Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1916-06-13
HITTER NOT
EXTINCT, BUT APPARENTLY HIS
DAYS OF FLEADERSHIP ARE OVER
BY GRANTLAND RICE

| i
T7HE rght.handed hitter in baseball yet
l. hasn't become extinct but apparently his
days of leadership are over.
There was n time when the righthander
| had all the best of it-when Lajoie, Wagner
| and Delehanty were at their bset-all
league leaders. But of late this condition
| has changed
The New Turn
Hans Wagner, n rlght-hander. led the
| National League at bat in 1911. Heinie
| Zimmerman. another right-hander, followed
! Honus in 1912. But no right-hander has
reached the top of the National League list
| since.
In 1913 and 1914 Jake Daubert. swinging
| from the off-side, led his circuit, and when
Jacob slipped last year Larry Doyle and
| Fred Luderus, both left-handers, fought the
| fight out to a finish. with Doyle on the top
| And for 1915 Daubert and Doyle have
| been leading most of the season, showing
no change in the style that set in four
years ago.
Even Thicker Margin
In the American League the prevalence
of left-hand hitters has been even more pro-
nounced,
The last right-hander to lead that circuit
was Nap Lajoie back in 1905. In 1906
George Stone, left-hander, ruled the roost,
the leading crest.
It might be argued that, as Cobb is
super-swatsman, this evidence Is not con-
elusive But the facts are. not only Cobb
but virtually all the leading A. L. batsmen
have been left-handed operators of the big
mace.
Cobb's leading rivals for the last several
vears have been Joe Jackson, iris Speaker.
Eddie Collins and Frank Baker. All four
are left-handers at bat. Cobb Jackson
Baker and Collins are all right-handers In
every other way Speaker the only natural
eft-hander in the lot
The oldest shift of the bunch comes to
Hal Chase, left-handed in the field, but
right-hander with the walloping cane.
Left.handed Barriers
II was to meet this fancy crop of left
handed hitters that so many southpaws
were rounded up.
A few years ago a ball club that had one
good left -hander toiling from the mound
was pretty we'll fixed. Today the IanKs
have three in Culop, Mogridge and Love.
The Red Sox have Leonard Gregg and
Ruth: all through both leagues you VIII
find left-handers as thick as daisies IN the
fields of June. Six or seven years ago there
we're nossibly 20 or 81 left-handers in both
major leagues. Today there are at least
40 southpaws in active service.
A Fan Mystery
One query that you hear popping out
about every IT minutes Is TINS: why is II
that left-hand htters can't hit lett-hand
nitcbIne effectively? The best left-hRnd hit |
tars can. You don't see many southpaws |
bothering Cobb, Collins Baker Speaker |
Daubert Crawford and Doyle lot. But |
the average left-hander at bat undoubtedly |
is weaker against southpaw pltching' ana |
largely for this reason-the southpaws
hest curve breaks away from left-handed |
batsman whereas a right-handers best |
curves break in toward him-and II is con-
siderablv easier to maui a curve ball COM
ing in toward you than 1t is to hit one |
breaking away.
The Double Monopoly
The American League pennant race for
a good many years has read quite trife
like 'The Tale OF Two Cities" Since De-
troit landed the emblenG of glory back in
1909 only two cities have figured In the flag
Topping jubilee. the two being Philadelphia
and Boston Between them they have col
lected six pennants in a row, and while one
Of them, Philadelphia, practically is hors du
as you might say, the other still
is rated with first-class chance to land in
front.
The Vardon Grip
The Vardon grip is supposed to be the
last word or the ultimate phrase in golf
grips Yet II is a peculiar fact that only q |
very few of the leading American amateurs
employ it. Jerry Travers and Oswald Kirk.
by both employ the old-fashioned V-grip.
So does Bob Gardner. Chick Evans uses a
of the Vardon grip. but doesn't
90 in for the full affair. Max A1arston
1nly lately has adopted the overlapping
while Francis Ouimet uses an in.
affair. The grips used by Travers
and Kirkby almost are Identical while those
employed by Ouimet Evans and Gardner
Ill vary-showing that after ALL the way
me holds a golf club isn't quite as impoF-
ant as the way one swings
The White sox have this in their favor