The Washington herald., 1922-12-04
BAN PUTS TY
AT 400 MARK
FOR A RECORD
slsler Tops All Batsmen With
: .419, With Tigers Manager
Running Him Second.

ftS, VIII tt9otS "oi'oSSs
Running Him Second.
TYRUs RAYMOND COBB,
manager Of the Detroit IT,
gers, has reached Q batting
mark never attained by any other
layer, that Of 400 for at least
zhree seasons. According to the
,fficial American League aver
,ges, issued today by Irwin M.
Howe, the Leagues official statis-
ician, George Sisler, Of the St.
Louis Browns, was first across
he line with q mark of .419 and
~ was second with 400.
To give Cobb this honor. Presi-
dent Ban johnson saw fit to over
rule an official scorer In New York.
The scorer gave Cobb one hit one
day last year. johnson. ruling In
favor Of the majority who gave him
TWO, enabled Cobb to squeeze into
the 400 class for the third time In
his wonderful career as q major
Lacquer.
A steady rattle of base hits. fire.
auently interspersed with the re-
sounding echoes Of long drives
again characterized Americ a n
League games Of the season Just
closed. The advance guard Of a
new army of extra base sluggers
appeared this year and It Is largely
through the efforts Of these new
men that the greatly improved
pitchfng made so little impress on
the season averages. While . few
familiar and honored names head
this list, no less than sixteen men
In their first or second year are
found among the 800 hitters.
NUMBER FELL OFF.
This year. 1904 safe drives Of
assorted sizes were hammered out
of 42,32s times at hat. which is an
average of 2S44. This is a decline
Of asa In the number Of hits as
compared with 1921 and a decrease
In the batting average OF about
2 $40 points, the grand average
last year being just under .2S7.
Two-base hits dropped los to 2.032;
three baggers from 694 last season
TO 5s5. but home runs increased
from AT to 524.
ST. Louis. making a valiant bid
for the championship. ousted De-
troit from its favorite position as
batting leader. The Browns record
10 .313 as compared with .316 for
the Tigers in 1921, while Boston.
low club this season with .26S. is
IL points below the Athletics mark
Of .274 for last year.
There was a slight increase in
the use Of the sacrifice to advance
runners. 1882 as compared with
1851 last year but there were IL
fewer bases stolen. the figures be-
ing 6S1 against 693. Whether the
art Of pilfering the runners way
from sack to sack Is really lost
cannot be told for only the fleetest
Of players are allowed to match
their speed and skill against op-
posing pitchers and catchers and
then only occasionally and under
exceptional circumstances. Th e
policy Of playing for a number of
runs in a single attack also ac-
counts for the further decline In
the use Of the sacrifice, the hit
and run play having superseded
both the stolen base and the sacri-
flee.
CLEVELAND AT TOP.
The base on balls has not been
20 profoundly affected by the pas
sion for making long hits and get
ting runs in punches as is the case
with stolen bases and sacrificing
Batters are still permitted to wait
EN- OUT with the result that five
Of the teams accumulated very re-
spectacle totals during the season.
Cleveland. with its smart veter-
ans, worked opposing hurlers for
70 na
troit, had $50. the champion New
York team 497. Chicago, 4S2 and
st. Louis. 473 passes.
Exploits of home-run hitters oc-
cupied the attention OF fans
throughout the country and there
was much interest in the home
run race" between certain of the
leaders. Every team had its home
run hero, Kenneth r. Williams of
the Browns being the leader with
30. twenty less than the mark set
by Ruth in 1921. C. w. Walker. of
Philadelphia, was second with 81,
while Babe" Ruth, in 10 games
cracked out 35 circuit smashes
Several other "fly-ball hitters"
made home-run records that would
have won them much attention In
former years.
Goose Goslin, the rookie out.
fielder. led the Griffmen with .
batting average of .324 for 1Ol
games Pete Lapan, the new back
stop from Little Rock, reached the
same mark for eleven games.
Notable was the falling off in
hitting by Sam Rice, with .295, and
Roger Peckinpaugh, with but .254.
Rice lost thirty-five points from his
1921 record and Peckinpaugh thirty