The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1930-12-06
TALKING
IT OVER
. BY JOE WILLIAMS

NEW YORK, Dec. b.-Ine cheap
IN est commodity In baseball to-
day is the home run. Consider how
what was once the most spectacular
offensive feat in the game has been
burIesdued. About seventeen years
ago a reformed meat butcher from
Trappe. Md. became known as the
home run king Of baseball. To earn
this distinction he hit thirteen home
runs in one season. His name was
J. Franklin Baker and he played
third base for the Philadelphia
Athletics.
decade later George Herman Erhardt
Ruth smashed bis way to fame by hitting
tusntv-nine home rms In single SEASON
Nv morn than doubling the rseord OF the
aforementioned butcher, this husky left
handler from the back streets Of Balti-
more. in the same state. became looked
upon as the superuan Of batting.
have lust finished bouncing pair Of
sres OF TIE tro leagues 10! the pass ses.
son. IN the American Leaeue tne nRuI "a
chow that i've 6dWsF9 NchNN
9th -eeord-Rntr tta,. Gehrig ~. Fox
ra7, ctosIin (37l and simmons 1857 Thee
others hit twenty or bttter. IN ,ned IN an
len lena b,gl1sr po'nt Five b.tsys sos-ert
shove tie old Ruth -ecnrd-W'lsn. 90 !;
rcIein 40 Bergsr f3s! Hartnett 81 M "a
Herman 1887. In ADDITION SIX othets NV
twenty or more
rh,. shows rather concIusiveIy what a
roockery the grand slam OF baseball mas
hacoue What made the homo run
scalp fitting performance In the beginning
va. ths rarity Of It's appearance No" tna'
ordinary batters nudge the ball out OF the
mark with a half swing It carries less ap-
neal than \ deftIv placed bunt. which the
batter beats out to first.
ror the first time since he became tns
hig bertha OF ba seball. Ruth failed 70 lesc
TIE home run hitters this year Nllson OF
Chicago outdistanced nm Da IsFS Save N oc
81 stoned much excitement. oeInroneo
king and a new monarch Inc elenlersS
Ave there for smashing routine yarn
nut nobody seemed 10 care that Ruth hau
dronped behird and Wilson had come on
- supplant him. inir T Rss a1 Wbat Of it, u'
n
PTNHE pitching averages also pre-
sent much enlightening ma
terial. Everybody who saw the last
world series came away agreed that
George Earnshaw is the greatest
riehthander in baseball. Practically
singlehanded he pitched the Ath-
letics into the championship over
the st. Louis Cardinals.
Even members of the defeated team sd-
nrjtted they bad never faced a greater
rjrhthander than the swarthmore cole
risu. Old timers grew bysterical over
his achievements and compared him with
Mathewsou. Plank. Coombs and Bender
n
NATURALLY YOU would expect to ind the
greatest righthapder in baseball pretty
close to the top in the pitching v asers re
figures show he ranks mediocre thirty
first
Listed ahead Of him such pitching
immortaIs as Rip Collins. Pete Jablonow-
ski. Bob Burke, Whitlow Wyatt and Vic
tor Sorreu. TO name a few oetter-tnan-
Earnshav, at random.
q
TIME American League does not
4 rank by the games won and
lost system. It's ranking is done on
the basis of the number of earned
runs allowed in a nine-inning game.
Thus a pitcher could win fifty games
and still finish quite low in the
rankings.
Some baseball men maintain this is the
only accurate gauge Of a pitchers ability
And in many instances it probably Is. But
a number Of great pitchers rate their pace
accordingly; IL they are forced to bear
down all the way they do. otherwise they
do not.
This is particularly true Of veterans who
get as much comfort out OF winning BY
to 6 as l to o. MathewSon is still
looked upon as the greatest pitcher Of all
time. Low score victories meant little 70
him except when he needed them: He rated
his pace to meet the demands of the mo-
ment IN the earned runs figures. Big
Six would not have led the pitchers OF his
time yerv often. il at all.