New-York tribune., 1910-10-23
VICTORY OF THE GIANTS
Matty the Man of the Hour in
Royal Baseball Battle.
MUCH CREDIT TO DEV0RE
Ford a Disappointment in Big
Series for the Local
Championship.

the question of baseball supremacy in Man
haitian has been settled. The memorable
pitchers battle between Christy Mathew
son and Russell Ford in the first game
gave an inkling of what the final result
OF the series would be. When with two
out and the bases filed, in the eighth
inning, Arthur Devlin raped a stinging
single to left field, scoring Devore and
Doyle and practically clinching the vic
tory, McGraw turned to his old side part
ner, Hughie Jennings, who sat in the press
box, and said: 1T is just a question OF
class Hughie; just question of class"
Those words summed up in nutshell the
relative merits OF the TWO teams
For the purpose of review it must be
told once more that the Giants won the
series by four games TO two. one being
tie. The scores of the games in order were
as follows:
First game, Giants, 5; Yankees. l. sec
ond game Yankees, 5; Giants, 4; third
game. Giants, 6; Yankees, 4; fourth game
Giants. 5; Yankees, 5; (ten innings; fifth
game, Giants, .; Yankees, !; sixth game.
Yankees. 10; Giants, 2; seventh game,
Giants, 6; Yankees g.
Of the forty-Odd players who took part
/ in the series, Chrsty MatheWsOn stood
head and shoulders above all others. The
big pitcher proved, as he had often demon
strated in the past, that he is the greatest
tvirler that ever lived. He now stands
on the topmost pinnacle of baseball fame,
without a peer, While his critics have
watched and waited for the skilful arm to
lose its cunning, and have predicted his
d oil tiy,,a in ton
years of pitching on the staff Of the New
York Giants he successfully defended his
title of king of them ALL bestowed upon
him by Frank Chance, of the Chicago cubs.
Three times within eight days Matty
faced the Yankees. and three times he
won a Clean-cut victory. Coming TO the
rescue Of Drucke. he opposed the men from
the hilltop for the fourth time, and. pitch
ing three innings, held a lead for the
Giants which the Yankees threatened to
overcome The one point of absorbing in
terest to all fans in the series was the
question whether the crafty Matty could
beat Russell Ford, whose rise to fame in
the American League during the last sea
son had been meteoric and sensational The
battle was fought out in the first game,
and Matty won. On two other occasions
Ford faced the Giants, but was unable TO
beat them; and, while his work was brill
liant at times and creditable always. he
showed that he had no right to dispute
first place with Matty, even if ranked on a
par with MOrdecai Brown, Walsh, Bender
CoOmbs RuclIer and other great twirers
Mathewson's record during the series was
one which undoubtedly has never been
equaIled. In the thirty innings which he
pitched he struck out thirty-five batsmen
and gave only one base on balls. While he
made two wild pitches he did not hit 4
single player. Only three pitched balls,
therefore, stood in the way Of a record of
perfect control. The most significant fact
revealed by the statistics, however, is the
relation of the number of hits to the runs
scored. The invincibility of big Six with
men on the bases gives him his greatest
claim to supremacy over all other pitchers.
The figures showed that although Matty
allowed twenty-six hits, the Yankees made
them count for only seven runs. No bet
ter evidence of his coolness and masterful
work in tight places could be offered
Without MathewsOn, il can only be a
matter of speculation whether the Giants
would have won the series. While Ames
and Wiltse showed up poorly. Crandall and
Drucke were effective. On the other hand,
Fisher and Warhop were the only Yankee
nine innings, and the Giants defeated both
once. Big Jim" Vaughn was a disap-
pointment. being knocked out OF the box
twice Quinn, who went to the rescue on
two different occasions, succeeded in check
ing the Giants. Hughes was a negligible
quantity in the series. pitching only one
inning while Ford did not come up to ex-
pectations, for the reason. perhaps, that
Matty broke his heart in that first brilliant
game. in which the hOnors of the struggle
were shared for seven full innings.
While the pitching of Matty went a long
way towards saving the series for the
Giants IT was the all around good hitting
of McGraws nine which scored the runs
that Won the games. In timely hitting and
base running the Giants surpassed the
Yankees, and in those two features the
struggle showed the form which wins
championship baseball struggles. While
the Yankees were not Outbatted by a great
margin it was the timely and heavy hit
ting which counted.
In team batting averages the Giants
were nearly 30 points ahead of the Yam
KEGS, McGraw's nine making a mark OF
.2Sl for the series, to .25i for the Yankees.
In the number of hits made the Giants
surpassed the Yankees by only two, but
bases. while the Yankees hit for only
seventy-fve bases with sixty safeties.
Next TO Matty. little Josh Devore was
most prominent. His work was nothing
short of a revelation to the fans" and
gives much promise for the future. He
had a perfect fielding average for the
series accepting twelve chances without a
law and ne led the team in batting with
an average OF Ala, making twelve hits,
one of which was a home run. His won
derful throws to second base nipped two
or three men who were trying to stretch
a single into a double. Not alone In hit
ting, but in base running as we'll DevOre
vas a factor in the game He proved
demon on the bags. leading both teams
IN stolen bases, being credited with six.
Larry Doyle with a batting average Of
.37S. Devlin with .375 and Merkle, with $40
supplemented the work of Devore, and the
four made up a quartet which would
make The greatest pitcher quail Larry
Doyle was the king Of the heavy hitters
-Four of his eleven hits were for extra
bases-a double, a triple and two home
runs Doyle batted in s runs and scored
nine times himself thus answering for II Of
the SO runs tailed by the Giants. Devlin
batted IN Z runs, Merkle T. and Devore 3.
The Giants stole eighteen bases to
thirteen for the Yankees, Devore Doyle
and Murray stealing twelve between them.
Sweeney, Mitchell and Criger were unable
10 keep the fleet-footed Giants on the