New-York tribune., 1921-12-25
New York Clubs
Had Great Year
On Diamond
Judge Landis Restored Pub
lie Faith i'm Baseball; Me-
Graw Set a New Record
By ". |. Macbeth


undermined by the startling rsvela-
tions of the Cincinnati National-Chi
cago American worlds series scandal
of 1919 and the internal strife that
split the American League into two
bitter factions and lined majority
OF the younger major against its min
ority and the National League
To Judge kenesaw Mountain Lands
must go the credit for saving baseball
from public condemnation. The Ma
tional League and the American
League minority forced Ban Johnson
and his "foyai i've" to accept the cele-
brated Chicago jurist as a nigh com
mission of ane to replace the old ma
tional comm fssion Of three. The cleo
ton of a national commission chair
man TO succeed August Hermann. re-
signed, precip Ntated the lght that
threatened for 0 time 10 result n
new baseball waF. but which IN the
end produced in Lands the Moses
needed TO lead thG national game out
Of the wilderness OF doubt
In baseball the se.Nson Of 1871 stands
as q record breaker i, practically every
line. The National L eagDe attendance
fell slightly shy Of - 1920 figures,
but on the other hand the American
League slightly excelleo'. Ine minor
leagues did a much more -FOUR rlsnlng
business last season than the year De
fore. Locally the acme oS optimism
was realized.
Both Giants and Yankees Mayed TO
record attendances at home and abroad,
something which was TO be expected,
OF course, as both teams won per.SlanJs
The gallant fight of the Giants TIM sugn :
out the closing weeks Of the Natl's al
League championship and in the wor<fs
series as well must ever stand amoEA
the great achievements of the game,
along with such feats as the MAD dash
Of the 1914 Braves.
Seventh Pennant for McGraw
In winning the National League
cham pionship McGraw achieved dis
tinction unknown before IN the history
Of baseball. It was his seventh pen
nant triumph with the Giants. Previ-
ously he and Connie Mack, of the Ath-
letics, were tied for leading honors
among major league managers Of all
times with SIX pennant accomp plish
ments. Brilliant as his career always
has been, McGraw never displayed
7 greater managerial wizardry than
achieving this crowning success, the
winning Of both the National League
and worlds series pennants.
Throughout greater part OF the
season Pittsburgh threatened TO make
a runaway race. New York's apparent
weakness was the outfeld McGraw
plugged the gap by securing Irish
Meusel from the phillies Neusej
/ didn't hit his stride for time and
the Pirates drew steadily away until
when they came TO the Polo Grounds
} for their last series of the year they
were leading by seven and one-half
games. Ine Giants made clean
sweep Of five games, thus damoraliz IS
the pacemakers, and later Oh the final
swing through the West completed the
aoject rout.
Miller Higgins, the diminutivs man
ager Of the Yankees. gave New York
/ It's first American League pennant. He
had quite ac stiff q fight On his hana-s
as did McGraw, though never at quite
such q distinct disadvantage. The
worlds champion Cleveland Indians
hung on grimly despite many injuries,
and II was not until the closing days
OF the season that the Yankees were
able to ciinch the flag by beating
Connie Macks nondescript Athletics
Giants Showed Proverbial Grit
The 1921 worlds series will I've as
one Of the epics Of baseball lore Here
again the Giants displayed their
proverbial grit and came from behind
to victory IN eight games. after los
ing the first two TO the Yankees. As
Is usually the case in classic strife, the
unknown shone brilliantly as the stars
faded out johnny Rawlings, supposed
ly the weak link Of McGraw's infeld
chain, proved one Of the great deter
mining factors. Defensively he was
adamant and his hitting in the pinches
superb. Jesse Barnes, of whom little
was expected, proved the lion Of Nc
Graws pitching staff, and in threg
games Curved" Murderers' Row into
oblivion.
Carl Mays and Waite Hoyt pitched
we'll enough to win the series. but the
usually brilliant Ward and Peckin-
paugh booted away no less than two
consecutive games, one behind each.
None of the other Yankee pitchers
could foil McGraw's heavy hitters. and
therein lies the answer. Yet these two
great local teams were so evenly
matched that every game, practically, ,
was decided on the breaks" Though
beaten, the Yanks were not disgraced-
Neither did they lose prestige, for the
mighty Babe Ruth was seriously handi-
capped by an infected elbow through
out, and finally had to retire from
play.
This same Ruth. by the way, usurped
throughout the season the individual
home runs at fifty-nine. record that
is likely to stand until 1923 at least, as
the battering Bambino will be lost TO
the Yankees for the first FIVE weeks Of
1922 A new home run slugger also
developed in Bob Meusel, Of the Yam
KEGS, who Is down with Ruth for violat-
ing the transforming rule. O-her
home run clouters of renown were Irish
Meusel and George Kelly, of the Giants.
our New York clubs seem to have q
corner on home run hitters
Heiiman Beats Out Cobb
Hitting IN both major leagues was
terrific. especially long distance clout-
ing, which created suspicion the maior
leagues were using rabbit or lively
ball. But the old standbys without
exception stood up under the test.
Rogers Hornsby, OF the Cards. won
major league honors with .39T, the
greatest hitting that had been seen in
that circuit since 1899, when Ed Dele
hanty, Of the Phillies, set the pace
with .40S. Roush, Irish" Meusel and
Frank Frisch were all among the top
liners In the American League Harry
Heiiman Of the Tigers, beat out the
perennial champion, Ty Cobb But the
Georgian Peach, iris Speaker. Sisler
and OF course our own great Ruth wers
IN the thick OF the fight all the way.
Brilliant as was the season Jus,
closed, that OF 1922 promises to ec!ipse
it IN baseball. With Landis at thu
helm, the ship Of state is traversina