All-Star

The score was 9-to-7 in favor of the American League when the first National League batter in the ninth inning of last week's All-Star baseball game dropped a bunt in front of home plate.

If Fred Frankhouse had reached first base, the crowd of 50,000 at New York's Polo Grounds might well have seen another inning or two of one of the most discussed baseball games in history. But Frankhouse did not reach first. Catcher Cochrane picked the ball out of the dust. His throw to first base beat the runner by a foot. The next batter made a two-base hit but the two that followed flied and grounded out. The All-Star game thereupon ended, with the American League still two runs ahead.

Preceded by a month of polls to determine who should play on the teams, the All-Star game was followed by a week of discussion. Columnists pointed out that the game was magnificently played; that it was wretchedly played; that it should be made a yearly fixture; that it should never be repeated. Baseball enthusiasts unanimously praised: the pitching of Giant Carl Hubbell who, in the first two innings, struck out Ruth, Gehrig, Foxx, Simmons and Cronin in succession. They deplored the failure of Ruth and Gehrig at the bat; the pitching of Yankee Vernon Gomez against whom the National League made four runs in the first three innings.

P: If Catcher Mickey Cochrane had reason to be proud of his play in the ninth inning of the All-Star game, he had reason to be even prouder later in the week. In his first year as manager of the Detroit Tigers, he kept the team unexpectedly in second place for some six weeks. Last week, in a crucial series against the New York Yankees, Detroit won the first game and moved into first place. Next day, when Babe Ruth hit his 700th home run, the Yankees beat Detroit 4-to-2, regained first place. Detroit won the next two games, emerged from the series with a comfortable 17 game lead.

P: While the Yankees and Tigers were battling in the American League, the New York Giants and the Chicago Cubs were having much the same sort of series in the National League. In Manhattan, the Cubs made as many runs in the fifth inning of the first game as the Giants made in the whole game, won 11-to-7. Next day the Giants won, 5-10-3. restoring their league lead to two full games.

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