The Washington times., 1909-07-26
THEY'RE POKING FUN
AT WASHINGTON TEAM
EVEN IN ST. LOUIS
Town With Two Near Tailenders Adds Insult to In
jury-What Chance Would Murray Have Here9
Precphate Philadelphia Sport.
By THOMAS S. RICE.

Two games here tomorrow with
Athletics.
A cheerful disposition is a mighty big
help in this vale OF tears, and we have
been trying to take a cheerful view of
the Washington ball team, but when
outsiders begin to poke fun at Les
MfserabIes we take it seriously. Out IN
st. Louis the newspapers are Joking
about sour cripples. Think of 1t, and
weepl St. Louis, Of I'll the towns on the
map. ST. Louis with a seventh place
team In the American League, which
has an average Of 1872, and sixth place
outfit in the National League that
boasts an average Of .42O, is kidding tie
Capital How'd you like TO be a base
ball writer and root geographically for
the lone team when you go against 3.
proposition like that?
One thing. the crumbling Of the out
law leagues will save the fans the hor~
ror of reading a lot Of winter dope
about stars threatening to jump if their
wages are not increased in 1910.
Sure, it was natural the Philadelphia
scribes should say that Billy Murray
had been mentioned as the probable
successor to Joe Cantillon in this vity
if Joe is not with US next year. But,
what kind of chance would
Murray have to make good? He
would be handicapped by his Cantillon-
like career in Philadelphia, and spe-
ciaI anti-noise society would have to be
formed to stop the I-told-you-so chorus
il he did not put the team in the first
division right off the bat and keep IL
there. On the other hand ne might
fan into the heritage of a good nucleus
and set 'em crazy just as Clarke Grit
/ fifth has done In Cincinnati. If ever
/ a manager got a panning 1t was Griffith
when the New York Americans under
/ his management fell from first place
/ to last and stuck there. He changed
/ the scene Of his endeavOrs. did all that
| could possibly be expected in Cinctn-
/ natl and even more, and now the cr3hks
/ in that city are convinced he is the
| greatest ever
It was very kind of a St. L6uis writer
to allow that maybe with a little lucH
Les Miserables might win game
week.
The attitude or the W aSuluSlou oWh
| ers toward the managerial problem i
/ this: They are not going to make
| change unless they are convinced ina
/ they can get somebody better than j.
| CantillOn. They are not going TO get .
I new man just for the sake Of dolni
| something. They will have to be shown
This is sound doctrine Public sentlmen
| win cut a big figure with them, but the!
| have no intention Of going II blind Jus
to Gppease the pOpulace. That was tn
| attitude they assumed when the howl
/ were lOudest about Jake Stairs failure
| They carefully considered large mum
Der OF candidates and finally narrower
/ their choice down to Cantillon ana Bin,
I Murray, both of whom were considers
frst-class material, and Cantillon 90
the Job. Now they are in somewhat tn
same boat they were three years age
only more puzzled and desperate tina
ever. CantillOn has been the unluckies
man alive in Washington. Murray en-
tered the National League at Phtla
delphia amid great rejoicing by the fans
and is to get the hook for doing ex
actIy what CantillOn did here. A stud
of those two experiments In managln
is enough to make the Washington d
! rectors tear their hair and move siowl
before arriving at a decision We onl
hope il won't make Ben Minor Withdraw