The Washington times., 1928-06-25
By Babe Ruth

Oy OUbS AS~NA
NEW YORK, June 25.-H
some fellow ever comes along,
smart enough to figure out
sure cure for a batting slump
he'll be worth million dollars
to ball club.
Ever since I've been playing base
ball, I've watched good httters go
into sIumps and, the longer / stick
in the game, the harder those things
are to explain.
Maybe it's because they try too
hard. At any rate, that's the reason
a slump lasts as long as it does
suppose to start the thing, hitter
does some little thing wrong. Maybe
he gets off a bit in his timing; maybe
his swing is faulty. But, whatever
iii is. he doesn't hit. Then he begins
70 worry. The longer he goes the
harder he tries and. instead of stand
ing up there and taking his normal,
/ easy, loose swing at the ball, ne
tfghtens UP and starts to press. Inc
result is ne continues to slump ana
sometimes a fellow will go for a
couple of weeks or a month without
being able to come out of it.
I was I'm a slump all through
the Western trip we just CON-
pIeted. Seemed as though no mat
ter what did l couldn't shake
It. 1t wasn't that the pitchers
were fOOling me. The balls would
come up there to the plate big
as balloons and still ! cOuIdn't
seem to get hold Of them right.
It's discouraging, believe me, even
for a fellow who has been around
the league as long as ! have. AND
it's a lot tougher on young fellows
who are trying to make good. When
you go up there day after day and
thew Just won't fall safe. you begin
to think that a jinx is after you for
sure Many a young fellow has lost
out in the league because of batting
slump-not that the slump in itself
caused him to lose his job, but
simply because he worried so much
over his hitting that his fielding
went bad, too.
There's another place where Mil
Ter Higgins is a mighty smart man
ager. Hug won't take man out
of the lineup because he's slump
ing-particularly a young Fellow
He doesn't raZz them either. Just
encourages them and pats them on
the back and lets them know that
Athey don't need to worry.
I've seen him lose a ball game
ather than take a kid out who was
a batting slump. Better lose
IL ball game than ruin a good bal
oyer" Hug says. If l take that
out now and put a hitter in
him, he begins to think that
We lost confidence-and there's
nothing will ruin bali player so
quickly as feeling that his man.
ager and his teammates have lost
confidence in him."
That's a pretty sound philO.
sOphy / figure. And it certainly
has worked out well with the
Yankee ball club. After all q
fellow can play q lot better ball
II he goes into the game. 1lgur'
ing that the other fellows on the
club have faith that he can de-
liver.
Now with each club having made
the circuit of the league and the
season approaching the half way
mark, it's more or less easy to size
np the race. AS | see it the
Athletics will continue to be the
only challenging club to the Yankees
and / figure they'll be tough
right to the finish. This kid Foxx
has gone a long way toward making
the AS of real championship caliber
and there isn't man on the
Yankee club that figures Wen
breeze in.
The most surprising club OF the
league continues to be the st. Louis
Browns. l wouldn't be surprised to
see the Browns finish in the first
division this season and If they do
it'll be a fine example Of what
hustle and fighting spirit will do
for a ball club. They're tough be-
cause they fight every minute. They
win because they refuse to be
whipped-and in my humble opinion
that's about the best thing that
can be said of any ball club.
A lot OF clubs in the league
would be a lot better off in the per.
centage tables if they had a little
of the same spirit. Believe me the
old fight will cover up a lot of
weaknesses in any club-and the
Browns are living proof of it.
Copyright 1928. by the Christy
Walsh Syndicate)