Resume

There exists a legend which has it that the baseball nine leading the American or National League early in July is the team which wins the pennant.* The baseball season is then half over and (if the wiseacres' maxim be infallible) New York in the American and Cincinnati in the National will be the contenders in the playoff World Series this fall.

The outstanding feature of the first half of the current season has been the home run hitting of Outfielder Ruth of the New York Yankees. Damned in neo-season days as "a fat slob, good for nothing," Babe Ruth has thrice slapped the cheeks of his criticizers by not only ascending to within four homeruns of his 1921 world's record (when he hit 30 homeruns by the Fourth of July) but by leading the American League in total number of runs scored and (greatest of all) by maintaining the highest batting average in the League. However, it now appears doubtful that Ruth will break his 1921 record, for he has been out of the game for some time with an injury.

Of the young players who are performing distinguishedly, large shambling Babe Herman (left handed first baseman for Brooklyn) and swarthy agile Anthony Lazzeri (second baseman of the Yankees) are perhaps the most conspicuous. Both have done well as homerun hitters. A week ago, Herman led the National League in batting.

The leading hitters late last week:

NATIONAL LEAGUE:

Herman , Brooklyn .377 Bressler , Cincinnati .376 Traynor , Pittsburgh .347 Cuyler , Pittsburgh .343 Hornsby , St . Louis .337

AMERICAN LEAGUE: Ruth , New York .376 Falk , Chicago .370 Meusel , New York .365 Burns , Cleveland .359 Heilman , Detroit .358

Hornsby, as everyone knows, was champion batter of the National League for 1920-21-22-23-24-25. Rousch (Cincinnati) onetime leader of the National League is now batting a mild .324. Ty Cobb (Detroit), Tris Speaker (Cleveland) and George Sisler (St. Louis) are three onetime American League champions of whom much is always expected. Sisler and Speaker are having bad years (.317 and .291 respectively) and twelve-time Champion Cobb (with .329) is doing none too well.

The middle of July brings vicissitudes to the pitchers, many an oldtime ace being relegated to the furnace, many an upstart daily acquiring novel glamor. In the American League Veteran Pennock of the Yankees is probably the outstanding hurler with 13 victories under his belt. In the National, Rhem of St. Louis has eleven wins to his credit. It is, of course, unfair to gauge pitchers on a Won-Lost basis, for consistently winning pitchers are not necessarily the best pitchers, since they may fortunately be hurling for a heavy-hitting team whereas an excellent pitcher may lack support from his inferior team. However, Pennock and Shocker (also of the Yankees), and Rhem and Meadows (Pittsburgh) have demonstrated sterling capabilities. The famed and aged Walter Johnson of Washington has skidded woefully, as has once great Dazzy Vance of Brooklyn.

The disintegrated Washington club, American League champions for the last two years, has been barely able to clamber out of the second half of the league. The team is surfeited with old men, retaining by far the oldest aggregation in either league, their average ages being 32. The Chicago Americans are the youngest team making any showing this year. Last year's world champions, the Pittsburgh Pirates, average 29 years. Commonly supposed to be a young team, the Philadelphia Athletics are in reality far remote from puberty. Babe Adams, 44, is the oldest player in either league and still pitches irregularly for Pittsburgh, but Jack Quinn pitches his regular turn for Philadelphia at the age of 41. The average span of big league life for a ball player is eight years. The youngest good player today is Lindstrom of the New York Giants, 20.

As the teams settle into the race down the stretch, the attendance appears as considerable as ever, and the crowds of rabid U. S. gentry who mill through the turnstiles at the parks to watch the play, blaspheme the umpire, masticate peanuts, popcorn and chewing gum, are as diligent and enthusiastic as in the summers of yesteryear.

*National League Winners: 1919 Cincinnati ...Cincinnati led on July 4 1920 Brooklyn ... New York led on July 4 1921 New York... New York led on July 4 1922 New York ... New York led on July 4 1923 New York... New York led on July 4 1924 New York ... New York led on July 4 1925 Pittsburgh ... Pittsburgh led on July 4 American League Winners: 1919 Chicago... New York led on July 4 1920 Cleveland ... Cleveland led on July 4 1921 New York... Cleveland led on July 4 1922 New York ... St. Louis led on July 4 1923 New York ... New York led on July 4 1924 Washington ... Washington led on July 4 1925 Washington ... Washington led on July 4