The Washington herald., 1922-12-06
COBB RULING
DRAWS FIRE
FROM SCRIBES
New York Baseball Writers De-
mand Showdown With Presi-
dent Ban Johnson.
By LEONARD w. COLLINS.

IN HE action of President Ban
johnson, Of the American
League, in taking exception
TO the scoring Of a play made at
the Polo Grounds, last May, and
SO revising the records as 10 credit
Ty Cobb with a hit, whereas the
official scorer had ruler the play
an error by the fielder, has stirred
up a righteous indignation among
sport writers the country over.
The fact that Johnson's atten-
ton was not called TO the error Of
the official scorer, IL error il was.
until six months after the actual
play had been made and also. that
the ruling now gives Cobb a hat
ting average Of .4o1 for the season,
makes the case all the more aggre-
waiting.
Johnson's ruling not alone gives
Cobb a hitting average OF .40i. but
greater than that. il gives the
Georgia Peach another record
that of having bstted 400 or better
in Three seasons. No one is be
grudging Cobb any record he might
rfghtfully make. but the majority
of New York scribes are strenuous
ly objecting to johnson having ap-
parently handed Cobb a record on
silver platter.
MATTER OF JUDGMENT.
The matter Of scoring plays, as
they come up. is in the majority Of
instances purely a matter Of judg-
ment accenuated sometimes by the
4 an0la from u-hf1h he valoxr ia xr~fT
messed.
Occasionally an official scorer
when in doubt will turn to his fel-
low scribes for an opinion upon a
play and he is generally guided AT
such times by the opinion Of the
majority.
On the other hand. IL he is thor
oughly Satisfied that the natter
should be credited with a hit he 80
records il, regardless of any dis
senting objections or opinions to the
contrary a brother scribe or scrfbes
may offer. The official scorers de-
cision in such matters has always
been accepted as official and tinal
That is the unwritten law Of the
press box.
And President Ban johnson and
Arthur Irwin. the official Stats
tician OF the American League. have
never before seen fit to question the
compilation OF a game submitted by
an official scorer II they have
there has been no public announce
ment Of it,
WRITER'S DETERMINED.
According to the dispatches ema-
]
chapter Of the Baseball Writers
Association Of America are deter
mined that the matter shall not rest
until a showdown is reached with
President johnson. II would lot be
surprising IL the upshot of the whole
controversy resulted in the Baseball
Writers Association of America re-
\ fusing to allow any member to act
as an official scorer OF any games
played by the American League.
The manner OF compiling the
official averages of the American
League are, to say the least. more
OF a hit-and-miss procedure. The
statement may seem broad. but Il
might be of interest 10 New York
sport writers to know that the
official averages Of the last game
Of the season played in this city
were never forwarded to Statistician
Irwin. yet President johnson saw
fit to release what purports to be the
official figures Of the league.
As Rube Goldberg would say:
Sure, everything is great. hut u
don't mean anything" IL President
johnson keeps scoring games in
New York while he is sitting in his
office in Chicago the next hatch oi
figures he releases will probably he
great. but they won't mean any
thing.