Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1907-02-10

turns out right at third base. If he does
there is nothing to it but the Browns"
'Christy Mathewson comes pretty near
holding the pennant possibilities of the New
York Nationals in his grasp, comes back
Harry Howell. land If Lou Criger< is in
shape you will see Boston quit the. joke
team squad and get into the American
League race again."
All of which shows pretty, conclusively
the Importance of a single star player to a
team, even without taking into considera-
ton the fact that other teams could be
wrecked by taking away a player. Not
only that. but the players are pretty near
right in their view of the matter, and this
Is one of the main explanations why pick
ing pennant winners ahead of time is
risky performance at best. Last seasons
work of the teams shows that the situation
then bears out the predictions for next sea-
son.
Take the New York Americans for in
stance. Suppose that Chesbro had been
pitching in his best form last season. New
York would have won the American League
pennant beyond shadow of doubt as II
was nothing but weakness in the pitching
department that defeated that team, and
Chesbro is capable of winning thirty out of
forty games when he is at his best. Should
Chesbro come around during the coming
season New York would come pretty near
getting the honor Griffith has coveted ever
since he was placed in charge Of the High
landers.
Mathewson undoubtedly aided the most
IN losing the petllldnl IOT view 10TH VI any
player on that team. Had he been in shape
to twirl as he did in 1906 Chicago certainly
would not have had the walkover it did,
even though the Giants had other handicaps
to overcome besids the poor condition of the
great pitcher. With McGraw cleaning out
the bad actors his team and. insisting
upon more rigid training in the spring and
better condition during the season, Mathe-
son may again have chance to show the
way to pennant for New York during
1907
AS for the Browns. last season McAleer
would have had the chance of his life for
pennant with a really high-class man at
third base Suppose, for instance, that
Bradley had been covering the far corner
for the Browns 1t would have been better
than even money that st. Louis would have
finished in front. That was the weak point
on the team. both on defense and on Of
fense and 1t was the one thing which finally
stopped the winning streak which developed
during July. With the same conditions this
year and Deehanty making good. both in
the field and with the bat 1t will take some
playing on the part of the other clubs to
stop the Browns.
When 1t comes to Boston. the reversal Of
form Of that team since 1t held the worlds
championship was to no small extent due
last year to the fact that Lou Criger was
not behind the bat. With Criger doing the
catching the club would have made a much
better showing, and If he is able to play his
old-tme game again this year Boston will
not show such a slump. In connec-
ton with Boston. 1t may be pointed out
that Philadelphia suffered badly by the loss
of Lave Cross, and that this hole in the
lineup will probably be filled acceptably by
our own Jimmy Burke this year. In fact,
Burke has a splendid chance to make
Mack's team a winner instead of loser, If
some of the old-timers on the team have
not gone back too much.