Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1909-11-07
JOHNSON AND GROOM
LOOK GOOD TO COBB
Tyrus Says Nationals Could
Have Trimmed the
Pirates.

Special Correspondence of The Star.

By Clarence L. Cullen.
Special Correspondence of The Star.
NEW YORK, November 6. 1909
Yes, Ty Cobb DID say that with john
son and Groom and Street going well. the
Washington club could have cleaned the
Pittsburgs,' meaning for the champion
ship series. ] was talking yesterday with
a New York man, bug of high degree
and friend of Cobb's. who happened to
be present when Ty exuded that observa-
| ton, which is being made the nub of a
lot of curious comment around the cir
cults: AS usual, however, when a remark
is printed separately and detached from
| the remainder of the conversation the
! meaning of the detached remark is liable
to be open to different interpretations.
Cobb was generalizing, in an expansive
sort of a way, after the championship
series was finished He was there with 4
big boost for Honus Wagner and for one
or two other members of the Pittsburg
outfit. but he expressed the opinion that
| as whole the Pittsburg team wasn't
such great, marvellous many The
Pirates, said Ty, could and did play bone
headed ball, just the same as other cluue
can and do. He'd been wholly unable to
| see anything so miraculous about the
game put up by the Clarke gang, went on
Cobb. The Pirates weren't In 1t for team
! play with the Cubs. Additionally, Ty
| continued. II the Pirates hadn't had the
| luck to discover that Babe Adams was n
| cold weather HEAVIER, and that he was
right as himself, as he'd never been be-
fore and may never be again. during the
series. and il. cOncurrently with this.
Summers hadn't struck a bad streak. and
| Mullin hadn't collapsed from overwork,
and Donovan hadn't again illustrated his
| inability to get 'em over in raw weather,
| the wind up of the series might and prob
ably would have been different.
adams and Wagner won the series for
| Pittsburg." was Tvs way of putting 1t.
| 1.-THE Pttsburg club is just good ball
club. and when that's said alrs said
They were nowhere near what the Cubs
| were last year."
/ Then came the remark that has caused
so much comedy printing around the cir
| cult
why" Cobb went on. 'ff Walter john
SON and Groom and Street of the wash
ingtons were going right the Washington
| team, 1 honestly believe. could have
cleaned Pittsburg for the series
Cobb was told that this remark might
| be construed as wallop for his own
team.
well. some people can construe any
think into a knock" was Tvs response
to that. But / don't mean 1t that way.
of course. Nobody has anything on me in
|
club. But I'm simply expressing my opin-
ion that with its best fingers and its
crack catcher going right Washington
could have whipped Pittsburg for the Sc
ries. and I mean it. I'm not kidding. I'm
not trying to frame laugh at the ex-
pense of the Washington ball club. Don't
let anybody kid you into believing that
the Washington ball club is poor out
fit. for it's a million miles from that and
then some. With Johnson going right
and up to himself isn't 1t just likely
that this young fellow, who is made Of
iron when he is right at himself, could
| have won three games from Pittsburg
as that Adams took three from us? And
don't worry. That fellow is conner.
And the Pirates wouldn't have swiped
anything like so many bases from Charlie
Street as they did from Schmidt. who was
overworked, and Stanage. Taking II by
and large and leaving Wagner out of the
| computation, for, of course, that bear is
in class by himself. / think the WASH
ington club would have given the Pitts
burgs the scrap Of their life
! More Respect for johnson.
The fact must be admitted. no mat
1 ter how reluctantly, that the boxfight-
ing fans the country over are not now
of the opinion that the clash between
Jeffries and Johnson is going to be such
a cinch as they were before Johnson
put Ketchell away so easily. Respect
for Johnson as a heavyweight fighter
has greatly increased since the Ketchell
mill. The films Of that fight have done
Il lot toward increasing the fear of
Johnson which is felt by those who are
hungerlng to have Jeffries put him
away. You have seen those films, of
course. The pictures show what a
snap johnson had He looks as if fight
| Ing q little boy,and in the clinches par
| ticularly the prowess of the big black
was impressive and striking: He picked
and tOted him around the ring at will.
The one thing that the rOOters for
Jeffries are afraid of is his wind. JEFF
e He Iosks sa ke
used to look when he was at the top
of the heap. except for his. growing
badness. But it isn't any cinch that
the one thing that the fighter who has
been out of the game for long while
finds IT hardest to regain-his bellows.
looked bully when they came back. Tom
Sharkey, Jack McAuliffe. Kid Lavigne.
Frank Erne. Oscar Gardner. Jack
OBrien. not to mention a lot of others.
looked like all the bonbons and just as
| good as ever they'd looked when they
started over again after being out Of
thing was What laid them all away.
The wind was absent on permanent
| leave. Jeffries expresses the greatest
confidence that he'll get his former
great wind back. Even now he doesn't
show any puffy signs even after he's
done a lot of hard, fast work. But he
doesn't breathe quite so easily as he
! used to when he was a younger man.
The boilermaker says that three months
| in the rarefield air of the mountains
| will fix this part of him all right. The
| donesters hope so. But there are, 1t
| must he admitted, a lot of the dope
| sters men of long experience. too. who
are incredulous as to this part OF 1t.
| The opinion grows among the shre"dest
| handicappers that Jeffries. not only on
] account of the prowess of Johnson, as
| that prowess is becoming better under
| stood and acknowledged. but by reason
| of his own long absence from the ring, Is
| going I'D against the real big battle OF MS
| life when he steps into the ring TO con-
| front the black Texan.
Sure-thing Bettors Stung.
The only people who are laying up any
thing among the few Struggling oral
bettors'' who mooch dismally around the
nearby race tracks of late months are
| the fellows who play the field. The
field against the favorite has become the
one best bet of folks who desire to do
| a little cleaning for themselves.
The frequency with which they've been
oyerturning the prohibitive priced horses
prohibitiye for the ordinary bettor that
ls-during the last few meetings around
| here has become sort OF dismal joke
| among those interested i'm the dying rae
| ing game. It's just the commoneSt little