Show YORKERS CONTINUE TO LEAD MAJORS Athletics Are i To All Critics Yanks I Pear Fear I By Dy GIX DWICK CR I CK SpecIAl Correspondent for Stand Stand- 1 Examiner ard-Examiner Copyright 1923 N NEW W YORK June One 2 2 quarter One ot of the tho season of ot the major leagues majorI has now been and there has been ben no positive reat against the tho ascendancy ot 01 the two Vo New York teams There have e been soap bubbles ot of o sensa sensa- tion sensation that Inflated for a moment and ond then collapsed but no club of Manhattan the fourteen located outside Man Man- batten hattan has haa shown enough strength to et met the tho two league and make them therm give Sufficient ground to threaten disaster The completion ot of o one quarter ot of one the th wave finds Philadelphia last In the National league and Boston Doston In the American Therefore each elLch New York team was WILS leading Its crun own league loague both extremes has ha c 0 run Identically true to the form torm the teams showed before the race began be The Tho part played by the 12 teams between the leaders and the tall tail enders ender might have been more In- In In Interesting It If any of ot them had been able ohle to run neck and neck It the leaders for tor a while The first part of the tho race however may serve to point the way to the run run- run The two marked features of ot the progress of ot the middle class 12 In Athletics May were the tho advance of the Ath- Ath Ath American Amerlean to second place In the tho Amer Amr lean ican league and the upward push ot of the to third position In the National What got Brooklyn Into the Irs first divisIon I was as th the addition of or a bus bush leaguer and a veteran infielder and the tho play of ot High at short Emer Erner- Emergency Emergency gency may have forced some lome o 01 this gain upon the manager ot of t the team for tor emergency played a part In partIn securing First Baseman Four Four- Fournier Fournier Four nier conI I nier who ho isso had bad held out on his con con- con con- tract contract and who sho ho was alleged to have broken down dow when the St St LoUIS otheir Nationals N were In the thick or of I their tight right with the Giants in 1922 FournIers FournIer's staunch batting has settled a wa watering nine into a team that has a ne nesy new spirit Another arid and greater advantage ad has been rendered by doing his best He Ho has helped the pitchers mightily There was skill and reputation pItchIng pitch In iii the Brooklin Brookin n pItch pItch- In Ing staff start before it began to as- as as assert sect sert Itself a fortnight ago but thel there e also stolidity of ot the Ion long sen Ice ball bail player who ho is slow to I react to anything except a n man who ho saves base hits hils for him When a team of ot old pitchers nho have the best behind them see a youngster play erst base with a bewildered air they break their backs pitching out and pitch pitch 1 themI Ing In and ultimately pitch them them- solves Into holes because they thy are of ot the support behind them V V LUl tiThE LE LEIn In the Athletic lineup Is Out Out- Outfielder Out fielder Mathews who was with Mi- Mi Missaukee Mil Milwaukee waukee last season and who ho dId not bring the huge bUlo sum paid for other players Yet his value to the Philadelphia club a as It stand toda today Is mor moro mere than o of 0 Cornell Connell Cornellor or Bentley to the Giants or KAmm to the Chicago White Ite Sox Sol for Mathews has bas added to his teams team's ability to make runs The Athletics Ath Mb- have been able to got get men menon menon menon on bases basu and work them around In ways which they found Impossible Impossible sible until success fell tell upon them In 1923 In addition to the aid Mathews has bas rendered the pitchers who are about ready to blossom out burst Into tnt bloom when hen they found a sprightly Infield and outfield be- be behind be behind hind them which could be rated 00 on defense e as against the 90 ot of 1 Miller of the Yank Tank Is i beginning to loo look on the os as possibly more to be bo feared than Detroit He grants freely the tha Im- Im Improvement Improvement Im Improvement provement 1 of the Athletics and speaking as 0 a II man who has bas studied pitchers for years he S says YS It Ii Is the tho of ot the arrival of ot the Ath Ath- Athletics Ath- Ath Athletics Athletics pitchers In a group Rom Rom- Rommell Rom Rom-inell mell may not be so sure eure of his ground as last year but Naylor Is sure and Harris Is but little be- be behind behind be behind hind him the lefthand lefthand- er r can help his hie own game anytime bY a his a at s sc MUST I WORK Brooklyn has won more from the east t than the west and end now that the wet west must be the team must show how better work than ca ut 5 victories against Pittsburg and St Louts Louis to hold Its own The Tho west Is on its eastern way through the American league an 1 If It the Athletics can win more than eight ht games ames from the western estern t team trams ams as they did In their trip to the wt west t they may be som something lhing m more mare re than runn sup by July 4 They may mav maybe be the tho great threat of ot the Amer Amer- Amerlean American ican lean league which position St StLouis StLouis StLouis Louis held In 1922 and which I Clo Cland occupied on In 2921 l |