New Britain Herald Newspaper, July 16, 1915, Page 13

Photo by American pn-mm HE 1915 season. like many ot\ux-;E will witness the ‘passing from tha Bene of' baseball activities of several aracters; who' had long ‘been con. cted, with Ats mistory. ' The latest one Chrls ' Mathewson, the star twqu if the’ New York Giants, who'{s near- the close of his honorable career. e CHRISTY MATH!WSON. being written. l‘l‘hey don’t come back when ' they reach his age. He. has served his club and his league ‘well, but, he, like afi; otheu, must answer’ the call of Fatlier Time. ' It is said that Mathewson's ailmént resembles that which destroyed, the usefulness of Ed Walsh, the Chicago ‘Whits Sox spitball king. It is not sur- ishould. fail.n"He hax DE. .time and has giyen un- o lasted a lo Beeninformed ‘that it may~be weeks |stintingly of his vitality to uu pro- ‘b?!r‘gu be will be in condition to pitch. |fession. is likely that the last chapter. of the book of Christy’s baseball life is RE are at least two new mana- rigers in the major leagues whohave made good because they have been for- tunate enough to have winning com- binations piaced in their charges. Pat Moran of the Phillies is seeing his first ' year as a major league manager, and his;team is leading the race—in fact, bas .been. virtually all. season and is now. picked to win the pennant. Clar- blmo Rowland also is a first year man # ‘majors, and bis team is likewise leading. But Rowland’s case is quite ifferent from Moran's. Moran spent jome twenty-five years in major league ‘.mm. He played under some of-the managers the gams ever pro-’ ibzlieving he would have the man- J‘Wm In' his prime he ‘yn a muv.' willing worker, and it is sald that for: ueveml seasons he was. “warmed up” almost every day throughout the summer. When he Wwas not taking his. regular turn on the rubber, and he did°that more;often than any other pitcher 'Mc- Graw ever had, he was being groomed for rescue duty. No pitcher who ever lived had it on Mathewson in efféctually and effective- 1y stoppihgia Batthi: . rally by .the op- position. Ha.was a wonderful, student of batsnmen, knew their every weakness and their strong points. He is one of the! few pitchers who had lomeu:lng ‘on ‘Hans Wmmw % bl Games Lost by Breaks In Luck TEERE have, becn m_uy ball games lost by the breaks of luck going against one side or the other at the critical 'stage of a game, but'it is ques- . [tionable -whether baseball records worse luck than:Tom Hughes, the old Wash- ington pitcher, encountered ‘while ap- parently . pitching his team to its eighteenth: consecutive victory in'the .| spring of.1912. Photo by American PNII Ascoeuuun. MANAGER MORA players mlko the manager. that Connie: Mack and John McGraw both have losers this year does not.in any way reflect on their ‘managerial "The' fact|’ ability. . It.is simply a; case of their not| having. the mnt-rinl which 'a’ wlnnln‘ team: requires. “_l_ WAGNER NEVER HAD TROUBLE T WITH UMPS. A:mx from' his wonderful abllity. as| a player, there is much ‘to. admire| about Hans Wagner. ‘During his e tire career' Wagner has never had al fun in with ‘an’ umpire. He Hhas never} criticised ‘another player, and, in-fatt; he has made very few comments'gbout| anything, preferring to attend to. his own business on-all occasions, o ‘Wagner has been a credit’ to 'the game, ‘and- that is-why ~his popularity has never been on the wane. He has been a competent and loyal athlete, and| the day that he retires will be regret- ted by all true lovers ‘of -the ‘sport. Tnm-.m ‘was played in Philadelphia, -trlkea on.him, and then sent a h. the middle of the ker ; foul tlppsd. The il strick .Hem—y- big mitt, but feli a" home ‘run over the ,.t¥ing the score,: while nh who,, !oH'nwed him in the bat- game ‘was won; by, the Mackmen in the tenth. ' Hukhes blames himself for.al- Iowing Baker. to hit. “I had no _right to take’ any ‘chance with®him at that stage and should have walked him and pitched to,/Strunk,” Hughes afterward said. But’ that, of course, was second f.hnugm mer the. n_me. BASEBALL may be a' popular sport in this country, as well as,in Eng- land, Japan and other foreign coun- tries, but, in the vernacular of the sand lots, Alxltralia has still “to be shown.” The :Sydney- Herald tells of the abrupt ending ‘of ‘a’baseball game . after ‘the b.lls had been lined into a crowd .of ctators. 'The Australian paper said: here was'a dramatic conclusion to the “baseball " match, America , versus Australia, played at the Agricultural show ground on Saturday afternoon as an_item ‘on, the program. of the police and nreman'l patriotic carnival. In América’s sécond -inning a player de- flected “a :fast ball ' straight for the densest portion of the crowd, and a cream 'was heard. The ambulance men' rushed to the spot and found that a woman: had been struck on the head, but;was not seriously injured. “Without' waiting to see if any dam- age had been done; .the players pro- That is a lot more: than can be said: uf| soms of the .other stars' who have been dev: loped xn blubal& gnms as if nothing. had happened. A L . | eulty, Pilcher Coombs’ Work Surprise of The Ball Year T out ofithe misty murk of oblivion emerges Jack Coombs, former world’s séties star and long the main. stay, of / thé. Athlgtics’ great pitching staff “in/ their ;palmy days. . With Squire Epbets’ Brodklyn Trolley Dodg- ers, ably'managed by Wilbert Robin- son, Copmbs, 18ionce more battling his way over the rough roads that lead to fame ‘and glory. Released outright by the Athletics and génerally, regarded as being one of baseball’s “hag beéns,” the “iron man" of other days has flashed a brand of twirling in the National league this season .that bids fair to put him at or neaf the ‘top of the circuit’s winning hurlers. Robinson bas sent him to the mourid several’ times this season, and to, date the former Athletic has turned in more victories than defeats. His victéries have beén hard fought bat- tles, too,: his téammates making only two and three runs behind him. .¢ Is' Remarkable Comeback. Coombs' return to the top of the heap s oné ot the most remarkable ever re- corded in the annals of baseball. The pig ' twirlér severely wrenched the musclés of his back in a world’s series battle while with the Athletics. At that time" it “was thought he was through for all time as an athlete. ‘But Coombs, was determined to stick in the game. He' eimployed specialists to work on him and a ‘harness’—something. on order of a steel jacket—was rigged up. Wearing this, ;he was able to work on the mound, though under great diffi- The injury made itselt manifest in his work. - He twirled lots of good games, but he couldn’t pitch with the efféctiveness .that had once-marked his ‘efforts. Connie Mack was loath to le him go, and not until last fall, when ;he ‘cleaned house” for fair, did Athletic manager part with him. oombs,, then a. free agent, went to Manager Robinson of the Dodgers. To him he made the proposition that if he didn’t return, to his old form his serv- OUIMET PAYS TRIBUTE - TO ices were not.to cost a cent. Judging by his work so far, Coombs is meet- ing the -Dodgers’ paymaster regularly. Easy Style of Pitching. “I always saved something back for the pinches,’ even before I was hurt,” he said. “I never believed in working hard:over every ball I pitched.. When I broke into fast company I resolved |to copy the crack twirlers who had been in fast company for years. I be- lleved that the ones who stayed up there year after year were the-ones to tudy. “I picked out Cy Young and Bill Di- cured ‘ahother ball and continued theplayed him at third base, from where neen as the best examples. 1 noticed that ‘they worked in the easiest possi- ble way. Théy never exerted .them- selves needlessly. I think I got more benefit from watching them work than any othér’ twirlers I saw. I copled their ‘'methods and tried to improve upon .them—trjed.to be as effective as possible without wasting much en- ergy.”. NATIONAL UMPIRES NOT ALTER- NATING, NDER a new order from President Photo by American Press Association. MONG those who Jjolned in a lengthy “tribute to Jerry Travers after his Baltusrol finish was Francis Ouimet, as fine a sportsman as he is a golfer, “T have always said,” remarked Oul- met, as he followed Jeérry the last few holes, “that there was no earthly rea- son In the world why Travers shouldn’t be just as good a medal ‘player as he was a match player., The trouble, is that before Jerry had never given much thought to .medal .play, being content to qualify and save his enér- gles for match play ahéad. But he has Tener National league umpires are not altérnating this year, but one man of each pair always works behind the bat and the other on the bases. Last year every pair except Klem and Ems- lie alternated in each game, but Mr. Tener believes better results are ob- tained by each man having a specialty and devoting all his attention either to calling balls and strikes or to making the base decisions. deflected to the upper story of the pa- villon, striking a man on the shoulder. .- “Mr. Flowers, the minister _for health, who was present, rushed out on to the ground and called out, ‘Stop this silly game.’ “The - players promptly obeyed his orders and play ceased.” E is no good reason why Bobby ‘Wallace should not be a competent umpire after he gets accustomed to the work. Wallace always was considered a smart ball player and one thoroughly famillar with the rules. He will have the respect of the players and man- agers also and ought to have smooth 'salling in his new fleld of operation. ‘Wallace ‘broke into fast company as & pitcher for the Cleveland team. He Photo by American Press Association. BOBBY WALLACE, was effective, too, ‘against some clubs, Brooklyn ‘in particular, but Pat Tebeau, then manager in the Ohio town, saw an infielder in Wallace and for awhile he graduated to play short. There every qualification for a medal rourd wonder, as a .medal round is nothing but match play against par. [ think Jerry worked out his system exactly this way, for he fought par every hole just as if the old boy hAd been a live opponent who was playing with dead- ly accuracy. “This talk of Jerry being all through,” commented Ouimet, “was, of course, all bosh. I beat him at Ek- JEROME D. TRA s "?‘th' 4 JEROME D. TRAVERS. seven. Jerry will al golfer, as he has the needed to round out & This is born in a man develop, although by improved. He has this better than almost any man He beat me at Garden City because he happened to be going. But Jerry is still well under thirty, is taking fine care of himself and is natural golf genius. He should be a great golfer for at least thirty yeafs, as others have been great golfers at fifty-six or fifty- ‘Ban Johnson ‘Issues New O not only discolors the PRE IDENT BAN JOHNSON has issued” an order which ' will ‘éurb American league pitchers, to. an extén at least. ' Instructions have beeh .1 sued té the umpirés to prevent plu:h- ers from using foreign substances on the ball. In the future lcorice and resin are barred entirely. Manager Donovan of the Yankees and other the pitchers a hold t |miake the curves more Recently one of the Cl ers used resin, which he hip pockets, on the ball e protests at the time, but the had not been instructed to to this practice and con no action. - managers recently called the attention | It has never been of President Johnson to the fact that [such rules for most of i Joe Wood and several others of the |there always have been some Boston pitching staff were using lic: |ulous ones who want, or wanok because I happened to be going. ! orice on the balls they pitched. This ladvantage. Wallace, and he also developed into a dangerous hitter. He was much sought after during the American-National league war, and- he was offered a fortune td jump, but stood pat and remained with the St Louis Americans. TH no county cricket games be- ing played this summer, al! lawn tennis tournaments, golf champion- the principal athletic méetirgs cancelled and horse racing meeting: with the . éxception ,of Newmarket, abandoned during the continuation of the war, sport throughout the British isles has reached 'the lowest ebb on record. | At the recent meetins of the Maryle- bone Cricket club, the governing body |of county cricket, Lord Hawke gave out that no fewer than 2,112 members had gone on active service, sixty-nine of whom had been killed in action. Surrey, who gained the"crickst cham- pionship last season, have just issued their balance sheet, showing' a profit of $823 on the ‘season’s working, and with Nottinghamshire are the only counties so far to announce a balance on the right side. DREYFUSS TELLS WHY NATIONAL LEAGUE TEAMS SLUMPED LAST YEAR. MHAT Federal league influence had much to do with the pennant race last season there is not the slightest doubt. Players who were made offers by the “outlaws” mnaturally lost inter- est in their work, . with the result that they did not play up to their standard. The failure of the Pittsburgh Pirates to make a respectable ‘showing is di- rectly attributed to the Feds. Dreyfuss explains his team’'s slump thus: “It wasn’t the Giants which started us on the bumpers. I told Fred Clarke several days before our first series with McGraw that we would: never stop dropping until we reached the cellar. The Feds never let us alone.a minute. Our players talked, played and ate Feds.” From Barney’s logic 'it: Is surmised the reason for the Braves' victory is that the team got such a rotten start in the race that the Feds did not both- er them, and there was no use in doing this after the team got going and real- ized that it had a chance to win me SAM GRAWFORD, Ty Cobb's slug- records for number of hits made, and, barring accidents, surpass the Lajole. -nmever was a more capable inflelder than pennant. Passed the 3,000 hit. mark it wab SRSty SAM CRAWFORD OUT TO SMASH Photo by American Press Assouiation. SAM CRAWFORD, DETROIT'S HARD Ml'l"I‘INOv predicted ever reach total, were unlikely to last as long. These were that ed without Crawford, who more than 2,800 hits to his has played five vascs legs e S, B ging. partner, is out to break all is almost sure to records of Wagner and When Wagner and Lajole et