The Bemidji daily pioneer., 1922-12-04

tOOnQ among Cne s:.oUU MGtefS.
This year, II, ,O41 safe drives fof
assorted sizes were hammered out
81 42,328 times at bat, which is an
average pS q This is aadecline
ofss484 in the number of hits ssas conn
pared With 921 and q decrease in
thu batting average Of about 2s3-l0
points. the grand average last year
being just under .287 IWo-base
hits dropped Jos to 2Q32 three bag
gers from 694 last season ito + 585,
hut home runs increased from ATT
"a s52 "a. W ~ S3.ssi@A'i: siA ~, 81
ST Bonis, making a valiant bid
for the championship, ousted De-
tnoif from its fasorite position as
batting leader. The Browns record
i 1913 as compared; with 3 16 for
the Tigers in 1921, while Boston,
low club this season with 1868, is IL
points below the Athletics mark Of
.274T for last year.
There was q slight increase in4the:
lsesof thessacrifice to advancesrun-
ners, 1882 as compared with 1861
last year but there were IL fewer
bases stolen, the figures being 681
against ss93. Whether the art Of
pilfering the runners way from sack
to sack IS really lost can not be told
for only the fleetest Of players are
allowed to match their speed and
skill against. opposing pitchers and
catchers ard then only occasionally
and under exceptional ;circumstan-
ces. The policy Of playing for
number Of runs in. a single attack
also counts for the further decline
III the use Of the sacrifice, the hit
and run play having superseded both
the stolen base and the sacrifice. j,
THE base on balls has not been so
profoundly affected by the passion
for making long hits and getting
runs III punches as is .the case with
stolen bases and sacrificing: Batters
are still permitted to .'wait 'ena OUT
with the result that five Of the teams
accumulated very respectable totals
duGnR the, season. Cleveland, with
it'll smart veterans worked opposing
huIibrs for. 554 free tickets to first
ibase, L Detroit, had 80, the cham
pidn- ew4-Y ork team 497, Chicago,
484nnd st. Louis, 473 passes.
Exploits Of; home run thitters oc-
cunied the attention Of fans through
ou$s the country and there was much
intsfeSt affst the home run race be-
tween certain Of the leaders Every
team had its home run hero, Kenneth
R.sWilliams, Of the Browns being the
lead with SO, twenty less than the
fmark set BIZ Ruth in 1921. Sc. @W.
.Wklker, of Philadelphia, was second
with .37, while Babe" Ruth, in 11O
gatnes cracked out 81 4ciseuit smash
esd Several other "fly ball hitters"
msde home run records that would ull.dl
hayes swont them nnch attention an
former yeArs.r; n &C. 81 SIS ~ y
TIE leading batter; Of the,year was
Gd6rge III. 3isler, of st. Lofts, while
the. incomparable veteran, sManager
Cobb of;aDetsoit, was Isecond. Cobb
reached a. mark of 400 sforsthe third.
tine, o feat no other player has ever
achieved. Many truly remarkable
performances in batting were record
ed during the season.
The NationalE League Official Bat
ting Rec orA issued today, show that
umerous new records We're estab-
7iisked d,sffng the season, which,
toaetherSwith othersinteresting data,
ard summarized, as follows:
Rogers Hornsby led glorious
trinn1pnfor the right hand batters
by the-wonderful record that he
matis for the National League and
for his own st. Louis team in the
seassn. of 1922.
For the third year in succession
he awas atsthe hea.ifof the leaguesin
batting, with arl average of s.40l:
That PEI santiago iss the highest ut
taihed ,sby amy batter since 1888,
when Ed Dele eilanty3 ..Deh the Migh-
ty,s finished On top in the National
League rcentageszofis. 40s,
1t lis of4interest, to note here that
n Hdrnesby / and p Delehanty were bat
tiers. of much The same type and both
were right hand shitters. Both had
the! same. swing. Both WercTline hit-
tiers. Possibly Delehanty could bat
farthersthan sHonnsbsss2 but not much
farther ut is the second instance
in National League history that a
batter has led the league three years
in succession. Hans Wagner led in
19G6- 0li0B and also inEl909.
HI addition to winning the batting
championship of the league, Hor,lsby
won the home run championship OF
the season and also of the league by
making s42 home runs during the
regular ssehe edulet Of games. The
formber championship in home run
batting in the National League had
been heldisby Williamson Of the Chi
Cages, who >batted 27 home runs in