The Tacoma times. [volume] (Tacoma, Wash.) 1903-1949, 1910-10-08

Calling the Turn on Batters Easy for McInnis:;
Players Strange Gift Invaluable to Athletics

PHILADELPHIA, Oct. 8.-Ask
the fan to name Connie Mack S
ablest assistant. and it's 20 to he
will pick the wrong man. Ask a
dozen men who follow baseball
and its myrmidons, and the result
would be an even break between
Capt. Harry Davis and the brill
liant midsocker, Eddie Collins.
Now bath stars are able assist
ants of the great Cornelius. But
when you go to a game where the
Athletics are picturing the pastime
glue your orbs to a square-jawed
youngster whom you will find sit
ting in the lee of his manager.
In him you will discern the fifth
wheel of the Athletic coach. His
name is Jack McInnis, and a cou-
pie of weeks ago he reached the
mature age of 20. His particular
forte is calling the offensive and
defensive strokes with which the
antagonists of the Mackmen en-
deavor to offer a barrier to the
march of Comics legion.
McInnis, if the occult be given a
ball player, Is the seer of the
American league. His ability to
fathom the intentions of opposing
players is little short of superna-
tural. Not to mere pTophesies
does he confine mis- uncanny
power.
Has Queer Power
No indeed. He can call the turn
on what is to happen, as he has
done time and again. Here is a
concrete illutsration of Mack S
weird power in the promises:
Cleveland and the Athletics
were tussling through a series in
Shibe park. The pennant had not
been passed to the Mackmen and
every game counted. The IRON
jawed youngster, apparently the
most unconcerned person on the
bench, sat with one knee-ferming
a physical fortress to the intensity
of his gaze. r
His glance was rowing about,
and ever and anon he'd whisper
to Mack. The telltale scorecard,
the means of communication be-
tween Mack and his players in the
field, would wigwag, and the
lfielders would move in one direc-
ton or another. The batter would
hit the ball, and a player who a
moment before had shifted, would
be in the way. Had he not moved
the ball would have gone for hit,
or a difficult chance. '=s#ao
Never Fails.
Keen fans knew the player
shifted position because Mack sig
nailed him to do so. But the, Ath-
letics knew it was the square,
jawed McInnis who was the inspir-
alton, for the change.
In the series quoted as illstra-
tive, the uncanny power of Little
Jack" called the turn 20 times on
the batters. Not once was he
wrong
Mack's faith in his cubs strange
gift is as broad as his own per-
sonality. This man who has di-
rected the destinies of ball clubs
and watched the players at their
wage-earning, says McInnis is the
best natural player he ever saw.
Is Fine Pinch Hitter
Nor Is it because of the gift of
divination that Mack makes this
statement. McInnis is the best
pinch hitter on the team. He goes
to bat in a pinch and it makes no
difference who is ON the slab, the
mightiest Johnson or veriest bush
man, he hits one as readily as the
other. In six games he has hur-
ried into the breach, and he made
good.
McInnis' daring on the bases
against Ed Walsh in the royal IA
inning game against Coombs, was
responsible for the run that tied
the score when 1t seemed no earth
ly power had a chance against Chi
.cago's moist mystifier.
AS player McInnis is a won
der, and equipped with this pow