Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-08-26
LARGE LOT GIVES
F|ELDERS CHANCE
Cincinnati Total Is Meager
Compared to That of
New York Giants.
BY GEORGE CHADWICK.

n YEW YORK. August 26.-Just
~ what's wrong with the home
run industry, recently enjoying
4 boom proportions, might be
discerned by a close study OF
what Is happening to Cincinnati
For 18 years the Reds have been bat
ting hard for a scrawny half-portion OF
the normal average OF home runs. Be-
tween 1911 and 1929. inclusive, the
total output of circuit clouts for this
club has been 476.
Yet from the time Babe Ruth joined
the Yanks in 1920. until the end OF the
1928 season New York had made 1,068
home runs. It took the Reds ID years
to do half as much as the Yanks did
in half the time.
OF course, the moment any figure
digger starts to monkey with the home
run buzzsaw facts can be dug up by the
yard. But the Cincinnati fans think
they have been cheated in this matter
of enjoying -baggers. It is not
enough that they're kept out Of a PEN
nant. they can't even get fair deal
on homerS.
Ideal Base Ball Park.
Here it Is interesting to note that
Cincinnati has one of the few ideal
base ball parks. This means that it is
possible 10 play ucep lelC anu iiSAl
field without reclining against con-
crete wall.
When a batter knocks it over the
fence in Cincinnati it is not fly hit
that a good right or left fielder could
Jog under If he had the room.
The roll call for home runs In Gin
cipnati is as follows:
In 1911 the lineup was 81, but
dropped to 10 in 1912, and then ran up
to 81 in 1918. Here 1t is but fair to
enter notation. St. Louis had only Is
runs that year. The st. Louis team
played on a field as large as that of
to poke the ball.
The next year the Reds had Is homers
and in 1915 they had Is. Brooklyn
made ii that year. In 1916 Cincinnati
made ii circuit clouts, but in 1917,
when they were giving the other teams
more Of a run, they batted 26.
Fifteen in Short Season.
It was a curtailed season in 1918, but
Cincinnati made IS homers in 129
games. The next year only lao games
were played, and the Reds batted 10
and won pennant. In 1920 they came
through with Is, while Pittsburgh was
putting but Is. That was the last
year Of spit-ball pitching. The dirty
OlQ LIlChS llldI IIdu pCcll tCSUl Jcu W III
order that batters might be fooled were
abolished.
Under the new pitching code Cincin-
natl hit out 20 homers in 1921, but st.
Louis had jumped to 83, with Hornsby
and one thing and another. The next
year the Reds began to loosen up, as
spit-ball days were banished. They
made As that year, and such smuggling
never had been heard of before in the
hollow. Philadelphia batted Ill that
year: In 1923 the Reds made IS again.
in 1924 they made So, in 1925 it was
A. in 1926 down to IS. That year
Boston'S Nationals made only 16 homers.
At Bottom Of League.
BY 1927 the Reds were at the bottom
Of the league, with only 20. The Yanks
hit out 158 that season. Last year the,
Reds knocked only 80, while the Giants
came through with 119.
The fans Of Cincinnati scorn the
home-run habit of other clubs in both
leagues.
Come to Cincinnati and see a ball
game played on an honest-to- goodness
tield," they urge.
They're right. Cincinnati has one
Of the finest diamonds, and has been
able to hit only 473 home runs in Is
years, while Ruth in New York City
he began on the Polo Grounds and says
he likes 1t better than the Yankee
Stadiun1-has assisted in the develop
nent of ! ,068 homers.
Those who maintain that the field
has nothing to do with home runs can
study these figures and perhaps gather
o pearl of wisdom.