Tigers Rest on Sunday as Pennant Race Tightens Across Both Leagues

Content from the Detroit Free Press - Monday July 19, 1926.

Table of Contents

• Tigers Idle in Philadelphia on Sabbath, Resume Series With Mackmen Monday
  • Pitching Has Been Good
  • Hard Row for Macks
  • Southpaws Again Monday
• Ruth Unable To Increase Homer Mark
  • The Leading Home Run Hitters
• Major League Leaders Forced To Give Ground in Intersectional Struggles as Pennant Hopes of Close Contenders Are Rekindled
  • How They Performed Last Week
• Dodgers Lift Ban on Petty
• Sport Light
  • The Best Manager
• Advertisements

Tigers Idle in Philadelphia on Sabbath, Resume Series With Mackmen Monday

ANOTHER SOUTHPAW DUEL IN PROSPECT

Mack Expected to Send Joe Pate to Mound, With Earl Whitehill Logical Choice of Manager Ty Cobb for Monday's Game—Athletics Must Hurdle Improved Pitching of Tigers to Maintain Advance.

BY HARRY BULLION.

Philadelphia, July 18.—One good and sufficient reason why the Tigers are playing .500 ball tonight may be attributed to the legislation effective in this City of Brotherly Love which forbids major league ball clubs to either win or lose scheduled contests on the Sabbath.

Energy that the Bengals and Athletics conserved in idleness today, will be expended on Tuesday when the clubs are billed to play a double header to take care of the open date provided by the schedule makers to conform to the laws that frown upon Sunday baseball in major league parks.

To the Athletics, much depends on the result of the three remaining games of the present series with the Tigers here and Connie Mack's club can be depended upon to bend every effort to take the series, which means that they must win the single contest Monday and both ends of the double bill on Tuesday, a man-sized job for any club that is opposed to the Tigers in their present mood.

In the last two games, the Bengals have been favored with some excellent pitching—and some that was not even mediocre. Youthful Art Johns hurled gilt-edged ball for seven innings against the Yanks in the last game of the set in Gotham, only to be rewarded by being directed to the showers after passing two men, and to be given the privilege of watching his successors throw a ball game into the ash can.

Pitching Has Been Good.

The performance of Edwin Wells in setting back the Macks with five hits Saturday compared favorably with any of the four shut-outs scored by the young former Bethany college side-wheeler this season. Wells, who in spite of a bad start, has won 10, or nearly one quarter of the total victories scored by the Tigers this season, right now looks like the most effective pitcher in the junior loop.

Johns, Collins, Whitehill and Wells appear ready to take their regular turn on the rubber and this quartet pitching as it has during the last few weeks, rates favorably with Mack's good quartet of Pate, Grove, Rommel and Walberg—and the Tigers are hitting as a team just 17 points above the Mackmen.

No club in the league is playing a better brand of ball than the Tigers are at present. In New York, the Bengals broke even in four games and more reasons than one may be advanced to show why the Cobbmen should have swept the series with the leading Hugmen. It was no fault of the Tigers as a unit, or no fault of Art Johns that the club did not take the final game of the set at the Yankee Stadium Friday, and only the toughest kind of baseball luck beat the Tigers in 12 innings on Wednesday.

Hard Row for Macks.

Mack's club, following a spurt that carried it into second place and cut the Yankees' lead from 12 to six games in less than three weeks, has instilled the players with confidence and the paid entertainers at Shibe Park have visions of another World's Series melon cutting. Ordinarily, a lead of six games looms very large with the season well beyond the half mark, but it is no secret that the Yanks are showing signs of wobbling and if the Macks can maintain their drive through August, the all-New York World's Series that was predicted during the first month of the race, may be switched to Pennsylvania where both the Athletics and Pirates are hitting up a clip that bodes no good for the Yanks and Reds.

The Athletics probably will know their fate during the next three weeks when they face the toughest kind of western opposition both at home and on the road. Faced with the temporary loss of their star young receiver, Mickey Cochrane, who is out of the game for at least a week with a split finger, the Macks will come to grips with the Tigers in three games Monday and Tuesday, take on the persevering Indians in four games at home, then hit the road for a round trip of the western end of the circuit.

Southpaws Again Monday.

Another duel of southpaws is in prospect for Monday when Earl Whitehill, who is respected in Philadelphia from Connie Mack down, is the logical choice of Manager Cobb to oppose Joe Pate, big Mack portsider who is leading the pitchers of the American League with eight victories and no defeats. Pate pitched the last inning of Saturday's game.

Cobb will have Collins, Holloway, Gibson or Dauss ready to work Tuesday's double header while Mack doubtless will choose between Rommel, Walberg and Quinn. Following the twin bill here Tuesday, the Bengals jump to Washington for five games while the Macks entertain the Indians at home before starting on the road trip that will reveal something concrete on the pennant race.

Ruth Unable To Increase Homer Mark

Babe Goes Entire Week Without Circuit Blow—Fournier Sets Pace.

Chicago, July 18.—(By the Associated Press.)—Jacques Fournier, Brooklyn's hard-hitting first baseman, assumed title to the current home run honors with three circuit clouts in last Tuesday's game with the Cardinals.

Babe Ruth failed to raise his season total of 27 during the week and the other fence busters were likewise slowed up by the enemy hurlers.

The Leading Home Run Hitters

American League

National League

Major League Leaders Forced To Give Ground in Intersectional Struggles as Pennant Hopes of Close Contenders Are Rekindled

Recent Spurt of Tigers Causes Disturbance in First Division.

NEW YORK, July 18.—(By the Associated Press.)—Leaders in the major league flag race have been forced to give ground in the intersectional combat under way, rekindling pennant hopes of close contenders.

Although the Cincinnati Reds continue to dominate the affairs of the National League, only two games separated them from the second-place Pirates at the close of the week.

However, the principal lights were furnished by the Brooklyn Robins and New York Giants who are rebuilding their standing on the road journey through the west.

Brooklyn recorded five victories and two defeats to top the National League performances for the week with the Giants second with four triumphs in six opportunities. The New Yorkers have won seven out of nine games played up to yesterday on the western invasion.

The Chicago Cubs fared poorly with two victories and four setbacks which put them back in the second division with the Robins in fourth place, three and one-half games from the top. John McGraw's club, in sixth place, was but four and one-half contests from the crest.

While the Yankees continue to do the pace-setting in the American, they failed to draw an even break for the week with three games won and four lost.

Tris Speaker's Cleveland Indians turned out the best showing in the junior league with only two reverses in seven games.

Washington and Detroit were tied for next honors with four won and two lost apiece. Displaying about the same form as the Cubs, the White Sox came out on top in only two of five starts.

How They Performed Last Week

National League

American League

Early in the month the Chicago Americans were in second place, but the week end found them on the fifth rung, trailing the Senators by a percentage point. The Athletics held the runner-up position, six and one-half games away from the Yankees.

The Tigers' recent spurt is causing considerable disturbance in the first division. Ty Cobb has withdrawn himself from the regular line-up in favor of Heinie Manush, a hard hitter. The Georgia Peach set another world record recently when he passed Honus Wagner's achievement of playing in 2,785 games in 21 consecutive years in the majors. At the start of the present season, the Georgia Peach's record for 21 years was 2,725. Now, every time he plays, he establishes a new mark for future soldiers of the diamond to shoot at.

George Sisler's Browns appear to be tagged by the same jinx that camped with them on their previous trip through the east. The St. Louis club dropped all six games during the week which extended the losing streak to seven straight. Five of the games were lost by a one-run margin.

The St. Louis Cardinals had the highest totals in runs, hits and home runs for the week of any team in fast company. Rogers Hornsby's outfit garnered 102 safe blows for 63 runs, six of which were homers. There were 562 hits in the National League against 459 in the American. Of 27 circuit drives, 20 were on National League ball fields.

DODGERS LIFT BAN ON PETTY

Cincinnati, O., July 18.—Jess Petty, left-handed pitcher and bad boy of the Brooklyn Robins, has been restored to good standing.

Wilbert Robinson, manager of the Robins, announced today that he had wired Petty, who is in St. Louis, that his suspension had been lifted and to report to the team as soon as possible. Jess is expected to join his mates here tomorrow.

Petty was suspended indefinitely three days ago for breaking the club's training rules. At that time the Robins were in St. Louis and while under ban the left-hander worked out with the Cardinals.

SPORT LIGHT

BY GRANTLAND RICE.

The Best Manager.

Who is the best manager in baseball? This query was offered a group of ball players, old and young. The vote was pretty well split among Bucky Harris, of Washington; Eddie Collins, of Chicago, and John McGraw, of New York.

Tris Speaker was given high rating, but the three former were placed in front, each having different characteristics.

Whereupon one veteran offered this in rebuttal:

"The best manager of all time is Bill Carrigan, who handled the old Red Sox, of Boston. He won either three or four pennants and just as many World Series championships. Ask Tris Speaker or Babe Ruth.

"He was fair and hard. He knew baseball and he knew how to handle men. He was the greatest winning manager for a pennant and a World's Championship combined that ever lived."

And there you are.

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