New-York tribune., 1922-10-09
By Grantland Rice
Continued from paue one)

tive average Of .309. one of the highest
season Championship @ an u And IN the p1s.s onee
slugging Yankees, facing Nehf. Ryan,
Barnes, Scott and McQuillan, gathered
unto their throbbing bosoms the lean
total Of .203. In the midst of the de-
bacle Babe Ruth finished one. of the
most demolished idols who ever fell
over the precipice to the waiting rocks
below
This has been a tough epoch for
kings, but not even those harassed
crowned heads Of Europe ever ran into
monarch of the mace fell heir to-. The
holder Of all home run records in
1920 and 1921 stalked to the plate ex-
actly twenty-one times from Wednes-
day to Sunday afternoon. From these
twenty-one attempts he hit the ball
out of the infield just three times, one
single, one double and one outfield fly.
He was walked only twice, and during
the remainder of the engagement he
spent most of his afternoons tapping
dinky blows to pitcher or first. In his
last twelve times at bat the once
mighty Bambino from Blooieland, with
the lone exception OF an outfeld fly,
failed to hit the ball hard enough to
dent the cuticle of custard pie.
He finished the championship en-
gagement with the classic mark of
.118, the most completely subdued and
overpowered star that ever had cor
onet hammered from a clamn1y brow.
The violent detection Of the Babe was
no small part of the Yankee overthrow.
Most Of the games were close enough,
and if Ruth had been hitting the size
Of his collar the series still would be
under way.
Ruth Tried Too Hard
When a battery commander opens
fire on hostile trenches and suddenly
finds his main gun isn't even pro-
are likely to be fraught with some
thing approaching CONSERVATION. 1t
was no matter now of Ruth not hitting
home runs. The big break came when
he failed to hit at all; when, on trip
after trip at big moments, he grounded
out to pitcher or to first, in the deadly
thrces of the worst slump that ever
haunted his vast system. Keen and
cunning pitching did it's part, but not
even the craftiest box work was sup
posed to crush leading figure in the
land of swat SO utterly. Ruth did his
best, but near the finish he was work
iitS wv AaAo, oVSt-edSeT III MS vain
effort to crawl from under the debris
that was about to Smother him to
death. The harder he tried the worse
he looked, which in this gay and giddy
competitive whirl is often the way.
His balance, both mental and physical,
had been overturned, and SO he
f1oundered out of the frame, once more
just ball player out there trying for
the lowly single-for anything beyond
infeld reach.
The Yankees opened the final battle
as II they meant to win one game at
least. Dugan's single, Ruth's sacrifice
and Plpp.s hit scored run in a iiffy
off Art Nehf. But this run failed to
stand up for many moments. In the
Giants half of the second. Meusel sin
gled, Young walked and Kelly sacrificed
both along. Cunningham then ripped
off single to center that brought
two runs over and left the Yankees
once more gasping for fresh air The
Yanks in the fifth had another great
chance to crowd big rally over Nehf's
form But once again the brilliant,
! brainy Giant defense broke up their
attack.
Ball Didn't Touch Scott
With one out, Ward walked and
Scott singled. Joe Bush then raped a
low line drive to right center that
sounded like an exploding she'll. It
was precisely at this spot that the
rare skill and genius of the Giant de-
Tense once more came into play. On
the drive from Bush, Ross Young cut
across from right on a great uIay.
Intercepted the ball and whipped It to
Frank Frisch, backing up. Frisch.
Knowing that Scott on his way to
third would almost surely round the
bag and stand ready for the chance
70 score, whipped the ball straight
and true to Groh. The ball got To-
Groh's glove az almost the exact in
stant Of scott's turning third, and