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Show r jz 1 JT" V IXCsUvravDf IWKNTY years ago, Hal in Until tinned In IiIh til) 111 homo run In a llui:hi M'lison. II. 'io n it murk Unit thnu.'uiiiils nl Mill player have ln'i'ii swinging ut kv'iM . I 11 ! t llllt nly thivii Imvo m'-MoiiMly m'-MoiiMly I'lmllt'iigi'd. 1'Iu'mo wrrii Hunk nreiMiberii of the 1' I g e r s, Jimmy foxx nf tlio Athletics, Athlet-ics, with Ml CHl'll, inrt Hack Wilson of i Mo Cutis with Wl. I Wlml tlio tlir.-n don't know In tluit lliey were halted 1 by the Jinx ilas- Italic It n til lered on their robust ro-bust frames liy several million kids, .o whom that number SIXTY has Seen n shining star In baseball's iky because the Italic nut It there. Just when It began to look us If ootl Creenberg nnd Foxx were cer-tuln cer-tuln to beat It, star dust, thrown mysteriously by nil these kids, got ji their batting eyes nnd they were forced to halt abruptly. Now nig John Mize of the Glnnts Is the latest Ruth challenger for a record season. Big John of the moon face nnd the mighty swing will be facing the snme jinx. Mnny thousands of kids would like to see the mauling Mize reach 59. But not 60. Especially not 61. This mysterious kids Jinx won't begin to nITect Jolting John until he passes the 50, or pcrtmps the 53 point. Then he will feel mysterious forces at work thnt will turn the baseball Into the size of a golf bnll. He will find star dust in his batting eye, Just as Greenberg and Foxx did. Big John won't quite understand under-stand what has happened, but some ten million kids will. Untouchable Record Those 60 Babe Ruth home runs. delivered twenty years ago as pari of a total cargo of 714 which Is beyond be-yond anybody's reach unless they use rubber balls and move the fences in back of the infield Is now a classic number In American sport. It belongs to the greatest power hitter of all time, who was only halted by the 100 to 170 bases on balls handed him each year. The Babe picked out his stance from Joe Jackson. This position Is known in golf as the closed stance which, In Babe's left-handed batting posture, meant that his right foo was well In advance of his left. However, Babe's stance was not as pronounced as Shoeless Joe's was, and his feet were planted closer together to-gether to give his tremendous body a better chance to work with his hands and arms. Added to his power was almost perfect coordination between mind and muscle, including amazing reflexes. re-flexes. If Ruth had started out as an outfielder in 1914 or 1915, w-here he was a winning pitcher, his home-run home-run mark today would have beer around 1,000. Mize and the Modern Ball No one can question the fact that the ball Babe swung at was far livelier than the pellet Home Run Baker, Ty Cobb, Joe Jackson, Tris Speaker and other hitters had to face before the first war. x On the other hand, taking nothing from Johnny Mize, the 1947 National League ball looks to be the liveliest ammunition yet thrown at swinging bats. In certain places the fences have also been moved in to decrease the home-run range. But this isn't Johnny Mize's fault, fie is swinging at the ball that Is O.K.'d by the National League. He has always been a great power hitter. The war came along just when Big John was at his prime, and after his injury last season, fen thought he would ever be the same old walloper. Lots of Poiver Hitters It isn't so much that Mize is now up in the home run 30s. It is more that so many others are nlose on his trail. As I recall the far off fletails, Home Run Baker, another stout swinger, led both leagues around 1911 with either 9 or 11 borne runs. I can't recall a ball club that had such power hitters as Mize, Marshall, Mar-shall, Cooper and Thomson at this stage of the race not even Ruth, Gehrig and Meusel. The Giant are now after the old Yankee mark and are quite likely to break it. Today any power hitter who hasn't collected 20 home runs, la the National League especially, Is on the puny side. Ted Williams, rated the hardest modern hitter, Is close to the Giant trio. Ted has a good chance to lead the American League, but only an epidemic of home runs down the stretch, can put him in front of Mize. Club owners have decided that the home run is something the crowd wants, and apparently the 1947 attendance is backing up their judgment. Any number of teams will pass the million mark this season, sea-son, including Pittsburgh, which has been just above the cellar line. The baseball f?n is a rabid animal, and if he thought too many home runs were being hit, he would lose little time in staying away. |