The Pensacola journal. (Pensacola, Fla.) 1898-1985, 1921-10-03
YANKS WILL RELY
ON SLUCCINC TO
WIN THE SERIES
Team Possesses Remarkable Power at
Bat Coupled With Good Defense
and Fair Pitching.
BY BILLY EVANS.
Worlds Greatest Baseball Expert.

/
A team possessing remarkable power
at the bat, coupled with a good defense
and fair pitching, the Yankees found
1t very difficult matter indeed, to
win the American league pennane.
The New York team has for several
years been the enigma of the Ameri-
can league. With an offense appar-
emily sufficient to crush any 5eppo-
sition, the Yankees have been IN and
cutters. At times the club looks like
the greatest aggregation ever gotten
together. Yet almost over night the
same club can look very ordinary.
These sudden reversal of forms can
perhaps. be best explained by types.
The New York Yankees, from the top
Of the batting order down to the pitch
ers. is a team that can hit It is a
team that likes to hit. It plays the
slashing style Of game to the exclusion
of all others. When 1t is hitting, it
looks great. The crack Of the old base
hit tends to enthuse. and the general
play of the club reflects the enthusi-
asm.
Morale Suffers as Batting sIumps.
On the other hand, the Yankees are
easily depressed. Batting slumps are
part of baseball. No matter how great
a hitter the individual. there are times
during the season when he suffers a
slump.
Batting sllunps are unexplafnable.
They just happen. When a couple of
good hitters slump it is very often con-
tagious, the inability to hit spreading
through the entire team
1t is at such times that the New
York Americans look like the ordinary
ball club. It is not a team that fights
its hardest when in such a slump, but
rather a team that takes it as a matter
of course. Such anattitude has several
times nearly proven fatal to the clubs
chances.
Failure to hit naturally affects the
temperament and spirit Of the player
or players. In a great many cases the
slump in batting is followed by a SINH
lar let-up in the field Worry over
both invariably clogs up the thinking
apparatus, and it is not the unusual
to have bunch of dumb play work
themselves into the picture.
A team made up of free swinging
hitters, batters with tendency to hit
for extra bases, is the type most likely
to suffer batting slumps. The New
York Americans is just such team.
Yankees Blow on the Bases.
The Yankees are slow on the bases,
and very naturally this slowness of
foot is reflected in the work afield. 1t
is team that lacks a varied attack.
but how those athletes can hit the
balli
r vo,.;o,,s1., ao,,t,4 - 41,.,.a ~~,o -. !,
a team more dangerous at the bat
from the standpoint of smuggling
strength pure and simple.
Home runs are nothing out of the
ordinary in the lives of the Yankees
Any man on the club, and don't ex-
cept the pitchers. is liable to bust
one for a homer at any time.
If a pitcher elects to pass Ruth he
must face Meusel. If he refuses to take
a chance on Meusel then he must
pitch to Pipp. If Pipp looks dangerous.
there looms up Home Run" Baker OF
the old days.
After Baker comes Ward and then
Schang. both take a dangerous cut at
the ball.
Even the lead-off men, Miller and
Peckinpaugh. loom up in the home
run column, while Carl Mays and Bob
Shawlxey usually come through with
a couple Of home runs every year.
Most interesting of Major Leaguers.
The Yankees certainly are a colorful
aggregation. There is no getting away
from it. Despite its slowness on foot,
and the fact that at times the club
can look very ordinary, it is one of the
most interesting aggregations that has
ever represented a major league IN the
big series
1t Is a team noted for its hitting
ability. Random has demonstrated that
it loves the slugger, and the New
York Yankees lineup fairly TEEN
with sluggers. It is club thar gets
runs in huge clusters.
In a very important series with the
Washington club before the close Of I
the season it scored SO runs in +
games in the final clash with Clev..
land, it went out and scored 81 runs +
for Mays. Such hitting should certain
" be considerable encouragement Tor /
any pitching staff.
Pitching Staff Wabbles Badly. /
What about the Yankee pitching /
staff? During the final stages of the
race the staff wabbled badly. due TO
Shawkey's injured arm and a ten
dency on the part of Mays to have one
bad inning.
Shawley has had a peculiar season.
a sore arm handicapped him for abonr
six weeks at the start Then he l:f
his stride. and for couple Of months
was the most dependable man on the
staff. The fall weather brought re-
turn of the sore arm. and with it a
reversal of form.
Mays. a glutton for work, who has
received plenty of it, seemed to show
he effects of it at the finish, BY ten
iency to let down at some stage.
In most OF the games he was for
innate enough to get plenty Of hitting.
20 that his one bad inning habit was no
handicap to his winning.
Hoyt in the final stages was at the
.op of his game. which makes it seem
hat he will play a prominent part i
With the Giants.
Huauins Likely to Depend on Trio.