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Show ! DETROIT'S BIG LEAD NOT KILLING INTEREST IN AMERICAN LEAGUE RACE j X::Se' NESS f I! va 3i. i Photos by American Press Association. By TOMMY CLARK. A MERICAN league men in seven ff. cities are alarmed at tho big in Sk lead the Detroit Tigers hae, - fearing that should It continue con-tinue much longer It will kill interest In the pennant race. No doubt the attendance at-tendance -would be affected In Philadelphia Phila-delphia by halng tho Tigers mako a runaway race of it, and tho same would be true of Boston and New York, two other teams which were figured as halng a chanco for the flag; but. on tho whole, even a runaway race will not kill the Interest. If the Tigers should cinch the banner ban-ner by the time the season is half over there would bo a lot of Interest in the ; ICOV)NGTOMl ggr " Some of Hugh Jennings' Youngsters Who Are Helping to Rush Tigers Pennantward fight for second place, whllo tho Detroit De-troit team because of Its wonderful showing would proo a great drawing card in every city on the circuit. But such a stato of affairs would be a tcrrlblo blow to the Philadelphia club Having won the world's championship cham-pionship last ear with a team cpm-posed cpm-posed mostly of joungsters, the fans naturally cpect tho club to repeat. In tho ante-season dopo nearly oysry critic predicted an easy time of It for tho Athlotlcs this year, but it Is tho Tigers who are finding the road a smooth one Even with a pennant wlnnor tho Philadelphia club wcro not big money makers last year. This was bocuuso of tho ridiculous custom of playing twenty-fio cent ball. Fully two-thirds two-thirds of the attendance at tho Philadelphia Phila-delphia games is at that price, cheaper than any city that gets major leaguo baseball, and high grade baseball at that Reporting to tho Detroit team, how are they going to be stopped? They certainly have procd their superiority over their western rivals and also played rings around the easterners, winning the scries from every club. The team has now started on eastern invasion. Several experts have said that the club will hit the chuto and slide downward. It may be said right here that tho Tigers are tho best road team In the American league. At least they wero In former jcars, and now they seem stronger than over. At present it looks if tho Tigers aro not checked within tho next fow weeks the pennant, bar accidents. Is predestined for tho Michigan metropolis If tho Tigers are not able to take moro than ten of sixteen games to bo plaod on the present eastern, lmaslon the club can hardly bo regarded as effectively ef-fectively stopped with the lead Detroit De-troit now enjojs Tho team must slump badly to tako fewer than ten. The Tigers have now completed one-quarter one-quarter of their schedule. How far they are in advance of the gait noces-sary noces-sary for a championship winning Is best indicated by tho statement that beforo they wont on their eastern trip thoy already wcro possessed of one-fifth one-fifth of tho victories needed, basins this jeais calculations on the history of the past This dope may be rolled on, for records of tho seven seasons In which the American leaguo has plaj ed a schedulo of tho present length all agrco on tho points on which these calculations are made. It Is generally agreed in making American leaguo pennant forecasts that nlnety-flvo winning games, or a percentage of .620, will land the flag. Thcso two waja of figuring It virtually como to the same thing, though not necessarily, because ninety-five Mo torics may give either more or 1cm than .620 percentage, according to th( J number of postponed games a teanr V h-Ls and tho correspondingly greater o j loxscr number of defeats. But the tw v cstlmatps do not vary greatly. If i ij team plays Its entiro 154 games an( A wln nlnety-flvo it will hao .17 k Its mark. If It wins nincty-fHo anf j docs not play 154 its percentage It greater Only one champion. Boston In 1004, over completed Its schcduU j And that team had to play four game i on th la3t two days of the jear to dt 1 this Only one runner up. Cleveland In 100S, ccr went the full route. , Mark Is Beaten but Twice. Only twice In American league his. ' tory has a champion team beaten thi nlnoty-flv games mark, and nelthei tlmo was It really necessary. Detroit did It in 1909, whon It won nlnet-elght nlnet-elght gnmes. It could have lost thr I of theno games to any club or clubi j other than the Athletics and still ha t taken the 11 ig w 1th exactly thf saim j sort of margin that it hid ovor Clce land In tho jear preceding Tast sea I son the Athletics beat tho nlnet-flv( I mark b aocn games, but this wat wholly unnecessary. Mack's men hav ; Ing percentage to throw awaj. Thej beat their nearest rlal. New York, bj moro than fourteen games, winning th only raco tho American league cerh-u had that was not a closo one. An ; 1910 tfor this reason may bo dismissed ; from the figuring. '. If Detroit wins four times as mini ' games as It had before the team start- J ed east It Is almost cortdln of the Hag I for the masons given. Its losses, h against this, need not bo considered, I Thoy do not affect the nlnety-flvo vie- jft torles that It Is assumed tho team may t take I' Clubs Can't Afford to Help Each Other. V "Major leaguo clubs must hang on I. to their surplus plaers rather than turn them over to rivals," urges Man ager Jennings of Detroit. "Wo have three or four men who aro young and who havo Just shown enough of what they may become that wo cannot afTord to part with them Drake. Schaller, Ncssr CaUtt and I-athers are all oung, and they are all ambitious. If we had to go out and secure oung pliyers of their callbor from Class A league clubs we would hae to pay from $3,000 to $5,000 each and in turn would get untried material ma-terial Tho men I mentioned would havo to bo turned ocr to a Tlal club for J1.G00, tho walvor price. If wo oak-ed oak-ed for waivers and had to reduce our squad J "J3ery first dhislon ball club Is con- 1N fronted with the proposition sooner oi ' later that it has lost Bight of the co- j' operative featuro of the American i league, upon which that organization was founded. We have been besieged. I as other clubs havo, with requests from tall end clubs that we glo then ' our surplus material, so that the league may bo better balanced and the sport of baseball rccclvo an added impetus In consequence "You can readily see our position. II wo ask waivers on our young men and send them to a club that ixally needs strengthening wo part with from J3r-COO J3r-COO to 55.000 worth of baseball material " for tho nominal sum of $1,500. Imaglnt any man In a commercial lino of business busi-ness listening for ono minuto to a proposition of this kind " |