The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram., 1910-07-18
Modern Managers Rely on
Fewer, But More Reliable
Slab Artists.
iDLENEss IS INJURIOUS
ERs WHILE THE MAJORITY OF
THEM SIT ON TIE BENCH
FOLLY is REALIZED.

That ION. pitchins strings ure no
longer necessary and that four or tivr
dependable men are worth TWO or
three times that number OF ordinary
twirlers is fact.
Previously the necessity OF having
seven men. ench one ready at ali times
to take his turn ut box. was point
that was emphasized by managers
And during last season. too. the major
league manager who did not have at
least six available men for the box
figured that be was heavily handicap
ped in the tgnt for the coveted bunt-
ing.
Things have changed. however. The
wonderful work OF the Pittsburg
pitchers last season and the now very
patent fact that four twirlers prac-
tically did the brunt of the work for
the Pirates have given managers and
owners cause for believing that too
many pitchers are worth hardly as
much rs none at all.
Last season. with Camnitx. Willis.
Maddox and Leineld performing in
their turn. the Pirates were up in the
race throughout the entire season. and
they finally drew away easily from all
other competitors at the end. In pre-
vious years 1t was the pitching OF
Mordecai Brown. Pfeister, Overall
and Reulbach that won for the Cubs,
and every one for years has realized
that Christie Mathewson has been the
real mainstay Of the Giants. This
only goes to show the value of one
good pitcher to q team. With four
dependable boxmen the ordinary man
ager should be reasonably well salts.
fed.
In 1909 the Red Sox had one Of the
biggest strings Of pitchers in the coun-
try. They had Hall. Karger, Wood.
Cicotte. Matthews, Arellanes. Pape.
Wolter and Schlitzer at the seasons
end, while previously there were Ryan,
Chech, Steele and Morgan as members
Of the pitching corps. And yet had
Morgan pitched the ball for Boston
that he did for the Athletics and Young
had been retained. these two. with
Arellanes and one other reliable man
to take his turn In the box, might cast
ly have beaten out both the Athletics
and Tigers and brought the pennant to
Boston.
The better part Of the pitching fol
Connie Mack's club was done by -four
men. Plank, Bender. Krause and Nor
gan. and they are doing the same thine
this year. Four or Eve regular men
on any team would be worth double al
much as q string OF nine or ten men
with only one or two of them in FIRST
class pitching condition.
Too many pitchers are hindranct
instead of a help. II Cicotte. Wood
and Wolter had been In shape to helI
! out Arellanes last season the pitching
staff Of the Red Sox would not have
been the weakest in the American
league. But the wildness of Wood. tn.
| injury to Cicotte and the bad start tha
Wolter got in the spring handicapped
the team 80 heavily that Arellanes wa!
forced to do pretty nearly half th'
pitching for his team.
Managers and owners both are be
! ginning to realize the folly Of keeping
! five or six ablebodied men upon tn
bench while the bulk Of the work i
left to a couple Of good men and a 10
of second stringers. Travelling Is ex
pensive, and salaries today are at
pretty high figure. II the work con.'
be got out of f1ve men the savin,
both in travelling expenses. salary AM
general efficiency would be consider
able and owners would be willing t
tack a snug slice on to the compensa
ton of the FIVE dependable men VIII
could 60 in and do their regular stunt.