Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1909-07-25
WHERE DOES MACK
DISCOVER THEM?
Lot of Major League Man.
ayers Would Like to Know
His System.

Any good. mediumly good. manager
should be able to take team OF base ball
stars and shove il we'll to the top in the
American League. But to take crowd
OF unframed youths. bostered up by
few. veterans. and push that crowd 10 the
front Is accomplishment. That has
been the achievement of Connie Mack.
manager of the Athletics. and 1t stamps
him as one of the greatest men in the
base ball business.
There are methods and methods in base
ball. and some clubs have no methods.
but the system adopted by the willy Z.
Magillicuddy dong for Connie MacD
seems to have them all heat 1t looks
pretty to see Hughey Jennings out on the
coaching lines. ranting around. tearing
up grass and shouting until he is red In
the face, but a system employing much
less noise seems to have accomplished
more for c. Mack.
Ever go to ball game and try to dis
cover the director general OF the Athlet-
les? Ever notice Connie Mack in the lime
light? Ever see what becomes of him
when a game is over? Well. If you never
observed these things. take look. You
will be surprised.
Always Quiet.
Mack enters the ball park just when no.
body knows His presence is not heralded.
Ee Just comes. He never appears IN front
of the bench. During the game long.
lean, notwithstanding man may be discoV-
cred In the shade OF the visiting CLUBS
bench, but that's the nearest he ever
comes to the public gaze.
When the game commences Connie
Mack crosses his legs. unlimDers them'
makes motions with score card ana re-
cords religiously what happens TO every
batter. A gentle wave here or there or
the eyer-present score card Is enough TO
change the whole course OF the game.
Mack never passes his signals In puDnc
way He is the soft-pedal manager Ohe
wave of the card means TINS ana another
that peculiar little twist OF the paste
board removes one pitcher and substitutes
another. There is no slack motion In Z.
Mack's movements. He has the WigWag
business down fine.
TO the hotel In the bus with the players.
Like the common people. he boards
street car and goes to the Motel. he
usually waits till most OF the crowd is
out OF the wayne doesn't Ike TO be
jostled.
Nothing Escapes Him.
With all this easy-going style nothing
escapes him. When the Athletics laid
OF here Monday they didn't go to the
Washington game In q party and sit In
a box and be gazed at like most of the
noble athletes would have done. Not
much The Athletics sat about In the
grandstand In groups OF twos and threes.
being distributed where they could see
the most to the best advantage. ~
dollars to dog buttons they were told
what to observe before goirg. and that
C.. Mack knew when they arrived at the
hotel just what had impressed itself
upon them.
much information-for c. Mack. Ask
him how Krause is pitching and he will
reply: Very well. He is a good young
man And he will come back with:
Say. this Easterly has been hitting to
left field pretty much lately. hasn't he?"
The longer you talk to Connie Mack the
less, he tells you and the more he finds
out from YOU. He's not reticent nor re-
firing. but he knows how to pump
Just now Mack has closed the delight
full pastime of swinging around the cir
cult with a ball club that is chasing De-
troit hard. And this ball club is one of
the wonders of the major leagues. 1t
is composed OF collegians mostly, year
or two out of school. They have the snap
and hustle and play with all the aban-
don that marks the typical college game.
Ganley. Davis. Murphy and Ira Thomas
are the old heads In the lineup regu-
larry.
Where Connie Mack discovers all these
phenoms Is a mystery. He searches this
college and that college. and has turned
up, with q team Of young players quick
TO think and quick to act He is getting
base ball out of them, too, and is pur-
suing Detroit. a team composed of old,
experienced players and hard hitters.
Macks system couple Of years ago
was poohpoohed but he Is getting the
results. The youngsters are all up there
lighting. and while Connie Mack sits be-
meath the shade OF the bench and smiles
and crosses his legs and wigwags with
his score card the Athletics continue to
be q strong pennant contender