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Show WHITE SOX END SEASON OF WOE Schalk's Team Followed by Misfortune From Start of Training Season. If thero was one team In the major ma-jor leagues which was glad when the 1927 baseball season ended It was the Chicago White Sox. Although some teams finished farther far-ther down than Ray Schalk's outfit, there are few of them that experienced experi-enced the misfortunes which befell the White Sox. To begin with Johnny Mostil, known to ball players as Melancholy John, and one of the1 best outfielders In the business, was seized with one of his fits of melancholy In the spring and an attempt at suicide climaxed It. Shortly after the season got under un-der way Schalk's pitchers hit a fine stride and things looked rosy but not for long, the reason being that the team couldn't hit. J The Sox hit their batting slump around June 1 and despite every possible pos-sible maneuver by Schalk, It may be said that the Chicago team never got out of that slump. Then came an avalanche of ball games lost by one run. Naturally the losing of a game by one run and consistently con-sistently losing them is heart-breaking to pitchers. As an indication of the handicaps the pitchers hare worked under, the Ray Schalk. case of Alphonse Thomas may be taken into consideration. Thomas got away to a fine start, winning something like 12 of the 15 games he worked. He wound up the season with only 19 wins. The Important point Is that 9 of the 10 defeats he sustained were lost by a one-run margin. In none of the nine games did the opposition make more than four runs. Had the Sox hitters come through with a timely hit once In a while In these games It Is safe to assume that at least half of them would have gone to Thomas' credit. Schalk. in his first year as a manager mana-ger no doubt ran Into as much hard luck as any manager who ever made a debut In the majors. |