Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1910-05-08
MATERIAL MORE IMPORTANT
TO TEAM THAN A MANAGER
Man in Charge Must Have Players Who Can
Deliver Before He Can Succeed Nationals
Have Been a. Disappointment to Date.

erately shirk their work or don't try to
win are so few that since the game has
neen played you could count them all on
the fingers of one hand.
But something always happens to the
Nationals In the spring they got taste
Of tough luck. Reisling and Witherup
promised to be two winning pitchers. The
FORMER got In one game. then was out of
with illness; the other threw his arm
out or gear the very first day he cut loose
at Norfolk. Mcbride has been sick all
year. and now Unglaub is out Of 1t for a
week or more. and the fellows who ought
10 De hitting are not, and there you are.
with Boston under Fred Lake last season,
his managerial ability was SO limited that
he was not even familiar with the rules,
and yet he was given credit for having
piloted ms young team into third place.
Patsy Donovan undoubtedly knows the
game and has had much experience man
aging, but his team is not going along as
1T did last season. This may be due to
the fact that Mcconnell is out of 1t and
that the pitchers are not showing any too
good form. AT any rate, the team is not
coming up to expectations, and, of course,
the blame is placed at Donovan's door.
McAleer benched Jack Lelivelt because
of his poor showing against leIt-handeG
pitchers. His efforts against krause in
Philadelphia and Vaughn in New York
are said to have been nothing short of
ludicrous.
Just why left-handed hitters have never
been able to master southpaw pitching is
hard to understand. The left-hander is
under no worse handicap when facing a
southpaw than is a Highlander when up
against right-handed pitcher. The
curves of both break away from the bat
ter, yet there are very few left-handers
who are not bothered by the southpaws
MT toy 1,~,
this condition, though there is really no
good reason for it.
There must be a considerable difference
in class between the major and the high
class minor leagues. although there are
base ball men who contend that the diff
ference is decidedly small. Take the
None of them could hold his own with
the bat i'm this company, and they are
hitting like Cobb for Joe Cantillon's
Minneapolis club. Hobe Ferris. too, who
to cut figure. is driving the ball to all
corners of the lot What difference there
Is is undoubtedly brought about by the
fact that the best pitchers are in tthe
majors and a batter is seldom up against
a weak twirler. 1t is high-class pitching
every day that holds the batting down
to minimum
Even Milan, who usually is sure
fielder, had to break into the error COL
umn with couple of marks yesterday.
There are some players who are only
valuable when they are hitting, but Just
as soon as they encounter a slump with
the stick their general work fails off.
Players of this type. and they are many,
seldom play on a championship team for
the reason that 1t is hard for them to
recover cnce they lose confidence in
themselves.
1t is the player who is not much with
the stick. but who holds his end I'D in
fielding, who usually plays the steadiest
base ball, for he realizes that he is not
expected to do the marvellous with his
bat. SO that his weakness there does not
cause him to lose confidence, as he is
used to it.
That the pace the Boston team Set
during its stay here was abnormal is
proven by the poor stick work the team
is now doing. Donovan's men have prov
ell easy for New York, and New York is
not supposed to be one Of the classy
teams in the race.