The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1921-07-07
ny FRANK G.. MENKE
The expected has happened.


The glamor ana the soul stirring
thrill has gone from the circuit clout.
For homers have become the rule in
this baseball era rather than the hip
hip-h-oo-ooray" exception.
The lively ball has done it,
The unusual and the extraordinary
excite the populace; sends it into rap
lures; makes them sportively fanai-
cal; creates wild hysteria of enthu-
siasm. But the usual-the common
place-provikes no thrill, no thunder
OF applause, no rapturous happiness.
And home run hitting in this AID.
1921 has become ordinary, common
place.
Back in the olden days-before the
baseball powers hoped up" the ball
the athlete who banged out dozen
homers in 4 full season was a hero,
a demon slugger, a seasonal champion.
an offensive star to be gazed upon
with awe!
All Banging EN-
But now, with the season only about
one-third over, 10 or more players
have banged out around IL home
runs each.
A club that averaged three homers
a week was a wonder aggregation
one that could have been nicknamed
Demon Clouters." Nowadays, the
team that can't bang out four baggers
far beyond that average is regarded
as terrible aggregation.
No better evidence of the lively
ball" can be cited than Ty Cobb's rec
ord. The mighty Georgian is not
averaging more hits now than in his
best years, yet he has made almost as
many homers as he did in any COM
plete season of his spectacular career.
The answer is obvious.
The men behind the national game
decided two seasons ago to harken TO
fandom's cry of more hitting" They
made the bail livelier by the simple
process of using in it's manufacture
the springiest materials known to
balloon. Their aim was to give the
players a ball that could be whanged
out of the lot with reckless abandon
but remarkable precision.
Aim is Achieved
The aim was achieved-but now
there is evidence of its boomerang eff
feet.
Even the four basing of Ruth isn't
provoking any excessive delirium this
year. Everybodys doing it-this
home run stuff---so why get excited
about it? The fans have become
smarted up this season and they
know that Ruth's terrific clouting and
the great four Dagger work of a dozen
other players is, in the final analysis
an artificial performance, as compar
ed with the era before the hop" ball
The new ball hasn't merely increas
ed circuit drives. It has enabled
mediocre batsman to cling easily
above 300 while a horde of good
swatsmits are finding no difficulty
banging $50 or better. The year un
doubtedly will end with more 800 hit
tiers than the game ever has known
before.
Require IS Safeties
Once upon a time a team that av
eraged six or seven safeties per game
was an aggregation of lulu hitters-
and did the old home town proud. But
a six or seven hit gang now would be
~ fired bodily by the irate magnate. NJ
club is a hitting one now unless i
can pound out 10 to Is safeties pc
diem
That Tiger-Athletics series again
can be cited. In the four games thu
Tigers made SO runs and 81 hits
an average better than and 10
while the men of Connie Mack mad,
% runs and As hits, an average of
runs and more than II hits per com
bat
Philadelphia fandom saw each da.
on the average, a total of Is runs ant
nearly q hits-probabiy a record pei
Torrance in offensive play.
But ii won't remain such for Ion