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Show j THE ash-swinging mix-up In the American League among such riflemen as Ted Williams, Hank Greenberg. Charlie Keller and Joe DiMaggio has been smsj in. ire hei'tir than it fw be. Jk the Red Sox blast-jHK blast-jHK 7 " or. was the man to jp, , beat back in mld- L April, and he Is Mr still the one to beat VjT through the lent; . - August and Septem- j ber march ahead Ted Williams 0nlv Wakefleld has fallen behind ! schedule among the big hitters. ) The others have picked up Just about where they left off and the scramble still will be keen along 1 I most of the remaining route. There is little chance now that anyone will j come close to overtaking Babe Ruth's high mark of 60 homers, or the two big years that Jimmy Foxx and Hank Greenberg had In the : past but it will take around 45 homers to lead the two circuits, and the four present leaders all have a shot at this target. While Joe DiMagglo's general average av-erage has been well below other years his lifetime mark is around .337 the Yankee outfielder outfield-er ha.sn't lost his grip on the home-run home-run bat. His long-distance range remains. It has remained for Charlie Keller to Improve In both departments the Maryland Maul- er has moved Into his biggest sea-! sea-! soil and so far he shows no signs of slipping back. While Yankee hitting generally I has been below the expected aver-l aver-l age up to this July date, Its home-run home-run count has been healthy enough. In the way of long distance blows. Keller, DiMaggio, Henrich, Gordon, Llndell and others have managed to ! hold their own or do Just a shade better. The American League still I has the margin in power. the National Johnny Mize of the Giants Is still the top home-run hitter in the older old-er circuit. National League supporters support-ers will tell you that National League hitters have to face smarter smart-er and better pitching. This may be true but we doubt it. We can't quite visualize better National 1 League pitching than Feller, New- houser, Chandler, Hughson, Ferriss and a few more have been offering. For the past 25 years the Amer-I Amer-I lean League has adopted the old Babe Ruth slogan not to "hit 'em where they ain't" but to hit I 'em where they can't get at 'em. In the way of a home run market, It Is almost a certainty that the American Amer-ican will have the four top men. Baseball again has proved, as i boxing proved In the case of Joe ! Louis, that the punch Is the last thing to leave the athlete's system. Hank Greenberg certainly has proved it to a marked degree. Hank U no elastic cat around first base the old legs are not what the young i legs used to be. They never are. But the Tiger slugger has proved j that he can keep on getting his I home runs, whatever else may have happened through the enervating j process of added years and a long I war layoff. j Your Money s Worth From which sport does one get the best return for the money he I invests as a spectator? We offered this query to a rather large group ' of sports-loving fanatics who follow the fortunes of many games. We began be-gan to figure out the cost, plus the excitement, the thrill and the satisfaction sat-isfaction derived. It broke down i something like this: 1. For a World Series game, the cost lor a reserved seat is $5.50. The cost of a seat for a series of three games is $16.50. 2. For an Army-Notre Dame or an Army-Navy football game the top seat cost is $4.40. The price is no higher for a Michigan Michi-gan - Ohio State or a Pennsylvania Pennsyl-vania - Army contest for any football contest. 3. For an Open Golf contest the cost Is $2.50. 4. For an International Polo match the cost tag la around $5. 5. No championship or high-ranking high-ranking basketball game costs more than $3 or $4 for a seat. 6. Ton can see a national ten- I nis championship match for no more than $5 if that much. 7. For a day at the Olympic games you could get a good seat for $3. 8. Yon can get one of the best seats at the Kentucky Derby, the Preakness or the Belmont lor prices that range from $5 to $10. It was here the argument warmed i up, all on one side. Then why Should a boxing match range i from $16.50 to $100, when on a general gen-eral average the contestants Involved are far below the average skill of baseball, football and other ; stars, including golf? I One answer might be that the public is willing to pay. It is, of course, all up to the sporting public. ! It still can be said that no law exists ' which forces anyone to pay far ; more than a show is worth and the public is the only agent that can handle the situation. |