The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1937-04-09
Records Show
Pole Second
ToGehriig
BY FRANK BUCK" O'NEML

N44G1 = = GA1NN$NSSAt SN4AA4sS SAHAAS
8.-If the bat Of AL Simmons, ex-
cept for q single season among
the mightiest in baseball history,
can thunder its barrageS Of base
hits over American League ter
rain, he may boost the Griffmen
into the upper brackets Of the
1887 race. Admittedly in better
condition than he has been in
four or five years, and urged by
a consuming desire to beat the
Detroit Tigers in the scramble for
world series money, Simmons pre-
diets one Of his greatest seasons.
The Pole ranks second to Lou
Gehrig in the matter of driving
in runs. He is one of the few
players in the majors today who
has batted in more than 1900
runs during his career. He is one
of an ultra-distinguished coterie
that boasts an average Of better
than 100 runs per season for his
major league career. He hiss a
better average, for instance than
Jimmy Foxx, of the Athletics, and
the mighty Rogers HornSby.
Simmons has batted in approx
mately 100 runs per year. There
is a fraction in his favor, but that
figure will suffice. This covers
his 13-year span in the majors.
His total is 1,570 runs driven
home. AIS best years were in
1929 and 1880 when he drove in
1877 and 1865 runs respectively.
Gehrig Greatest
Lou Gehrig of the New York
Yankees is the greatest run predu-
Ger Of the majors. His average
for IA years, including a few
games when he first Joined the
Yanks, is 1872 runs with a plus
fraction in his favor. He has
driven in LIT runs, and only
once in that meteoric career has
he fallen below the century mark
in run production. He holds the
American League record of 1874
runs per season.
Jimmy Foxx Of the Athletics,
for all of his home run hitting,
trails Simmons in his average for
IL major league years. Foxx has
averaged 101 runs with a plus frac-
ton in his favor. In IL years he
has produced 1,2l7 runs per
annum.
In eight major league years
Earl Averill, with a life time bat
ting average of, 1926 has produced
112 runs per season on an aver
age, but the Forest City home run
hitter, aided by that short right
field wall in Cleveland, failed TO
clear the century mark in 1888
and 1885, when admittedly he
was better than a green. hand.
Bill Dickey is regarded by fans,
and rightly so, rs one of the most
dangerous hitterS in baseball. But
for all of a 1921 average in nine
years, Dickey has averaged ap'
proximately 70 runs to the season,
and only once did he pass the 100
run mark.
More Than HOrnSby
Simmons has produced in Is
years, more runs than the mighty
Rogers Hornshy produced in the
Texans 16 active seasons in the
National League, and is only one
run short of HornSby'S mark tor
the latter'S 20 complete seasons.
The veteran Goose GoSlin, whom
the Tigers retained in preference
to Simmons, has a life time bat"
ting average of .319 and has pro-
duced on an average of 80 runs per
year with a favoring fraction IN
his favor. Goslin in 16 years has
driven in 1866 runs as compared
to that impressive 1870 for Sim
mons in Is complete years.
The list might be extended to IN
clude such stars with the willow
as Charley Gehringer, a candidate
for hall of fame honors when his
great career is done. Gehringer's
life time average for driving In
runs shows a fraction more than
10 tallies per year, and Joe Cronin
has averaged "a plus runs per
season. 80.
The cold figures Of the, book
show the potential worth Of Sim.
mons to the GriffS. He is not yet
"a, and Babe Ruth at that age
was hammering out his hits, and
driving in game-winning runs for
the Yankees. The pitchers were
still walking him.
If Simmons can hit to his aver.
age this season, the purchase price
gladly paid by Clark Griffith will
be a mere pitance in comparison
with the drawing power of the
Washington team at the gate.
The race is a wide-open affair
this year, and the longer Charley
Ruffing holds out on the Yankees,
the more he will add to the uncer.
tainty Of 1875 flag battle.