The Washington times., 1931-06-06
PLAYERS GOT
KICK OUT
OFSWAT
By BABE RUTH


times a ball player gets as much
of a kick out of somebody else's
home run as he gets from one
he hits himself. And I had an
experience of this kind just a
few days ago in Washington.
Tony Lazzeri leaned on a ball
that Sam Jones pitched to him
and planted it up in the left
field bleacherS. sure did en-
joy that home run.
There goes your old slump,
Tony" I said to him when he
walked back to the bench. And
all the other fellows in our dug
out Joined in congratulating Laz-
zeri. 1t meant more to him
than just one more home run
and it meant lot to all of us
to see Tony hitting again.
SIumps Odd Things
These batting slumps are 49,
culiar things. You never know
when one will hit you and you
never know how long it is likely
to stick around and annoy you.
Tony had been having a tough
time this spring and it finally
got so bad that he was benched.
It was his first experience Of
sitting there in the dugout and
watching ball games since he
came to the Yanks in the train
ing season Of 1926.
We were all pulling for Tony
to shake off the slump. That
is common thing among ball
players to Sympathize with q
fellow when the hits are not
coming as they should.
We all know just how good or
bad a hitter any player figures to
be, and we usually find that in
the days of a slump the player is
losing a lot of hits because his
hardest smacks go straight to
some fielder. Lazzeri had always
been a 300 hitter or better since
his first year IN the big leagues
and here he was way down around
.23O.
CIOut Brings Smile
Ordinarily ball player can
look at home run without get
ting excited about it as fan does.
OF course we all like to see one
when somebody on our team hits
it, though we are not so enthuSi-
aStic when one is hit over our
own heads and into the stands.
But this one of Tony's brought a
smile or a whoop of joy from
everybody on our bench.
81 rode right into the
bleachers with that one" Herb
PennOck told me In the club
house after the game. And that
was the way we all felt about
it.
"My first Of the year" Lazzeri
remarked, "and had COM
menced to think 1 was never
going to hit another home rum"
It's an odd thing, too, the way
fellow can fall off on those
long hits. Lazzeri is a powerful
hitter. one of the best in the game.
Few players who hit right handed
can drive a ball into right field
the way have seen him hit 'em.
In other years homer by Lazzeri
was taken as a matter Of course
and here he was almost up to
June without getting one.
I remember how Bob MeuSel
used to hit the homerS. One sea.
son he was the league leader with
33 homerS and he hit only .292 or
something around .290. There
were other seasons when he got
very few. A fellow seems to be
swinging the same way. but some
thing happens There were years
when Meusel had a higher bat
ting average than he did when he
got all the home runs. He was
hitting more consistently, but not
so far.
Was Tonic for Tony
I think one Of those hits such
as Tony made is real tonic for a
player in a slump. Bill Dickey had
been in quite a slump earlier in the
year and he hoped out Of it In q
still stronger fashion. He got
eight hits in is as many times at
bat, with two walks between the
first and second hits. All were
singles, but they sent him up the
ladder from down near the .220
mark until it was an easy matter
to mix with the 800 hitters.
/ remember a hitting slump I
had in 1928 just before we won
our last pennant. 1 couldn't hit
anything safe for a while. Out
in st. Louis in September on
our last Western trip I had an
awful time. / thought / never
would hit one safe.
But less than a month later we
were back at Sportsman's Park.
playing, a world series, and by
that time the slump had left me.
That's the way a slump affects
a player. We all know how a
player feels when he can't shake