Show t Speaking of 0 Sports Snorts s J Show Oldsters y Kings of Swat By ROBERT McSHANE l WHETHER HETHER or not present-day present batting averages mean as much as they did In the good old days of at baseball Is a question that can be argued endlessly f r The lively ball and more marc stringent stringent gent rules regulating trick pitching deliveries are arc two factors entering into any discussion of relative batting batting batting bat bat- ting prowess A comparison of records established established established prior to the Introduction of the thc rabbit ball with present-day present records records records rec rec- leads one to believe that toda today's today's to to- da days day's s averages are made the easy way Home Run Baker earned his name back in 1913 and made it a word by-word by hammering out 12 home runs for the Philadelphia Athletics That same year the eight teams of r the th r American Amprim league leHUe scored the amazing total of home runs Philadelphia accounted for tor 33 of the total New York trailed with eight Last year Hank Greenberg playing playing play play- ing with Detroit scored 58 home runs and the American league teams produced a total of circuit circuit cir circuit cir cir- clouts The Yanks alone tallied tal 1 lied and Chicago trailed with 07 67 Cause and Result This huge discrepancy Is not due to the presence of more sluggers In today's game The to one home run ration is the result of or a ball constructed for Cor distance hit lilt tinge ting When WIlen the ball was vas introduced some 18 years ago it was in hi answer an nn- ver s to the publics public's demand for more home runs In those days das Babe Ruth was as clouting out four- four base hits lilts and the public loved it 1 i. i i old v v of HANK DANK GREENBERG I Officials saw the handwriting handwriting- on the wall and proceeded to satisfy the demand b by introducing the lively or j J rabbit rabb t ball Introducing the rabbit ball meant merely changing its core using a finer grade of yarn more tightly wrapped and a thinner cover more tightly sewed ved on Resiliency is produced produced pro pro- in th the ball by wrapping the yarn and thick cover more tightly A ball is made slower by the reverse reverse re re- re- re verse process A smaller core anc and coarser yarn less tightly wrapped would be used The cover would be bc thicker and not as tightly sewn Raised scams seams would make the ball still slower Regardless of which type ball Is I used there will be objections The rabbit ball is a boon to batters and anda a handicap to pitchers the slow ball aids the pitchers and handicaps handicaps handi handi- caps t the e patter batter The lively ball has been blamed as the cause of the thea a recent epidemic of s sore rc pitching arms George one of baseballs baseball's greatest greatest- players batted against the dead ball for tor five years and against the lively one f in i his last three years His five year batting average against the dead ball was In that same period his highest season average was and his largest total total to to- tal of hits was Hits in 1922 His year three average against the lively vely ball was his largest number of hits was a record made with St. St Louis in 1922 That same year he hit a record tied by Ty Cobb in m 1911 Cobb Ruth and others who batted batted batted bat bat- ted against both balls said that the rabbit ball traveled 50 to 60 feet farther tarther than the dead one What would some of history's famous fa sluggers have done had they been batting against the present ball Its It's an interesting question but one that will never be answered Chances are those records would have been phenomenal phenomena especially in view of their averages made swingIng swing swing- Ing against the dead ball I c i There has been and will continue to be talk of slowing down the base base- ball It may be that some slight change will come to pass such as using a slightly thicker cover buthe but bu the change will be negligible Majar Major Ma Ma- jor jar h league ague owners know the public likes long hits and plenty of them and will see to It that those hits are arc supplied in abundance A change at the present time t might be fatal tatal Customers arent aren't exactly jamming lamming the turnstiles inmost in inmost most grandstands and a slowing up of the thc game might occasion still stil deeper Inroads into club treasuries An increased attendance of more than In 1937 one 1937 one of th the heaviest hitting seasons in hi history- history f is proof of the fans' fans fondness Ifor fo for range long sluggers |