The Washington herald., 1911-10-29

Continued frOm rage yne.
Meyers and Mathewsen completed the
Giant list OF stars. IS s.t
Fletcher and Barry were both unsteady
and ragged around short. but Barry came
through better with the stick.
Any comparison between Baker and
Herzog must stop at Baker with a loud
and noisy thud All that Baker did was
lead both teams at bat, with an average
Ct .S7B; win two games outright and
lead In winning two more; either score
himself or drive in eleven runs, and for
the first four games of the series stand
between his people and defeat.
In comparing the outfields. Grantiand
Rice. of the New YORK Mail, hits the
nail on the head with the following:
The greatest Giant falldown was here
McGraw's three guardsmen came to bat
sixty-four times, made six hits and fin
ished with a grand average OF .094. When
your outfield isn't batting 100 there is
no vast expanse of words or phrases left
worthy of utterance. Also the Giant
outfieId compiled q number of costly err
rors, failed 10 steal base, and with the
exception of Devore covered but little
ground.
Mack's three outfielders hit .226 and
fielded perfectly until the final game,
when they began to get the Giant habit.
Devore, despite an in-and-out career,
did the best work of the series. He
made two spectacular catches, covered
more ground than Lord, and drove in
two highly important runs with timely
punches that contributed largely to the
Giants only victories. He failed to hit
quite as consistently as Lord. but his
blows did greater damage, and so there
is nothing but praise for Josh.
Snodgrass was weak at bat and of
form in the outfield. Oldring's one home
run would give Rube the argument, but
he did better work all through.
Red Murray's downfall stands as one Of
the most complete ever recorded. Red
came to bat twenty-one times and failed
to run up a hit. He drew but eight
chances in the outfleld and fooled three
OF these. With batting average Of 200
and a fielding average of .625, the de-
tense rests its case. Red did his share
In helping win a pennant, but at this
point kind words Of announcement are
out of place. The figures deliver the
oration without further help. And Red
feels bad enough about 1t without having
It smeared in.
Danny Murphy. after a bad start, came
like an unleashed tornado ana finished
up with four straight hits. He failed to
obtain a safe hit through the first three
games, and yet ended above 300 He
and Doyle were the only pair to nick
four hits in single game.
The disagreeable features of the series
included some nasty ticket speculation in
New York, robbing hundreds of faithful
tans Of chance to see the big games.
a lot Of rapid-flre sarcastic talk from
Muggsy McGraw to members of the ma
donal commission, the spilxing Of Baker
by Snodgrass, the statement from Harry
Davis that Hughey Jennings advised Nc
Graw to get" Baker. and the poor ar
rangements in the New York press box
There is only one way to stop ticket
speculation in New York, and that is to
have no advance sale of tickets, but to
dispose Of the pasteboards at the grounds
and not sell more than two to each per-
son. This, Of course, was out of the uues-
tionj and fancy prices were obtained by
the spectators, especially for the first
game.
Ugly rumors were af1oat to the effect
that the New York club disposed of large
blocks OF tickets to well-known gamblers
and ticket speculators, but this is denied
by the men in high authority
McGraw lost his temper and said things
to Ban johnson and the other members
OF the national commission that would not
look well in print, claiming that UNI
pire Connolly gave the Giants the short
end of every decision. Connolly is hon
est and a capable official and Muggsy
got sound warning from the powers
that be.
The spiking of Frank Baker by Fred
Snodgrass was a cold-blooded piece of
work. There is no doubt in the writer's
mind but that Snodgrass went out of his
way to pull of a dirty trick Whether
he was inspired by McGraw Is not known.
but the fact remains that with plenty
OF room in which to touch the bag Snod-
grass swerved two feet off his course
and landed on Bakers anatomy, spikes
first
The newspaper men were packed In like
sardines at the Polo Grounds press box,
in marked contrast with conditions at
Shibe Park, in Philadelphia, where there
was seat for everybody and a place to
write.
The stormy weather in PHILADELPHIA.
which was responsible for calling off hos
tilites from Wednesday until the follow
ing Tuesday, caused the interest and en-
thustasm to die down to such an extent
that row after row Of vacant seats greet
ed the players during the two final games
There Is no sense in starting the series
so late In the fall, and 1t is believed that
next season the National League win
agree upon shorter schedule.