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Show LHiiiimmiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiit--I By ROBERT McSHANE talcod by Wttr rkipo,if UfOM Milium. ii iiiiiiiiimiiiiiimiiiiii ii hi. 'pllOUGll the urtillerymen of both major leagues are managing to hammer out their share of home runs, there Is no hitter today who will even come close to Babe Ruth's all-time record. The Babe, who clouted out the almost al-most unbelievable total of 714 home runs during his ca-t ca-t , reer, never will be I VSC,J forgotten. Not only LvN. S was he a brilliant sr?1 ball player. He was r1 .,v : J more than that. He K v, ' w Wiis the saviour of .,. , the national pas-if'' pas-if'' i time just when it F ' appeared about to . y ' collapse, in public : fp: 'avor. k - Baseball' durk- Bube Kuth est nour was baik In lP-'O. The game had been Jolted by the "Black Sox" scandal, in which six members of the Chicago White Sox "sold out" the 1919 World Series. A pitched i ball had just killed Kay Chapman, I Cleveland shortstop. All In all, confidence con-fidence in the game was shattered. Then, along came Ruth, a strapping strap-ping lad with a superabundance of color and the rest of the qualities necessary to a crowd pleaser. He hit the colossal total of 54 home runs in 1920 and helped the fans to forget1 the bad news of the previous year. Record Gatherer Before his big league career ended, end-ed, the Babe held, in all. 76 major league records. He had batted in 2.209 runs, scored 60 home runs in one year, and batted on an average of .312 for the 22 years. It's far from startling to declare that the Babe's home run record is an unhittable tar-get tar-get The two play- ar "" ers out in front are b . Jimmy Foxx of the ('v"r?"?"v I Red Sox and Mel fj Ott of the Giants, :, ";- , Foxx opened the S, " 'S t 1941 show with 500 Y' ' k F home runs listed in j -x -ir I the record book, L'f just six more than .s Lou Gehrig had x . when tragedy over- - - - ' - -took him. Ott start- jimmy Foxx ed the 1941 campaign cam-paign with 333 homers a far cry from the Ruthian record. Neither of the men are youngsters, young-sters, and neither have designs on the Bambino's total. Illness drove Gehrig from the game when he was only 35 years old. Except for that misfortune, Lou likely would have been near or past the 600 mark by now. Ruined Chance Hank Greenberg had a good chance to run second. Through 1940 he had gathered in 247 home runs. He was quite a distance back of Foxx and Ott, but the 31-year-old Tiger could still hear the beckoning voice of opportunity until the draft arrived. It will be almost impossible impos-sible for him to catch the leaders. A year in the army isn't going to fatten his home run total. Joe DiMaggio, only 27. is young enough to crowd someone for second or third place. He f77y opened the 1941 t season with 163 cir-l cir-l . jt cuit trips and there F is little reason for S F . any prolonged . rc-b slump. However, it f ' j5rf isn't impossible that -tfGZZs his future career . might be interrupt , - . ed temporarily. & Despite the grow- -N-- - ing totals, no one of Joe DDlaggio the present crop of long distance hitters hit-ters will ever come close to Ruth's total of 714. Foxx will hold on to second place with a total well above the 500 mark, and Gehrig will keep third place with 494. The vital statistics will give Mel Ott somewhere some-where above 400 before next fall a pretty safe mark in the National league. During his 22-year career. Babe hit .300 or more 17 seasons. His highest average was in 1923, when he batted .393. His 60 home runs of 1927 earned him undying fame. It isn't as well remembered that he hit 59 round trips in 1921, 54 in 1920 and again in 1928, and more than 40 for 11 years. The record may stand for all time. A lot of theories have been advanced for his uncanny ability, but those theories will be of little help to batters. Ruth was far from a perfect physical specimen. According Ac-cording to his own words, he weighed 252 pounds the year he knocked over the 60 homers. But those 252 pounds backed up one of the smoothest swings baseball base-ball has ever known. ... Sport Shorts C. Bucky Walters of the Cincinnati Reds started his professional career as a pitcher in 1929 with the High Point, N. C, team of the Piedmont league. C Only four horses have won the Derby, Belmont and Preakness. They are Sir Barton, 1919; Gallant Fox, 1930; Omaha, 1935; and War Admiral, 1937. 0. One hundred soldiers answered the first call for baseball candidates at Fort Dix, N. J., recently. |