until it is half way
up to the plate, Herzog does not explain,
however, how 1t is that National League
batsmen are unable to make circuit drives
off Alexander on other fields.
The National League records show that
there fewer home-run drives made
off Alexander the Great than any pitcher
in the league, and If careful search was
made of the baseball files, we believe that
It would be found that Alexander leads both
leagues in this respect, with Eddie Plank
his only close rival.
Out for Record
Alexander is out to win S5 games, and,
judging by the way he is going, the Philly
marvel is likely to reach this mark The
Phillies have played SO games TO date and
Alexander has registered 13 victories AS
the schedule calls for 154 games and
Alexander has not been overworked he Is
likely TO make great finish If the race Is
close.
To date Moran has called upon Alexander
as a relief twirler only once, but as the
season wears on the Nebraskan probably
will be given many chances to win games
by working two or three innings in contests
which the Phils manage to tie up along
about the seventh or eighth inning.
Luddy Batting Well
Fred Luderus is back in his 1915 batting
form and will soon be climbing into the 800 |
class. The failure of the slugging captain |
to hit in the early weeks of the race was a |
great handicap to the Phillies, as it hap |
pened that Gavvy Cravath was in slump |
at the same time and Dave Bancroft failed |
to hit as we'll as expected.
Barring 1915 Luderus always has been a |
slow starter. There apparently is no reason |
for the failure of Luddy to hit I'm the early |
part of the campaign, but he attributes II |
TO the fact that he uses a heavier bat in the |
spring, so that he can get his stride and |
swing before he starts pulling the ball to the |
right side of the field. Luderus' reason for /
using the heavier bat is to prevent himself |
from pulling too much in midseason.
Until 1915, Luderus usually had an aver |
age of about 200 for the first two months |
Of the season. This was due TO the fact that |
he could not hit into left field. but at the /
training camp last year he practiced hit 1
ting into left aRd was getting many base
hits because the opposing teams were play
ing for him as they had In the past
This year the opposing defense is sta
toned very nearly in its natural posi-
lion for Luderus excepting when a left
handed pitcher is on the mound, and for
his reason he has lost many hits on balls
which were going safe year ago.
Luderus Is now swinging away I'm his
latural manner and long drives have been
! daily occurrence for two weeks, OPP