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Show MACK'S PDLICY NOT I PROVED SUCCESS 1 j Looks as Though Connie : Will Have to Spend Some Real Money. NEW YORK, July SS. Connie Mai:k' f.fonumic baseball Hystrn may1 be all riht, but alter n;coivin hcv- : cral ytara' trcatuiunt unilur it the Ath- . letics appear to be ailing almost as badly uh ever. May b Conuie 'n prescri pt ion would be el nrac ious m a case ot .";e eu-year itc;li, but it ih bnfiiiniux to ajjpear 1 bat i ah a remedy lor a eliruuie luber in the j majtr leauub Mack 'b ecouoiny has I'll v- j ven.'d. I When the bea.son of 1017 bean there ; were those who preuieted t ic Athletn.s ! would be a tremendous burpn.-;e de- j spite the l'at:t tnat most of the heribiug : fellows picked them for as good ' seventh plaee. The Athletics have been 1 a bur prise they ha ve surprised the critics who thought they were due to i come to life and crowd out clubs like j the lirowns, Indians and Yankees. During the first few laps of the I A niericau league race the Mac kin en , crowded everybody else out of the eel- i lar and threatened to dive into ninth! place. The only thing that kept them from it was the scarcity of ninth place : ill the American league. j There is still hope for the Mackmen j to finish better than last, for the sea- ; son has some ways to run and many I strange things happen in a season. But i in face of the prediction made by Ma-k j when he broke up his famous machine, and all-joking aside, it seems doubtful that the Athletics will manage to become be-come terrors around the Ban Johnsonian Johnso-nian circuit wliile the economic policy is applied to them. Three years ago Mack predicted that he would build up another great ball club if given sufficient time, and at practically as little cost as the championship cham-pionship team he had torn to pieces. Mack then pulled the economy brake and went out after some good, cheap youngsters young-sters to wear the boots of Barry, Collins, Col-lins, Baker and a few others. So far these boots have proven away too large for their new owners. Mack has some good youngster?, and a club that be- i comes murderous with the bludgeon at 1 times. He also has some mighty ca- j pable pitchers, a very bright star in Joe Bush, but still he isn't piloting a winner. Thrasher, Mack's new outfielder, Grover, Witt, La wry, Bates and some of his young pitchers show championship flashes now and then. On the field and at bat they often make some of the stars of the American league look like novices for a day. But they are not ; consistent with it and thev do not play j bangup ball against clubs like the ! White Sox, Ked Sox and Yankees. In Amos Sy-unk Mack has one of the greatest outfielders in the business. busi-ness. In Jack Mclnnes he has a first baseman who need not doff his kelly to any initial bagman in either big league. In Wallie Schang he has a wonderful backstopper. Old Ping Bodie is playing better ball for Mack than he did for the White Sox, and at that Mack had to pay some real dough for Bodie, which is not in line with the economy he preaches. Glancing at the Athletics from some angles, one finds it hard to see why they are not a good ball club, yet they have not been proving it, and the surest sign of a good club shows in the left : hand side of the percentage column ! every time. Baseball men have bewailed the fact that good college players are almost a thing of the past, and that the oncoming on-coming crop of phenoms from the bushes bush-es has been badly mildewed in spots. Perhaps the alleged scarcity of crack young ball players within the past two 'or three years is the answer in the j ! case of the Mackmen. Perhaps the i voungsters were more plentiful when i ack built his erstwhile champions f than they are now, and better ball players play-ers along with it, and perhaps Mack will have to go out and peel off some of the big money for players before he turns out another club like the old Athletics. Ath-letics. Tt is our-giiess that he will have to do this very' thing. |