The Washington times., 1922-09-10
BAMBINO NOW
DOUBTS HE'LL,
KEEP CROWN
Ken Williams Has Big Ad-
vantage in Home Run Race,
Babe Declares.
By BABE RUTH.

His first o. games last year. y
This date last year Cin 81 sames).
IS home runs.
NYEw york, Sept. s.-with
~ the end Of the season well
= within sight, Kenneth Will
liams, Of the Browns, Rogers
Hornsby, Of the Cardinals, and
Clarence (TilIie) Walker, Of the
Athletics, still are making pace
for me in the race for home-run
honors. had expected to catch
all three before this, but haven't
been able to do it and for the
first time all season ! am begin
ming to wonder IL am due to
lose the crown that won four
years ago and have worn ever
since without challenge until
this year. ae.s
I have figured all along that !
would make not less than forty
four homers this season and that
no other batter In either major
league would go beyond forty.
haven't maintained my average
since the Yankees returned from
their second Western trip. however,
and now II begins to look doubtful
IL will reach the mark I set for
Williams and Hornsby..
In the meantime, Kenneth VIII
Jams has started another sluggfng
streak and Il looks like the best
the forty mark. He had made
thirty.five when this article was
written and had nineteen games
yet to play, all at Sportsman's
Park, with its short right field.
Hits Long Flies.
When Williams IL swinging right
and meeting the bail It is the next
thing to impossible to keep him
from hitting long fly balls to right
field and fly doesn't have to be
especially long to reach the right
field bleachers at st. Louis. This
means, OF course, that he has a
tremendous advantage over all
crown.
Rogers Hornsby. for instance.
doesn't play another game at 81.
and I play only three more each.
to Hornsby and Walker. who Gus
tomarily hit to left center or to
dead left field. respectively, but II
does mean q lot to me, q right field
hitter. with no.. games TO play. at
the Polo Grounds after Sunday.
September 10, and comparatiyely
few on other fields which favor q
right field hitter. b.
intend to keep on trying, now
ever. and II may be that I will catch
iup with another streak like the one
enjoyed while we were making our
second swing around the western
end Of the circuit or the one un :,
c6rked at the Polo Grounds dur
ing the first couple Of weeks of our
last stand at home.
| AZ the same time do not intend
to devote myself exclusively. to the
manufacture Of home runs. The
American League race has reached
suoh q stage that Individual ambii-
tions must be sacrificed -fop the
my salary, and which hopes to win
another pennant this season. r-
Babe Ambitions.
am more anxious to lead the
world in homers this year than I
ever was before. but am. even more
anxious to play in aFother woubd's
series, preferably against the Giants.
II I thought It would help the Van.
KEGS In their fight for a second con-
secutive championship would choke
my bat every time I stepped to the
plate and abandon all thought OF
! making homers while trying to grind
out singles. W-f
I'm hoping, however. that II won't
lcome to that. We sustained a dis
appointing set back when we al
lowed the Boston Red Sox to win. a
doubleheader from us, that double
barreled defeat merely served to
strengthen, our dissemination to
fight for everything in sight through
out the remainder Of the season.
once had n notion that we would
be "in," with our pennant safcly
won, by the time we started from
horne on our last invasion OF the
West, but we're running neck ana
neck with the Browns, with neither
club showing the slightest sign OF
cracking under the strain, Il looks,
now, as though we'd have to fgnt
| II out right down to the last DAY