OCR Text |
Show The Two Celebrated Baseball Generals Who Clash This Week By J. C. D.- BY the grace of Al Burleson, p. m. g., ninety-seven sporting pages come to this office every day. Or those ninety-seven sporting pages, three are blood red. thirteen are pink, ono is purple, eleven are green, eight are a ghastly cross ordering on pink, and tho rest are more or less white. Some of the sporting pages are edited by one man, some by two, others by three and. a fow run as high aB twent'. And every ono of those editors and his assistants have prophesied concerning the world's series. With singular unanimity, unan-imity, eightyhree of the sporting pages pick tho New York Giants as tho champion baseball team of tho world. Eight aro positive that the Athletics will win, and the others aro scattering and may be set -down in the doubtful and doubting column. It is not strange that all these basoball writers should select Now York. It has become a habit with them. Every time New York has been a contender for tho globe's bunting, those eighty-three sporting sport-ing pages have been on the Giants. They never could sec anything to it but McGraw. And they always had the facts and the figures to prove it. . THIS year they come to the front with tho solomu declaration dec-laration that McGraw is bound to win because he has tho bettor pitchers. Also, they add, tho Athletics Ath-letics can 't hit as well as they did in 1913. Thoso two things aro tho sole and only argument they pro-sent pro-sent in. support of their far-sighted prediction that Connio Mack may as well go home and 'tend to his pumpkin harvest. Those of you who wero alive two years ago will recall that columns upon columns of words wero printed print-ed about how soft it was going to bo for Muggsy. One magazine, entirely en-tirely devoted to baseball and its multitudinous ramifications, gave over two wholo issues to proving that thcro waB nothing to it except ex-cept the Giants. The most prolific 'Contributor to that magazine is at V ' this very moment smearing the country over with two-column articles ar-ticles -to the same effect New York. Two years ago ono of the great - discoveries the pro-McGraw writers made was that Jack Lapp was impossible im-possible as a catcher. Ira Thomas was tho only backstop tho Ath-lotics Ath-lotics had, they said, and ho could not stand tho distance. Tho principal prin-cipal trouble with Jack Lapp, wo wore told, was that ho couldn't throw to bases, and the New Yorkers York-ers would steal with tho easy facility facil-ity with which a dissipated 'father pilfers from his baby's bank. BUT the amazing thing came to pass. The first throe or four pussy-footed Giants who trailed off down towards second wero nailed standing up, and thereafter Jack Lapp was admittedly some base thrower. Also that sa'mo year thoso poor, inexperienced youngsters with tho big A on their bosoms wore to bo made monkoys of by the tried veterans vet-erans of Now York. Well, what happened in 1911 is history. Last year the eighty-three papers pa-pers told us how Matty waB fairly goine to slaughter the Bed Sox. Thoy figured Marquard a fairly good second, but Matty was the real Kazinlc Tt is easy to write down the number of Matty's victories vic-tories against tho "Red Sox, Thus faT tho eighty-three have not conceded Connie Mack much of anything. Thoy grudgingly give him credit for being a baseball genius, but never a word does one road about what Mr. Mack m&yt have concealed under his hat, Last Wednesday night brought the first inkling to this town that tho astute as-tute Connio really did have something some-thing up his sleeve. A little dispatch dis-patch from Philadelphia was to the effect that gentlemen who make a business of backiug their world's series .-judgment had learned that their celebrated townsman had not told the world all ho know. .lust because that was so, thoy immediately immedi-ately made the Athletics favorites. "What would our New York friends say if the something "P Connie's sleeve was good old Jack Coombs, come back? COMING right down to it, tho big thing which starts Tuesday Tues-day is a guess. Tho folks who pick tho Giants have a way of figuring fig-uring their team to win and thoso who aro on Mack do their calculating calculat-ing according to their own moth ods. At this distance, tho only guide in forming an opinion is to assimilate tho composite opinion of those who are on the ground or near it, and then to divide it by two. - This mornincr we offer a couple of pages of those opinions the opinions of votoran ball play-ors, play-ors, of successful managers and of youngsters. You may road them and seo which you liko better. After you have road thorn, you may recall the fact that one thing is probably true, although thoro bo plenty to deny it, and that is that the American league ball playors hold it over the National league ball playors, individually and col-leotively. col-leotively. Because it has been my lot in lifo mostly to tac with tho under dog, I am going to pick the Athletics. Ath-letics. I may also add that this act of mine will doubtless prove to bo the hcaviost handicap Connie Mack will have. " ' |