The Savannah morning news., 1904-08-23
PENNANT MAY
YET COME HERE
WHAT THE DOPE BOOK SHOWS.
MACON HAS LOST HER LUCK AND
SAVANNAH is WINNING.

Race Will Not BE Decided Until the
Last Series Has Been Played.
Struggle Now Is Harder Than at
Any Time During the Season.
KOh1er and Smythe Do Not Sleep
at Night from WOrrY-CharlestOn
Cripple, Not Considered n Dam
gerous Rival.
Not since the balmy May days has
the race for the gay bunting down here,
where hints of summer seas" rejuve-
mates fiat wheeled athletes been any
thing like a race until now.
Through the long afternoons of May,
June and July F. Kohler and w.
Smythe counted but the prospective
margin the Highlanders would hold
when the scar of September touched
the tender green landscape and the
race was run.
Until now it has been a canter for
| the team which has had but few
changes since the opening day, but
now-Kohler and Smythe figure not on
the number of points, but the bare pos
sibility of winning.
All form players are trying to dope
out how their teams are going to fin
| ish. They are all boosted up as near
the top as possible, and were all to at
| tain the positions which they are en-
| titled to- according to these enthusiasts,
there would be hopeless crowding at
| the top.
The pennant race is now between
Macon, Savannah and Charleston. In
the present positions Macon has the
better chance. Taking the teams in
dividually and collectively, Savannah
has the better chance.
Charleston Badly Crippled.
Charleston's position gives the team
a showing, but the present crippled
condition of the team does not make
| it a competitor to be much feared.
| With one star twirler with an 'if,"
and two ordinary men, and a mute, the
pitching staff is not what it might
be.
Childs is the man with the eff" He
may pitch a no hit game. He may
strike out every opposing batter-if he
is in winning mood. Herr and Muir
ray are steady men, but lack the
| brilliancy that will be needed from now
/
| to short, and Ashenback is at first.
Mitchell is on third and with a fast
| fielding, but awfully weak hitting out
field, the team does not show up as
well as it did, prospectively, two weeks
ago.
Macon Lacks Pitchers.
| Macon's weakness is on the slab. 1t
is questionable whether or not the ex-
change of Whipple for Polchow was
a wise move. Whipple had been hard
| worked for the Highlanders, and has
been more successful than has Pol
| chow.
Bayne is the only man of extraordi-
| nary merit on the staff, and he has
been worked until hesis not as effective
as he was in the early days of the
season. Since he commenced the sea-
son he has pitched. comparatively,
more games than any other league
pitcher in the country.
An infield that is fast, but lacking
in those finer points of the game that
will tell in the end. Where on the in
field is there a good, heady man?
| Where is there a foxy old veteran like
Mullaney or TRULY, Andy Roth, or big
| Dan Burt?
Matching the Players.
Comparing the leaders with the team
that is now forging steadily upwards
it is apparent to even the novice that
the short time before the season will
close is the strongest point in Ma
cons favor. Starting at the backstop
the leaders have Nick Harnish.
He is a youngster with none of those
foxy tricks that Roths long experience
in fast company has taught him. He
has none of that dash and spirit of
play that characterizes Holmes work,
and the way Roth is hitting now, and
the way Holmes has been hitting all
season makes either a more valuable
man.
At first, there are none to compare
with Pigeon Toed Null. At second,
Blake and TRULY still leave the scales
balanced far in Savannahs favor, and
at short the Pathfinders boast the best
man in the league in the position. Chris
Miller has been an cratic man until
he settled down with the old hands on
the Pathfinder line up.
Nowhere. perhaps in the South, has
a third baseman worked more consist
emily than has Miller, and he is just
about twice as fast as Jerry Lipe. Billy
Smith can testify to the strength of
Miller's hitting. He is the only man
who has hit a home run inside the
Macon grounds this season. The Sa-
vannah outfield is 25 per cent. stronger
than Macons. This sounds a little ex-
travagant. but when comparing Burt
with Chandler, Yancy with Smith and
King with Stinson in the field, at the
plate and on the paths, the claim is
borne out.
SnVannnh's Crack Pitchers.