Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1909-07-10

HARD TASK FOR
THE SECRETARIES.
Not An Easy Job to Flick Winners
And Losers of ieaguc
Games These DAYS.

l. -g4. Anu tlIOSpFS OF l3S1tH NC stalu{s
Games These DAYS.
One Of the greatest arguments in
connection With the national pastime,
which rapidly is becoming u national
Institution. comes up in picking the
where two or more men have been la
tlboring In the pitching vineyard. Con-
| trary to popular Impression, John Ac-,
curate Haydler and Robert Royal
h1clloy. the men behind the averages.
do not always go by the rule invented
by Nick Young, that the boxnan who
leaves the game with his team in the
van shall receive credit for the vic
tory.
Nor do they always penalizc the
performer who entering the combat
with the score u tie and the opposition
hitting like fury, fails to check the
smuggling Heydler and Mercy have no.
settled rule in crediting victories or
charging defeats except the rule OF
common sense. Some of the decisions
they have to make are as intricate as
the decisions handed down by the
national commission.
Both the big league SECRETARIES would
be delighted II some creative genius
[ NOuiu 5ulfkctlT Will " pam With a5NDultt
show the real worth of the twirlers
calculated from all angles Of effectve-
ness and ineffectiveness. The present
scheme Of giving the laurels to the
pitcher who wins the highest percent
age OF games isn't a good one. for the
reason that almost invariably the fling
er whose name appears at the top OF
the list at the end of the season is a
man who IS with the pennant winning
club.
If this statement should be aues-
toned by fans, all they have to do to
see that ii is right is TO take the
pitching records of the National
league for the last 20 years and glance
over them. BY 50 doing they Will find
that in this time there have been only
six leaders who We're not connected
with the teams that capped the gonfa-
Ion. viz, John Clarkson. in 1889. when
New York won: Bill Hutchinson, in
1891. when Boston Won; Frank killen,
in 1893 when Boston Won; Jouett3Meek-
in. in 1894 when Baltimore won; Amos
Rusie. In 1897. when Boston won, and
Sam Lever. In 1905. when New York
won.
AMERICAN DOPE" THE SAME
The statistics i'll the American
league are along the same lines. The
In 1901. and Clark Griffith, their boss,
ranked No among the artillcrsts.
s.'Rube' Waddell topped the list the
next season and he was with Phila-
sdelphia. the pcnnant winners. In the
next two years the curving crown fell
TO mon who We're not on the winning
entry Earl Moore and Jack chesbro
excelling their rivals.
In the last four seasons the spells
\, n Nnl1nl1
Q9O5) and Donovan $500 being with
winning outfits. and Plank Q9o6) and
Walsh d90S) being With teams that
finished second. wild Bill Donovan
ayers thatifhe was euchred out of the
honor OF leading the twirling brigade
last years but he wasn't, as one victory
he claimed was when he pitched only a i
few innings. He left the game with
his team in the lead. all right, but
Heydler and McRoy are not in the
habit of allowing victories to men who
work only in a few innings
JUDGMENT MUST BE EXERCISED.
ut is for this reason that Christy
iNrathewson. who would have led the
National league pitchers last season
had Fred MerSle touched second base
on that historic afternoon of Sept. %,
1905, will get credit for only one of the
two wins over the Bostons last. We'd
with the score tied in the ninth inning
with the score tied in the ninth inning
and his team won out. The victory
goes to Matty. In the second con-
test he quit at the end of the second
with the score A to in his teams favor.
Otis Crandall finished and he didn't
allow a run.
Indiana to have him do even better
work than Mathewson in five more inn
5ings and get no credit for his per-
formance, but this would be the misfor
tune of the Fowler (fndiana9 lad If
IIeydler followed the obsolete rule of
giving to Nfatlfewson the credit of the
triumph simply because he quit the
encounter with his team in the lead.
Crandall will get the credit Of the vic
tory, and he deserves it.
SECRETARIES DECIDE.
A similar case happened on the HILL
top 10 days ago The Senator'S made
four runs In the first inning and the
Highlanders two in the second off
Hughes Dolly Gray twirled the
third session for the Cantillon Grustac-
cans and blanked the New forks
though they tAumped him twice. Then
Walter Johnson, the phenom from
Weiser, Ida, appeared on the scene and
the Senators won, to 4, his team and
the Highlanders each scoring two runs
from the time of his entrance, The
victory goes to Johnson. not Hughes,
though when Hughes left the contro-
ycrsy the Washingtons We're ahead. to
2. Johnson. however, pitched six inn
ings, and did better work in that time
than Hughes had done in two rounds.
.s The big league secretaries arc. the men lei
who decide which pitcher gets credit
for win or which pitcher is to be
charged with; a defeat The official
score blanks have this line on the bot
tom:.If summary does not show clear
Nv. state who in your opinion. Won or
lost the game The official scorer
writes in the names Of the men aud
often his decision is reversed by Heyd
Ter and MERCY
This certainly will be busy. season
for the secretaries, as the practise OF
changing pitchers in games is getting
more and more common
GAMES IN SATURDAY LEAGUE.
,,a,,,u,i,. an. foday.s games In the