Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1907-01-27
MIDWINTER NOTES OF
THE NATIONAL GAME
Little Dependence to Be Placed Base Bali Averages INES
-Smprisine Work of the White Scx-Lajoie's Failure
at Cleveland and Mack's Success in Philadelphia.
By ]. C. Morse.

succeed in confounding his critics. There
| is no question that he Is a hard, earnest
| and conscientious worker and does his ieve
best at all times.
Connie" Mack deserved great credit, In
deed, when he succeeded in landing q
| couple OF penHants. though he was bereft
| of the services of such a man as Lajoie.
| Mack is worker. hustler. He Is a man
who rises superior to handicaps. He under
| took herculean proposition when he UNI
dertook to buck the National League In
Philadelpb L\yet he has succeeded. In a
remarkably short time he has come to see
the day when his club was the CLUB In that
city, yet there were plenty who prophesied
that il would never come to pass. 1t old
come to pass, and In very short order. The
Athletics ground Is not SO conveniently
situated as the other one and is not SO
commodious, but Mack gave the people the
club and the rest was easy. Things have
gone MackS way and he Is a rich man to-
day. In addition to his base ball enterprise
he has a billiard and bowling room which
brings In pretty revenue, ana ne IS also
interested in the Reach ball, the official
ball of the American and other leagues,
and travels the country during the
winter months in the interest of this artt-
Gle. Mack has great way of getting play
ers and, what is best of all, OF getting good
work out of them. He believes In young
players, and has an opening at any Tune
not only Is successful in producing good
ball teams, but he is credited with getting
the best teams for the least money. 1t
would be surprising. indeed, If it were
known how much less he pays In salaries
than other clubs.
Mack is game to the core. He never
whimpers il things do not come his way,
but does his best to remedy what is wrong.
You never hear of any complaints on his
part about the umpires. Having been
ball player once himself, he recognizes
the fact that umpres are not infalhble
and ne knows there is nothing to be gained
and perhaps a deal lost by any complaints
in that quarter. 1t took a Connie" Mack
to take hold of the famous pitcher RUDE
Waddell after Chicago and Pittsburg mad
had all they wanted with that player, and
Mack is not through with the "Rube' yet.
He knows there is still left whole lot of
pitching in that player, and he Intends 10
stick to him as long as he can make good,
and he thinks that 'Waddell Will be good
as ever the coming season.
Last season Mack lost Lave Cross. one
of the best third basemen in the country.
He did not succeed in securing a man to
take the place of the veteran, but he
realized full well that even If he retained
the veteran there would come a time when
he would be obliged to make change and
it would be as well to make 1T and have
it done with, and SO he agreed to let
Cross go to Washington. Despite the fact
that he lost Cross and missed him sorely,
his team would have made better show
he was crippled seriously in the box by the
absence of Waddell and Plank from the
club. Financially the season was de-
cided success. 1t is no easy matter to de-
velop a first-cfass third baseman in one
season Often it takes years to develop a
first-class man. 1t was doubtless the con-
current opinion in this matter that led to
the decision to give Collins another trial
in Boston rather than let him go to st.
Louis for it was thought q long chance
would be taken to allow him to go>else-
where as lorg as he was able to play ball.
X X
II is a question, arguing from the Cross
case, IL it is a good idea for player to
continue too long in one city. A change
is often beneficial to both player and club.
Collins cannot remain in Boston all the
time, and that being the case, it Is up to
the club to keep It's eyes open for a player
who can fill ais shoes when he drops out.
There is no reason why Collins should not
be good for some years to come II he takes
the proper care Of himself.
X Il
Cincinnati will be watched with much in
terest next season. That club will drop
two such veterans as Joe Kelley and Tom
Corcoran and will try young material in
their places. There Is no doubt at all
there Is still plenty of good stuff left in
these two players. New York will take a
chance on Corcoran and there seems no
as he Is by no means has-been and ought
to shine in faster company than that. which
he has left.