Richmond times-dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1914-current, 1919-09-21
SPEAKERS PICK UP IN
HITTING FEATURE OF YEAR
Swattcd Horsehide Well Beyond 800
Mark Before 1919
Season,
SLUMP BEGAN EARLY IN SPRING
Has Climbed Steadily Since Becom-
Ing Manager of Indians, and
Aspires to Fatten Average in Next
Two Weeks.
Br JAMES J. coRpE1-r.

iris Speakers battle to reach the
800 heights Is among the most inter-
esting of the side issue features of
the 1919 campaign.
Ever since MS nrst full season in
the majors. Speaker has ciouted, the
horsehide for mark well beyond the
charmed circle" His grand average.
ever owned by any swatsmith of any
time The nnsl seal Of sb batting sT ,e,a
when ne whanged his way to the abso-
lu,ee cres, OF the sA.aa'ericapn League
Speaker annexed tho batting champion
ship and stands forth as the only
the the" years = RS since the .sou,hsrn Typhoon'
has been psrIformins in >Big Time.
snse g. 5h a hs ns ss ysar and
turned in .sl9 last season. But for
ySome inssnliSable pensCn the m nis
hit this year within fifty points Of
Speaker got away to a poor start in
the sprngtime and for more than half
h was anged for nj him apa 10
climb TO any greater heights and stay
there for any, length OF time. He
banged the ball rs hard and as often
as in the other days, but few of his
clouts landed safely.
Of Speaker can be used as. one OF the
alibis for the Indians failure to an
t an,} q" that I'll Sp es had nit for CHS his
normal average the Indians would
have won a, least nye games that nov ,ms
Indians had five defeats taken from
them nov and ,ransf"rmed into Vie
American League aspect.
Hits R~tter When Made Manager.
The regularity concerning Speakers
n,nf Is The fasl that IS he
chores he started TO pick up-and then
began the great, iight that he is now
usually follows that when a player is
made manager, the added chores dis,
s sfaGt hin someW ,rn from his work
Lajoie. Evers. Tenny and many other
truly, greats IS o Of the baseball world
seems true. Almost from the first day
that he became the. manager he perked
up in his hitting. New ambition stirred
lead his team to the TOP. He played
With all the marvellous skill and power
that he possesses and things, began TO
batting way. The same sort of drives
that were trapped for outs earlier in
Speakers average has been moving up
ward at steady rate.
May Reach Goal Before Season Ends.
From around .275 the star performer
n %Hni n,ong to $50 then pont by
aim-.3oo
The season still has nearly two
weeks to go-and upon Speakers bat
ting. feats during those two weeks de-
Ponds the result. of his fight. The
chances are that he will cross the line
and stay beyond 1t. For. in the
closing weeks of "A campaign, managers
usually stick in rookie pitchers for a
tryout: There is always an appreciate
fattening of the batting averages for
the veteran players during that period,
and it is more than likely that Speaker
can hit at least 1913 during the last
two weeks. If he does that, he should
pull his grand average for the season
trif1e beyond 400.
Speaker ever has been a popular
PLAYER and an idol in both cities which
he has represented. And because of
This, the baseball world is pulling for
him TO achieve his ambition.-Copy-
right, 1919.