Show TT T WAS NOT until 1920 the year year babe ruth came to the yankees as an outfielder that fans realized the dead qualities ot of the bau ball that had been used previously sly that was the year babe ruth hit 54 homers h 0 m e r g where such past c champions ham as frank baker had been leading the 01 league with less than 12 the ball had been getting faster in 1919 but babe would have greenberg led the tha home run pack even with the deader ball as he always had the greatest combination ot of power timing and smooth swinging known to the game ame jimmy foxx reached the 58 mark in 1932 and hank greenberg cl climbed imbeck to the same 58 peak in 1938 list last season greenberg demonstrated he still had 44 home runs tn in his tall system the ball used this Ms season Is certainly not any deader than it was in past years judging from the loud salvo of four base hits the 1947 model Is flying even farther I 1 cant recall another season where as many home runs have been hit in the sime same number of games game as the new campaign has shown so far one amazing example Is eddie miller of cincinnati a brilliant fielding elding fl shortstop short shop who never has been rated even close to the power department miller no now aar rarely e I 1 y without misses an afternoon without be belting it ing one out of the inclosure when the season opened ted williams greenberg and johnny were voted the trio most likely t to 0 succeed at the artof art of leading the home run department kiner and joe DiMagg lo were included in this list also keller york and but early indications are that 10 or 12 outsiders have decided to enter the long distance tournament there have never been as many this early earli in the season able to move u up with the big guns the man still to beat Is williams ted has pleasant dreams of beating tafe 40 mark and possibly moving u up P into nto the 50 section but as the cheerful mr durante puts it everybody 1 wants to get in the tha act in the meanwhile the early spring war cry about breaking up the cardinals has subsided for the time being the cardinals remind you of a 3 to 5 shot in a horse race raca that gets away last but it Is surprising the number of things that can happen before october A pennant race Is no six furlong sprint the importance of legs except for polo players and jockeys legs are rated as the most important factor in competitive sport even polo players and jockeys need strong legs the trouble Is few athletes realize the importance of their underpinning according to most of the trainers we have talked to and only a small pr percentage ever get their legs in h the only exception is the golfer goiter who has to walk from 5 to 10 miles a day through each single and double round greatest offenders are balI ballplayers players and fighters you find few who are willing to get their legs in shape through the road work needed tor for this purpose ty cobb jasted basted tor for 24 seasons largely because he hunted almost almos t every day betwee n seasons us usually aall y amov moving ing at top walking speed the same is true of babe ruth who lived on his legs in the off season either in the hunting field or on some golf course abid the babs babes slender ankles hadbo had to carry a tremendous frame around pounds the leg work that joe louis has thrown in throughout his long ring career Is one of the main reasons the bomber Is still heavyweight champion of the world there are too many easy ways of transportation tor for the youth of today the kids will ride tour four when they get a chance there are not many athletes who have the incentive to give their legs enough work to get them ready for or the games they play middleweights supreme this will be the first time in many summer amer moons that a battle tor for the middleweight championship will overshadow the heavyweight scrap no matter how noisy the ballyhoo nor how loudly the tom toms echoed no advance hullabaloo would have made fans believe that slow moving joe bakst would have had any sort of a chance against joe louis even had the match been arranged this year just how much the passing years have taken from louis loutsis sis Is guess but no one can believe louis has moved so tar far down the soapy capy chute that he would be in serious danger of losing his title to one of the present crop ot of heavyweight opponents |