Evening star., 1924-09-17
G Battling to Hold Reguined Lead Judge Picked to Star in
JOHNSON TODAY is AFTER
18TH In ROW FROM TRIBE
Zachary Demonstrates in Downing Indians That He
Needs No TAPPED Fingers to Pitch Effectively
and Bucks Prove They Have Punch.
BY JOHN B. KELLER.

BY JOHN
~LENELAND, September III
land jinx yesterday and vim
the Forest City for the first
only regained the lead in the Amer
made more forlorn the Tigers pen
out of the pennant contention when
the East. suddenly stepped back int
tionals in two OF three contests to
clubs through the home stretch OF
Detroit yesterday afforded no little
The half-game advantage over
held inactive by rain at St Louis. is
must fight furiously to hold their
gained by the Tigers during the Blu
club after losing to the Athletics a
Bucks with only 10 to play. The B
win only half OF them the Tigers
schedule to tie the club now leading
So now it seems the Bucks big job
is to stand off the Yanks and that is
job that will permit no loafing on
the part of the league leaders.
The Bucks. perhaps. are favored a
tritie by the schedule to the finish.
generally regarded as not so difficult
as that of the second-plaCe team, but
too many slips between now and the
end of the campaign are possible to
consider that much of an advantage.
These Indians here still are to be
reckoned with in two more games.
then comes series with the Browns
likely to be warm one. The Sisler
ties persist in believing they can
grab third money in the race ard
Will battle briskly. The Nationals
have much ahead to bother about.
Must Face Good Pitching.
Enthused by their success yesterday
after losing two games in a row the
Bucks were likely to be full of pepper
for the second engagement of the
series this afternoon. They may need
much. too, for either Sherrod Smith.
or George Uhle, was ready to do the
pitching for the Indians and this pair
of moundsmen has harrased the
Harrismen a great deal this year.
But Manager Harris was prepared
to send Walter Johnson, premier
pitcher of the league, against any
hoNman Chief Speaker may select.
Present plans call for the smokebail
King to pitch every fourth day and
Saturday was his last appearance in
action. Should he toll this afternoon
Walter will be shooting for his
twelfth straight win to better the
1924 American League hurting record
he established against the Tigers
last week and to crawl up on this
years National League mark of four
teen in row. now held by DaZZy
Vance of the Dodgers
Aside from the victory. yesterdays
game was particularly pleasing in two
ways. 1t proved that Jez Zachary can
southpaw right well without using a
bit of adhesive tape on one of the
fingers of his pitching hand and that
eight inning batting rally that fin
ished the day for Stanslaus Coveles-
kle, who had been hurling good ball
for the Tribe from the outset indi-
Gated that the Nationals still are able
to stage those explosive batting bees
that have helped them so much this
year. They have been so rare lately
il was feared the teams punch was
about gone.
Zach Doesn't Miss Tape
Following the argument that Ty
Cobb started with Umpire Bill Di-
necn in Detroit Sunday regarding
Zach's use of tape on his pitching
hand, there had been some specula-
tion as to whether the Southpaw
would be effective without the bit of
rough bandage on his fipper. In the
first tilt of the series here. he dem
onstrated he could pitch without the
tape and pitch brilliantly. too.
Zach had no chance to strap his
knuckle yesterday. for after Sun
days argument the umpires of the
Detroit game asked Ban johnson for
a ruling in the case and before yes
terday's game an order forbidding the
use of the tape came to the arbiters,
Manager Harris and Zachary, from
the league president
If Zach missed that tape during the
nine innings he toiled, no one but
himself knew it. He had much on
the ball, his control was good. and
through the first seven innings he
held the sIugging Tribesmen to four
hits. They got four more off him in
the last two innings, but he was
working under a comfortable lead
before they became unduly active.
Zach now insists that he has known
all the while he did not need that bit
of tape on his finger. but never be-
fore had been given a chance to make
his teammates understand that. They
knew he had been protecting his
finger for seasons and believed he
ought to continue doing so. Thus it
turns out that the red-thatched
southpaw had neither mental hazard
nor physical handicap to overcome
a1ter removing the tape, as some Op
posing managers may have thought.
That Rally Was Beaut.
AS to that batting rally, it was the
best the Bucks have staged since that
notable eight-run affair in the last
series with the Yankees. After a
tally yielding first inning, they were
almost helpless before Coveleskie for
six sessions. Two hits were CLEANED
off the spitballer in the opening
frame, then the Bucks were able to
get raps only at inopportune mo-
ments. Covey's tantalizing slow and
slower shoots seemed to have taken
the spirit out of the Harrismen.
But in the eighth the Bucks took
new lease on life. Every one stepped
to the plate with confidence, and as
result old Covey was pounded for