The Birmingham age-herald., 1921-09-11
GREAT HITTING FAILS TO WIN IN
 MAJOR LEAGUES
ny JAMES J. CoRBETT

Once again the fact is proven that batting strength is only minor de- tail in baseball clubs strength.
 study the 1921 averages.
 The Cardinals and> the Tigers are the league leaders in the eloutins way The St. Louis outfit S hitting beyond 300, and includes in it's ranks the best batsman in the cir euIt+-Hornsby, with a mark of .412 Back of him are McHenry with a mark of ,S40 and Fournier, with s36. But what gooe has 1t done the Cards in the pennant fight, for their portion now is a teeterLaWter battle for fourth place. They're miles away from the top, and almost as badly distanced for second place.
 Detroit has the "hlttingest' team in baseball It is batting for an average around ,32o which gives it the lead over all rivals. 1t, like the Cards. possesses the best swatter in the league. Heilman is the star. with mark of 1893. Just nose or so back of him is Cobb, with .3s7. And only a few notches away is Veaeh. with a mark around .S6o.
 Yet even wltn those great batters the Tigers have had difficulty hold ing fifth place in the league. A few upsets would send them toppling to seventh position.
 Same Last Lear
 Last year 1t was much the same. The Cardinals led the older league In hitting with mark of .2S9, yet they landed sixth in the flag race. And the Browns, who finished fourth in the American league, with team average of only .407 hit the ball for soS which placed them far beyond anyone else in either organization.
 It's much the same story all through baseball history. Occasion ally, of course, the team which topped the league in batting also won a pennant.l But usually 1t has been the reverse. For 10 years Cleveland had one of the best hitting clubs in baseball-and none of them ever won a. flag. Detroit has been one of baseball's most terrific club bing agsregations, but |. has won no championships in more than dosen seasons.
 All OI WniSH biinbS OHS PdSh d8aiH to the truth of the oft-repated state ment.
 Pitching Is 70 Per Cent
 Pitching is 70 per cent of base ball."
 A team without pitchers of the first-class variety never amounts to anything. It makes but little differ enoe if that club can whaek out q dozen hits and a half-dozen runs daily if its pitchers are so poor that the opposition can belt them for seven more runs per game
 But the Tigers and the Cards have hit well enough this year to have won at least two-thirds of their games-- if they had been aided by good pitch ing. But the sadness comes in the fact that their pitchers have been little more than mediocre. Ere quently their on batters have spotted" that pitcher a three O., four run lead in the first few in- nings, only to have that pitchsr toss 1t away by weakness which yielded the foemen four or five-pr more runs. ]
 batters this season. But each has been mighty shy on good pitchers. That's why the scouts have been busy all summer raking the bushes for pitchers. And that's why, when the springtime of 1922 comes, the managers who In the past have di- vided their time in the development of infielders, outfielders, catchers and pitchers will focus ,the majoy portion of their attention on the fingers.
 For it's pitchers-good pitchers which baseball needs more than any thing else.