The Birmingham age-herald., 1924-12-24
HEILMAN'BEST
 RIGHT LANDER Southpaw Hitters Are Not As Popular Now
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There is not the craze for left-handed batters nowadays that once possessed managers Indeed general orders to scouts have been for the past two or three seasons to get right-handers, all else being even, and particularly when negotiating for outfielders.
 This despite the fact that the batter who stands on the side of the plate nearest first base has the advantage or a step as we'll as the swing in beating a close play at the bag.
 There are reasons for the southpaw batter losing a measure of the favor Tn which he was held. Chief among them is that the southpaw batter can't-or thinks he can't-hit southpaw pitch ing. And southpaw pitching has been much to the fore in the past few years;
 Therefore a demand for right-handed hitters, who are sort of jacks Of all trades when it comes to hitting.
 Batting averages of the American league for 1924 show that of players taking part in as many as fifty games there was just one more left-handed hitter in the 300 class than there were right-bauded hitters-23 left-handers and p right-handers.
 The greatest right-handed hitter the mast season in the American league, if Stephenson of Cleveland is excepted be- cause he was in only 71 games, was Harry Heilmann of Detroit. Four men who bat from the left side and were in more than 100 games stood ahead of Heilmann in the averages. They were Ruth, Jamieson, Falk and Collins. Thus Heilmann. though he lost the lead in batting in 1924, after winning 1t the previous season, still is not without honor. He still is the champion right handed hitter of the American league and as such can shake hands with Rogers Hornsby, the champion right handed hitter of the world.
 Twice Champion
 Heilmann, twice champion batter of his league above all of them, regard less of which side they swung from, was not always such slugger, however. It was not until they began to use a ball to the liking of sluggers, back in 1919, that Harry even got in the 300 list. He was such a weak hitter his first year up with Detroit that he was chased back to the minors. That first year up was in 1924, when he batted but ,225. Detroit sent him to San Francisco, where in 1915 he mauled the ball to the tune of .364.
 Detroit concluded he must have i'm proved his stance or something, over looking the difference in pitching faced, and called him up again. Xvi dence of the difference between Coast and American league pitching was demonstrated. Heilmann, back in the American, in 1916 could hit but. 2S2. The next year he dropped point to .281, and in the next to .276.
 Then Harry joined in the general orgy of batting and for the past six seasons has been in the 300 list and except for one year way up in 1t, two of those years, as stated, leading the hitters of every persuasion. In 1921 he was the leader with a percentage of .394. He dropped to 1856 in 1922 and in 1923 came to the front again, lead ing the league with percentage of .4O3. In 1924 he dropped to ,346, but he continued to slug and ranked next to Ruth in total bases hit for, specializ- ing in doubles and triples and slam ming out ten homers for good measure.
 Oh, Heilmann is quite a hitter, re gardless of which side he bats from, and that extra step he loses doesn't bother him so much when practically half the hits he gets are for extra bases.