The Washington times., 1930-04-14
RACE
Fl)RESE[N
BY BABE:
By BABE RUTH

{ By BABE RUTH
NEW YORK, April l4.-To me
1t looks like q great baseball sea-
son. Naturally interest in any
town depends pretty much On the
strength ofiths local team. The
team that is IA last place naturally
doesn't draw the crowds or the in
tereSt Of the cam that is fighting
for the pernart. Consequently
when Ispredict greater baseball in
terest this year, what ! really mean
Is that the race will be closer than
last year, and particularly in our
own league.
In doping q baseball race
there are always two things
to consider. One is pitching
or defensive strength, and the
other is hitting or offensive
strength. In the American
League I figure there are four
clubs that will have particu-
larry fine pitching strength.
These are the Athletics, the
White SOx, the Browns and
the Cleveland Indians.
The Detroit Tiger5 on the other
hand have plenty Of power. but
seem to be lacking in real pitch
ing. The Yankees, like the Tigers,
have plenty Of punch-but our
pitching Is problen1atical. Give
the Tigers the Athletic pitching
strength, for instance, and they
would spreadeagle the league be-
fore July 4 for a runaway race.
But, on the other hand, give the
Athletics or the White Sox the
same punch that the Tigers have
and they in turn would run away
with the pennant.
The ideal team, of course, is the
one that combines both offense
and defense in equal measure
but such teams are very rare, I've
been in baseball a good many
years and I've seen the good ones
come and go, but there's only one
team in all that time that /
thought was anywhere near per-
feet. That was the Yankees OF
1927. There was team that had
everything, it takes to make great
ness--and 1t probably will be a
good many years before another
one comes along like 1t.
AS look the situation over this
spring, I'm convinced that much
will depend on the young fellows
brought along this year. There
isn't a team in the league that
does not need reinforcement some
where-and the success or failure
of the club is likely to depend q
lot on the caliber of the new men
who come up to fill the vacancies.
And you can't tell much about
young players until you've seen
them under the fire of big league
competition. A lot of kids who
look great in the spring burn out
by May, and some of the fellows
you didn't give a second glance to
earliEr begin to find themselves
once the season starts.
Aside from the Cubs and
the Athletics there are no big
league clubs that can even
think Of standing pat. And
even the Cubs anu AS are not
without weaknesses that need
mending. The AS, for in
stance, will never be really
great with their present i'm
field and the Cubs need catch
. ing and infieId strength.
So far as our league Is con-
cerned the whole race centerS on
the Athletic pitching. If Connie
Mack can get the same pitching
this year that he got last season,
then the. AS will win. II he
doesn't the club hasn't got the
all-arou1d strength to carry it
through and the gate will be open
TO whatever club can best step
in. In case the AS crack think
the Yankees, Detroit and Cleve.
land have the best chances with
the White Sox as the league dark
horse. All Of them are "if" clubs.
with the Yankees it's IF Hoyt
rerains his form and Cooke and
Chapman come. through" With
the Tigers it's IF Hogsitt delivers
and some Of the other pitchers
like Whitehill, Sorrell and Carroll
find themselves" With Cleveland
it's "If Fonseca had another great
wear and last years Sluggers con-
tinue to hit UP to FORM"
Just another eff" season. But a
close race anu a merry one.
hope we will be able to win. If we
don't I'll take off my hat to the
club that beats us. Anyhow it
looks like a great year. Let's go.
Lc.......I.ht iaan hu Tia Chri.t..