Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1922-08-26
RUTH NEARS TOP WITH
-FOUR HOMERS IN WEEK
Bambino's Performances With
Bat Fulfilling His Prophesies
Made Early in Season.

BY Associated Press TO Every Evening.
Chicago, Aug. 26.-Way back when
his home run total was expressed In
single figure--and when suspen-
sions. fines and bleacher hootings
were more of daily occurrence than
a four-base hlt--Babe Ruth said the
1922 season would end with him tho
champion home run hitter OF the
major leagues.
IT. those days, back in May, Babe
and Mrs. Ruth seemed to be about
the only people in the United States
confident of Ruth's comeback. Today,
Ruth's challenge 10 Ken Williams, or
81. Louis, wr5se home run hitting at
the start OF the season was sem
saticn. and lilly Walker, OF the Att-
letics, has begun TO sound like the
real thing.
Ruth, with the close OF the season a
| little more than n month away. has
| 26 homers to his credit. Williams. 80.
and Walker, 81. The Bambino smash
ell out four this week, while the best
Williams could do was a pair. Walk
er, however, connected with three.
Ruth IL he continues his present pace
will make good his prediction In the
! Judgment OF baseball critics.
| The race in the American League
| for batting honors continues to be a
merry one with tho veterans battling
10 overcome George Si.ler. OF ST. Lou
| is, who Is showing the way with an
! average OF .4lS, Ty Cobb. pilot of
the Tigers. is trailing Sisler with 400.
and iris Speaker. leader OF tho In
dians, Is next with $40. The re-
msrkable slugging OF Harry He'll
mann. OF Detroit. the past week. has
placed him among the first four with
an average OF .353. The averages In
clude Wednesdays contests.
Hauser, Connie Mack's first sscker
although ne has played in only "a
games. made wonderful showing
during the past week. From a posi-
tion down about twentieth in the list
Hauser boosted his average from 1921
10 .351 by making IT hits in eight
games.
Sisler added three more bases &c
his string OF thefts. and continues tc
set the pace for the base stealers
with 40.
Other leading batters participating
IN 80 games or more: Tobin, st. Lou
is. 1886; Williams, St. Louis. 1896
Schang, New York, .333: Galloway
Philadelphia. $50; Blue, Detroit. 800
Basler. Detroit. .329.
Smashing out 13 hits in his las
five games. Rogers Hornsby. the 81
Louis star, succeeded IN widening I,
l9 points the gap that separates hin
-. ~sx L.. II, kn .t.l 90
the batting honors of the Nationa
League, as compared to II points
week ago.
Hornsby Is batting 1882. while Big
bee, OF Plttsburg. his closest rival, i
hitting 1868; Grimes, of Chicago,
: just a point behind Bigbee. Hqrnsb
Q has bagged 80 homers. with William,
q OF Philadelphia, as his closest com
petitor with 19.
Hack" Miller, OF Chicago, who ha
shown a liking for left-hand pitch
e ing. batted his way into fifth place /
:. the list Of leaders by connectin
safely eight times. in his last fou
games. Miller's performance, wit
the exception of Hornsby, was tn
outstanding feature of the week
: Max Carey of Pittsburg, continue
to head the league in base stealth
e with a total OF 36.
y Other leading batters for 80 or MOI
g games: Hollocher. Chicago, .354; Mi
i Ter. Chicago. .354; Carey. Pit.sbur
e $50: Kelly, New York. .344; Dauber
a Cincinnati, .34l; Walker, Philadelphi
: 340; Johnston, Brooklyn. 1887; Ban
e croft, New York, 1897.