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Show I PlHO'LL WIN .THE FENNANT?H- H WTEflCRITlCAL Analysis of the Strength and tt'M Weakness of the Baseball Clubs in the Two Big Leagues as They Shape Up for the Season the baiter plainly visible, like a heavy fog. bnt then It fades away like the mist before the classic sun, and. like the mist, cannot be hit. Critics declare that It Is so hard to see that a batter needs an X-ray to find It, but this producer of wonders mil probably be pitching in Larnmlc City again next season ns regular as ever. The Giants' team Is changed little excopt tho differ-euce differ-euce that a year's development will make. McGraw has bolstorpd it with substitutes, utility men Shean looks better than Shafer. His outfield could be a little more puissant, but he has the same men, Murray. D vore and Snmlgrass. with Becker to fill In. The team is capable of winning with a good pitching department, the weakness of last year. That seems to be the Glonts' relation to the question ques-tion After nil, they are likely to have a comparative Influence on the result They are better, inasmuch as their two strongest opponents are weaker Chicago and Pittsburg have deteriorated, gone back. ThP Cubs are getting rusty and worn in the joints. They sag here and bag there, njid In some placcsthc, sag Is very bad and in others the bag is atrocious. JAMES MALEER Washington Americans (' (Scnafors) IJIj 1 Pboto by BUckbOn J . ' r i' i The pitching department seems to be caving in, as a tree fulls 'when it rou. Kliug, too, Is getting old. Chance will probably be on the bench next season, and Archer will have to go to first base, weakening tho catching department. Cole Is the best pitcher. Judging Judg-ing from last season. The famous Brown with the missing digits was .pulverized by the Athletics in the world's series. He is getting old. Steinfeldt, Evcrs, Tinker, Sheckard, Schultc, all are past their baseball prime. So that Is the Cubs' relation to the question, and,, while no dircctjwropbccies will be made as to precisely who will win the pennant. It does not scem'-possiblc that this apparently broken down nnd spavined club can finish first, Pittsburg faced much the same situation last year that the Cubs have to meet this season. In 1009 Clarke had won the National League pennant and topped It off with the world's chnmpionship. That was the climax for the Pirates That was their big scene when the club reached the pinnacle of its career. Never has the team-been the same since. Wagner, Clarke nnd Leach, the Ufo,blood of the clnb. are aging. The pitching staff Is full of flaws. Clarke will have to -tart to build .mew And nil thl, too, looks encouraging to the Giants, as It affect their relation to the question. Now, if you will step over to the American League. Wntch out for that partisan rooter there. .Whether the Yankees will be stronger or weaker this time de- rb&j Wkmti K HiliiiiB ' ROGER BRESNAHAN ' j TT" ' "V ZT l VX 88- H t e-" r xt i Chicago Nabonals New York NaUonals ooors mmv W-'V rt.lft TjiR BrWaH St Loms Nationals Cubs) (GIantsl FRED. TEJNNEY m :l 4S $7 W,WTB H C Cardinals) - Boston Nationals U : , A $ffitth II ' vtSSfvMf M JCoturfrM. 15U1. br the N-w Tork Tl-nU Co. AU rtebta rtJerrcsJ 1 VERY soon the country. which Is to say the whole of the United States, will be sunken, thrilled, moved by nn liuporuint Question. It Is not the problem of Cnnudlan reciprocity, or H the tariff, or the cost of Jiving, or the future H f aeroplanes, or any trifling matter of that sort No. H this is otic of grave significance and great import. H I'hc qucstlou'ln which so many persons will be dls- H playing a future interest Is: H "How will they finish:" H Sixteen big league baseball teams are now scat- H lercd over the country in various training camps be- Hj Ing stroked and groomed and got into shape for H the pennant fights in two major leagues. Hence the H Question. Certain disciples of basebull have already H' )ccomc so deeply interested In the Question that they H ave hazarded u part of their incomes and assumed B definite fiiiunclal risks, banking on their clairvoyant H ibility to look Into the future and forecast the out- H jomc. So in its scope and appeal the Question, with H Its various possibilities, trickles into human crevices H wherever baseball is known. It is discussed in back H zooms of suloons. in corner groceries, in pool rooms, H tn drawing rooms, In kitchens, in stables and in M parages. M Like New year's resolutions, a ball club is born H once a year. The slate is wiped clean each spring md new hope tills the hearts of the admirers of clubs M t which finished last season tlaccld, limp, exhausted. H Borne of the clubs depend for new life on young play- H ers drafted from the minor leagues, others lean on H winter trades and a few trust in Providence alone. H The latter course is the one adopted by the Boston H National League and the St. Louis American League H ' tlubs. And yet some of their fatuous adherents be- H lleve that even for these trailers there is a ray of H hope in the new beginning when all clubs are created H v tqual and there Is no first and no last. But even H ' Providence docs not beem to care to back them. H Some clubs are growing old as a whole; others are H rrowlng up, and still others have not yet been born. H Muong the lmporumt pennant contenders In the Na- H tional League the Chicago and Pittsburg clubs may Hj "ic said, to be aging, to be inclining toward the ' H )asse. The Giants, the Cincinnati and Philadel- H thla clubs appear, on their faces, to be reaching ado- H cscence. The St. Louis and Brooklyn teams are grow- H iig up, and, sad to relate, the Boston National League H loam does not yet seem to have been born, although H reuiipy may do something with it this season. H In the American League the Philadelphia club is H nature, ripe and the most likely looking combination. Hl Mhe Yankees were growing up last year, and .should H be contenders this season, biit It Is doubtful whether H the lradro' of Austin for Hartzell, of St Louis, will H benefit the club. The Boston team, which has shown Hl promise for several seasons, should be very nearly ripe H Uiis summer if any results are ever to be harvested H (rom this crop of talent. Tho Detroit and Cleveland H iggregallons, as they stand, appear to be growing old, H K-hile the White Sox are growing up, and should be in H hnu for a place In the first division unyway. The H Washington club does not appear to be any stronger H than last season, and the poor old St. Louis team, H which was a hopeless corpse at the cud of last season, H trill try to perk up under n new manager and through Hj !hc Infusion of some new blood. H Then, of course, there' Is always that mystic mlrnge, H -the draw, as important in baseball as In poker, to be H consldored. Perhaps a man may get a whole new hand H out of his recruit, but the chances are against it. One Hj good youngster out of a season's crop very nearly H approaches the supreme realization on the drafted H lot. In these modern-days of strict baseball leglsla- H lion and standard values In athletes bull players can- 1 aot be bought. They have to be developed, so that, H liko Rome, a baseball machine cannot be assembled H 'md built In a day. The constructive course of a ball 1 -eam Is slow, but the destructive disintegration is H - lsually rapid and final. Hl - Few lmpoitaut trades have been engineered between 1 Ihc shrewd managers since the lRSt season closed. H Philadelphia and Cincinnati did agree on a dicker by H which Graut, the third baseman of the Quakers, with H ilcQullIen, Bates and Moren, went to Cincinnati for H Lobert, Rowan. Puskert and Beebe, This deal seems 1 ' to haTe strengthened the Cincinnati club and to have H plugged up a weak place in the pitching department. H Otherwise the veterans appearing on the various teams H will be the same as last year. H The Glauts should be stronger this season, but this H v conclusion is based on a hypothesis of "it's." The Hl team is built around one mau a pitcher. Mathewson H is his name, and he la big and blond and has stuff on H -the, ball. For ten years he has occn almost Invincible. H fcoiue time, according to the laws of nature and basc- H 'ball, he must "crack." If Mathewson is as good this 1 'season as he was ladt, if he approaches his normal H standard, the Giants should have an excellent chance. j He has been truly called the god of the Polo Ground 1 The Giants' pennant chances hang on him very H largely. H Raymond a Problem. H ', The next "if" is, associated with a temperamental f gentleman named Raymond. He means well at tho beginning f tach season, but somehow it seems that H vhen hs strikes the dizzying dazzle, of the metropolis M hia feet slip, anil all the things that -he should not do, I vie l sSh tp xl At. - j'"Sgg jgjtBSk 1 WILLIAM y wSUtt&u DAHLEN H Brooklyn YWrt! " ' Nationals vt&i1"' (Supcrbas) CLARKE GRIFFITH y, Cincinnati Nationals M (Reds) pemls largely on two things: Can Chase make good as a manager? Will the positions of third base and shortstop be as formidable as they were lust year? Chase is the youngest monager In the big leagues, and the fact that ho is a wonderful player is no reason why he can be counted upon to be n winning leader. I3r will have to be nble to control men. to maintain harmony, an psscntl.il to the perfection of the "inside" game, and to settle petty quarrels and jealousies which arise from time to time among ball players, who light for the centre of the stage with almost as much a ldity as chorus girls. He Is still untried by the testa which come with a long campaign. Changes in the "Yanks." The right hand side of the Yankee Infield might be represented by "X." Tho coefficient of efficiency of this portion of the team Is still undetermined. ".Tlmmle" Austin, a man full of ginger, but a cipher with the bat, has been traded to St Louis for Roy Hartzell, a player of uncertain potentiality. Chase has declared that he expects to put Knight, a seasoned man, on second base and hopes to fill up the gaps at shortstop and third base with two youngsters, Otis Johnson and Elliott. To some veterans of the game this seems to be a risky undertaking. In the first place Elliott Is left handed, and it la seldom that a southpaw shines any place in the infield except at first base. For some reason n man who throws left handed looks awkward In the Infield and Scat, Biting His Nails, Smoking Black Cigars PWotd DK NJj BPX MKEJBKJM PATRICK J. DONOVAN , W W'l IHHHKHkHHI . Boston Americans 'fi W A "cdNTNtE- . MACK so carefully catalogued in his spring practice as a tee- totoller, are forgotten, and he again signs up with Bucchus, who always has open time. Raymond has been graduated from a Kcelcy cure this winter, and he took his degree at the expense of the New York club. He is still wearing a button, a sort of diploma, as a token of his course, or rather he was when this story went to press. ' While Mr. Raymond bus not yet been urged by any temperance societies to Join them in their work, still he is doing honor to his alma mater so far. McGraw says that if Raymond will go dry he will be one of the greatest pitchers in the pme, "He has the old jump on the ball," said the little manager recently, "and his curves' break with that sharp snap, the acme of all pitchers. The trouble with him last year was that his lingers were so limp on account of his liquid associations that he had no Influence over a baseball." Drucke, with his year of experience, should be a winning pitcher this season. The rest of the pitching staff is very bketchy. Wlltso Is distinctly a sometime pitcher, while Crandall and the rest cannot be expected to stick their records nbove the mediocre. McGraw may pick up some youngster among his recruits. bu( the tales from the South of the prodigies culled from the bushes with "fog" balls and "fish" balls and "hook" balls usually evaporate under the glare of inspection and tho mldseasou snn. The precocious pitcher Is seldom a reality. A tale drifted out of the 4Whlto Sox camp this spring, wafted on its way over the wires by tho correspondents, correspond-ents, that a wonderful pitcher, with a wonderful curve, known as the "fog" ball, hud been turned up. Tho idiosyncrasy of this curve Is that the ball conies up to r (priiv WL x V-t,1 Philadelphia Americans ' !'"V i3feJ; '- p' ' -, Wr-v &,4.l (Athletics) ''',''?iaT. U ' .JIT ' ljlv,w Photo by Mclmtte OfrlL &$& - - cw York Americans f j. never appears to get his stuff across with the same facility that u right bunded man docs. Elliott comes with u guod reputation, but he has never been out of the minors before, .Jid a man may be a beur In the bushes' and only u cub In the real menagerie. It Is much the same with Johnson. He is an importation direct from the lesser leagues, his last stand being Jersey Chy. He Is right handed, bnt unknown. Of course, Chase has Gardner and Hartzell to fall back upon, but, even so, that is like falling back upon a papier macho1 prop. This will albo mean switching Knight back to shortstop again. Now thut the llaws in the New York American League Club have been found, why not take a look at tbc strong points? The catching department la better than last year, with Sweeney improved by u season's work and Blair to help him out. The pitchers look good. Ford, the sensation of the circuit last yenr, will undoubtedly lead all the rest of tho Yankees' staff. Vaughn, a dependable southpaw; Warbop, Qnlnn nnd Fisher bhould be winning workers. The outfield looks good, good with un inclination toward the better. Crce, Duuiclfl, Wolter and Hemphill those four names must sound like a poem to the ears of Cba& But to get the Yankees, In touch with the absorbing question, It will bo hard to hoist them higher than second place in the race. The Athletics appear to b bend and shoulders, chest and belt line, ocr all th other contenders In the American League. They wera i young last year. They will be older thlsr, with the slow ripeness of maturity The club presents in Its cast of characters the some Infield, the Identical ourfleltL a duplicate of the pitching stuff and the undisturbed catching departmput. not to mention the manager, ,rConnle" Mack, all of which mutiloted the Cubs, th Nationul League's best, last fall, OX course, If Cooinb should "crack." "Eddie" Collins should go lame. Bakef become n paralytic and Mnck lose his mind, their rating in the Bradstrwt's of basebull would detcrlorato Otherwise the Athletics should be there or In tho "vicinity "vi-cinity when It comes time to decide who shall play In ' the world's championship series. Thnt appcors to bo J their niche when taken in relation to the vital j question. The Boston American League club has been on tho fringe of hope for several seasons now, but has failed to climb any nearer to the top of things It Is a good ball team, well balanced and rh thmlciil in action, but it Incks pitchers good, steady, reliable tllngers. The polished pioducts of the box are not to bo found on its roster To beat another club tin Red Sox have to moke eight or ten runs. Wood Is good, but temperamental tempera-mental nnd easily worried. As for the rest of the pitching flock, there Is not one who stands out prominently, prom-inently, of whom a manager could s0. "He sure Ir some pitcher," the superlative compliment In the prt- fesslou from the man who appreciates tulrlers as an twirle'rs. "The Chicago Americans should be distinctly bettci i this year. They have hod a chaueo to get no ; qualnted with Hugh Duffy, the manager, and hit method; and Mr. Duffy has reciprocated. Most o 'the team were young and untried, lacking in expcrl enco, lost season The club was In the course of con struction. Thut there wus latent strength was evl dcncetl by the spurt made by the taam nt the ani ; ot lust summer, when no one thought that there wui so much baseball voltage In the club. The uuclem wns there, but the ball club had not yet been hatched Last year It was in an Incubator. In answering th question It appears that the White Sox should tlnlsl In the first division. The remaining and undiscussed American League clubs do not hold out much hope to their supporter. Tho Cleveland team Is always looked to for greal things, but when the curtain goes up the club never quite gets Its stuff over Casting the eye over tin Q outfit one sees no reason why the teom should b at any higher elevation at the end of this year thai In the lost three or four campaigns. , Detroit moy or may not. Stories filtered out of tlu Tigers' lair last season that there was no more har mony In the team than in n dance hall piano. M n mutter of fnct that vas Just the trouble- Professional Profes-sional Jealousies, too man "prima donnas" and to little co-oporutlon reduced the spefd of the tpara Cobb was not speaking to Crawford becnusc Xyrut ' said that "Sam" Intentionally neglected to Interpret , the signals correctly and thus spoiled his base running run-ning Jennings could never get his team cxplodlnf J on all nine cylinders In unison. Uc had the men, ' but each wanted to play his own tunc in his ow wny. Detroit's Need of Harmony. If Jennings can cull n peace conference and arrange for a reciprocity agreement the club should be I pennant contender. Otherwise no. His pitching sta4 .could stand strengthening, but for the rest he has t good bull club, and in Cobb a wonder, even though an exceedingly tPtnpcramentnl wonder. Washington, first in war, first in peace and last it the American Leugue, wns the way that It went foi some time. James McAleer Improved the standing ol the Senators last senson, but he is not facing an rosy : j future. He has a tusk before him to build a ball fl team out of the wreck he inherited. St. Louis starts out under a new manager, the last occupant of the job having departed under a clouj ; when Lujoie made six .successive hits on the final daj of lust seusou, which wus necessary to give tht Frenchman u glimpse at the automobile batting prlzo Like a drooping Uower, the St Louis club will take t deal of sprinkling and nursing before It can again ' bloom. Wallace, with his long experience in baseball, . should inoke u guod lender. And then, anyway, un ' fortunutcly enough, some club has to be last, To skip back to the National League, not omlttinf ' j to be careful about the purtisun rooter, tho Cincinnati club is loaded with hope. Apparently, Mr. Grltlith, ; sometime culled the "Old Fox," gained by his trud& ; with Philadelphia McQuillen, if he can be kept in ; the harness, Is u good pitcher. Moren Is fulr, belntf something of u bud actor himself, while Grunt Is ono ; of the best third buseineu ploying bull. Grilhth has hitters and fielders on his club, and iu Bcschcr he Das the best buse runner in the .National League. Suggs .j Is a rattling good pitcher, so thut if Grltlith is ever going to get unywhere neur u peununt It seems as If j his time had come to inuke the try. Philadelphia does not nppeur to be so strong as last year, although Churlcs Dooln, the mumiger, allows I. thut ho wus hundlcupped by luck of support from his J cost, and that now, us u result of his trudc which dls- ' pcused with sevorul trouble makers, he will be able ( to luspiro his men. If any one can, that uuburn topped pepper shaker ought to do It. Rrcsuahuu hub not done much as u manager to dute, : ; but, realizing thut cr. lng never hipped up uny spilled . milk, he Is going at It ugulu with all the vigor of hb uuturc. In sliltu of his enthusiasm tbeie does not ap- ; pear to be uny place higher than sixth or se enth re- served for his club. "Bill" Dnblen, like Bresnuhan, has u club of youngsters and lots of hope. The Bos- ton team Luls u crop of youngstcis uud thut is ubout all. bo It will be se$n thut the changes rung In baseball ' are gradual No team shoots like u skyrocket from the bottom to tho top, nor does uuolher club drop sud-donlj. sud-donlj. Age, the luck of the game, and Injuries to f players have much to do with the ultimate outcome. I Some teams Just fizzle all over the ground for season after seusou, like a skyrocket without a stick. The Boston Nationuls uro u good exnmple of this. Then suddenly u team 'i perk up under new management. ' What McGruw was to New York Tcnney may be to Bostou. Ill these days, when stars arc carefully guarded by . the laws of organized buseball, and men of the best ' cullbie cunnot bo bought, but must be developed or ;' dlicoered wustlng their talents in some minor league j side show when they should be appearing under the big top, the development of u team from u tail wider to a pennant winner Is bound to be slow. Few stars f are turned up by the draughting process, although that Is the annual fountain of hope und Inspiration. Out of the Southlund comes tulcs each season of new -. found wonders. But if a manuger gets one first class - man out of nil his minor league pickings he is eutls- k ; lied. The Yankees were unusually lucky In this re- , j spect last year, drawing Ford, one of the best pitchers In the American League. The Cubs lifted "King" Cole, who proved to bu a star, directly out ot a ton- sorlul parlor, where he was shuvlng whiskers off J Terre liuuto faces. & The teams have all been glanced at. The question 11 ? remains, "How will they finish?" But the fun, thut a frothing, hysterical unlmal product of baseball, half S man uud half beast, the beast half assuming promi- $ i uence when the umpire's judgment doesn't colncldo Jj with his own, Is waiting for the reason to start, ready . j to go off at half cock. 2 it is a wonderful game that can provldo the excite- 2 raent and thrills, the fights and arguments, the hopes und fcura thut it dow. Every team tiaa Its apostles f, when tho season starts, no mutter how far down the J1 Sj scale it finished. In leas than a month the race will j & be on. Wutch the fun us he sits on the edge of his 1IL seat, biting his nulls, smoking black cigars, ridgeling .JR; around, a if ho were watching his baby being mur- Jig dered, or cheering us If his only son had been elected mH President. It Is tho gamo that makes all men kin, jSHfj the great American leveller. Each has a right to his wV opinion who can afford the price of admission, and 'Wfck ho exchanges it freely with his neighbor, be he pau- iL handler or railroad president, Day ufter day he slu tRS there, caressing bis hopes, fighting bis fears, and every 5KS once in a while he Jumps to his feet, sometimes onto JJ5S his sept, tears off his hat and shouts, "Oh you, Matty!" "Slide, you! Slide!" flS It Is the fever In his bones. Women are not 1m-. .-JIS-J mnnc. iWatch tho fans at the ball park. Tho uymp 1jl toma fare uppnront, not to be mistaken. j; E Perhaps you are one yourself. ' flg " 1 "'tL |
