The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1921-08-04
Phenomenal Batting Will End
in Major Leagues This Year
Feats Believed Impossible Have Been Accomplished by
Heavy Sluggers with the Lively" Ball-Babe
Ruth is Chief Offender Saws Menke

no more lively" ball which whizzes
70 to 125 feet farther than any horse
hide ever has done before: there'll be
nothing for the swatsmiths to mace
except the old fashioned ball which
yields 500 or $50 feet-and calls any
thing beyond that phenomenal
The demoniac Ruth, of New York,
busted one in Detroit not so long ago
which travelled farther than any bat
ted ball ever went beforehand farther
than any ever will firt again.
He met the offering of Cole, a
youngster parked on the pitching
mound by Ty Cobb, and knocked it out
of the orchard via the center field
fence.
Drives Ball 500 Feet.
It's just $50 feet from home plate to
that fence-and Ruth's terrific drive
carried at least 80 feet beyond before
it landed. That's $50 feet-a distance
unparalleled and unbelievable if ten
thousand persons of integrity and
honesty hadn't borne witness to it.
Slngularly enough, the former record
was made in that same park-but not
by Ruth. The rejuvenated Harry He'll
man punched one into the center field
OlCdNAClO OhS anu the
measured distance from the plate to
the spot where the ball landed was
5l5 feet. 1t was thought then that the
ball carried farther than any human
ever could drive another-but along
came Ruth"
Ever since the Polo Grounds were
built in New York, batsmen have
hoped to achieve the glory of hammer
ing one into the center field bleachers.
For decades no one could accomplish
the trick-and up to this season it was
thought impossible. But along came
Ruth"-and twice within a week he
dropped the ball into these bleachers.
hitting about so feet farther into it
the second time
Every Stand Reached.
In the last two years every stand in
every park which once was regarded
as an impossible target" has been
hit by one batsman or another. Joe
Jackson drove one over the top Of the
right field grand stand in the Polo
Grounds-and so did Ruth.
A fledging - rightstone-pounde
beyond the center field fence in the
Phillies park after it had resisted the
onslaughts of all the mighties for
generations. Duncan, the Rhineland
cutfielder, made history not so long
ago when he drove one over the left
field fence in Cincinnati.
Only few spots in a few parks still
are sacred territory One of them is
the center field fence in the Braves
Field in Boston. No one knows lust
how far it is from home plate to that
fence.
Several men with surveying instru-
ments have tried to ascertain the foot
tags. All have died from old age be-
fore completing the journey. If any
player ever hoists the ball over that
spot he'll do it with a cannon-not a
baseball bat
Diamond Rearranged.
The business of hitting 'em out of
the Pirate Park is not so rushing this
year as 1t used to be-but it's good lust
the same. That's because Barney
Dreyfuss changed rhings around.
Once upon a time the home plate
was about mile or so from the stands
directly in back of it. This year Bar
ney rearranged the diamond, brought
the plate close to the stands-and so
increased the distance between the
IdllluS SldlloH anu the FENCES.
Nevertheless the noble athletes
aided and abetted by the lively" ball
are losing some of their hits into
the crowd outside the park.
Batters of 1920 and 1921 have estab-
bshed new hitting records in the
White Sox, Indian, Cub and other
parks. The same thing goes for the
bailiwick of the Dodgers and Browns.
The clouters, it seems, learn in ad-
vance of their visits to each park
about the existing records.
Then they go ahead and aim to bust
EN-. They've suceeded-in amazing
fashion. They've hung up records ia
every park that probably are written
indelibly Into the pages of baseball
history.