Show of J J I 1 by ROBERT mcshane 5 and lr by we wire 10 N P uhl S HOUGH the artilleryman artillerymen artillery men of both THOUGH tomajor major leagues are managing to hammer out their share of home runs there is no hitter toda today y who will even come close to babe ruths all time record the babe who c clouted out the almost unbelievable total of home runs during his ca reer never will be forgotten not only was he a brilliant breer bau ball player he was more than that he was the saviour of the national pas Say 4 i time just when it rf aff 1 appeared about to Z collapse in public mf fy favor jufa baseballs dark est cst hour hoar was back babe base ruth kuin in 1920 the game lad had been jolted by the black sox scandal in ia which six members of the chicago white sox sold out the 1319 1919 world series A pitched ball had just killed ray chapman cleveland shortstop all in all confidence in the game was shattered then along came ruth a strapping lad with a superabundance of color and the rest of the qualities necessary to a crowd pleas pleaser er he hit the colossal total of 54 home runs in ia 1920 and helped the fans to forget the bad news of the previous year record gatherer before his big league career ended the babe held in all 76 major league records he had batted in 2209 runs scored 60 home runs in one year and batted on an average of for the 22 years its far from startling to declare that the babes home run record is an target the two players out in front are jimmy foxx of the red sox and mel ott of the giants 11 foxx opened the 1941 show with home runs listed in the record book just six more thai than lou gehrig had when tragedy overtook him ott start jimmy foxx ed the 1941 earn campaign with homers a far cry from the ruthian record neither of the men are youngsters and neither neit her have designs on the bambinos lambinos Bambi nos 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 mark by now ruined chance hank greenberg had a good chance to run second through 1940 he had gathered in 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 for him to catch the leaders A year in the army going to fatten his home run total joe dimaggio only 27 is young to someone or third place he i opened the 1941 season with circuit trips and there is little reason for f any prolonged slump however it impossible that his future career might be interrupted temporarily despite the growing L totals no one of joe the present crop of long distan distance hit ever come close to ruths total of foxx will hold on to second place with a total well above the mark and gehrig win will keep third place with the vital statistics win will give mel ott somewhere above before next fall a pretty safe mark in the national league during his 22 year career babe hit or more 17 seasons his highest average was in 1923 when he batted his 60 home runs of 1927 earned him undying fame it 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 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 to his own words he weighed pounds the year he knocked over the 60 homers but those pounds backed babied up one 0 of f the smoothest swings baseball has ever known |