The Daily Independent

A "Nickle" Series Is The Prospect Now It Looks As If World Series Will Be N. Y.'s Own

By GEORGE KIRKSEY United Press Staff Correspondent

New York, Sept. 8.—(U.P.)—The "nickle world series"—so-called because it takes only five cents to ride an elevated or subway train to the Polo Grounds and Yankee stadium—today seemed to be nearing reality as the two New York clubs hit the home stretch leading in the pennant races.

The Yankees, 18 games in front, went into the west tonight needing only one victory to clinch the American league pennant. They hope to achieve that victory tomorrow against the Indians at Cleveland.

With 162 home runs to their credit, the Yankees are gunning for a major league clouting record. The home run record is 173, set by the Philadelphia Athletics in 1932. The Yanks also have a chance to set a record for the highest margin of victory any American league club has ever achieved over the second-place club. The Yankees of 1927—the original "Murderers' Row"—finished 19 games ahead of the Athletics, which record is likely to be wiped out by Joe McCarthy's maulers of 1936.

The Giants, suffering a relapse after their stunning swing through the west, are not functioning with their August zip, but the collapse of the Chicago Cubs and St. Louis Cardinals has just about assured an all-New York series.

The nightmare which seized the Giants two years ago today should help Bill Terry get his charges home in front. It was just two years ago today that the Giants were rolling along with a 7-game lead over the St. Louis Cardinals and making preparations to meet the Detroit Tigers in the world series. History records that the Giants staged one of the most artistic nose dives in baseball annals, and the Cardinals charged on to win the pennant and the world championship. Last year the Cubs came with a rush to run off 21 straight victories and win the pennant.

But neither the Cards, five games behind the Giants, nor the Cubs, six games back of the leaders, have shown the faintest resemblance to a team bent on staging a whirlwind finish this year. The Cards have a one-man pitching staff of weary Dizzy Dean, who has dropped his last two starts. The Cubs' erstwhile stellar pitching has gone sour and the Chicago attack has slowed down to a shuffle. The Cubs may even have trouble protecting third place from the Pittsburgh Pirates, only four games back of the last year's champions.

The Giants open their last home stand against the western clubs tomorrow, playing a pair with the Cincinnati Reds, who recently have taken twin falls out of the Cubs and Cards. The Giants have 21 games left, meeting the Cubs and Cards in five straight Friday through Monday which are likely to remove the last vestige of hopes the two western clubs have of winning the pennant.

The games remaining for each of the contenders follow:

Giants (21)—Cincinnati 3, Chicago 2, St. Louis 3, Pittsburgh 2, Boston 3, Brooklyn 5, Philadelphia 3.

Cardinals (21)—Boston 2, Philadelphia 2, New York 3, Brooklyn 4, Chicago 6, Cincinnati 4.

Cubs (19)—Philadelphia 3, Brooklyn 3, New York 2, Boston 2, St. Louis 6, Pittsburgh 3.

The schedule highly favors the Giants, who have 13 of their remaining 21 games at home, while the Cubs and Cards have a majority of their games on the road. In addition, the Cubs and Cards have six games left with each other, and they figure to cut each others' throats.

If the Cards win 15 out of their remaining games and the Cubs take 15 out of their 19, the Giants will need to win 11 out of 21 to take the flag. The Giants' task of winning the pennant is even easier than it seems on paper.

New York fans already are comparing the Giants and Yankees for the world series. The three straight the Giants dropped to the Bees Saturday and Sunday have helped to send the Yankees soaring as favorites. It's possible that the Yanks may enter the series favored at 2-1. Smart baseball men, in their early calculating, figure the only pitcher the Giants have who can stop the Yanks' homicide squad of hitters is Carl Hubbell. But in a short series Hubbell can win two and maybe three games, if he gets any help from any of the other members of the Giants' staff.

The Chicago White Sox became the only American league club with a mathematical chance to tie the Yanks for the championship when they defeated the Detroit Tigers, 7 to 5, today in the only major league game played.