The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-12-24
BAN JOHNSON Is NOT WHOLE SHOW Championship Games of the
 World Will Continue MADE A BIG MISTAKE Boston Nationals Worth Watching. Connie Mack Is Coolest Man in s Baseball = Ask Ship Be
 Sent to Stockholm
By WALTER MaRcHAND

league is a pretty big man in baseball He Is perhaps the most dominant person. ality in the game. But he is not the whole game by any manner of means.
 His recent attitude of taking his doll rags
 and going home if not permitted to have his undisputed way was a mistake. It
 put both him and the fine organization of which he Is the head in q bad light and in position from which in all human probability they will have to climb down
 unless the national commission and the National league make concessions which they are hardly likely to do.
 There are two mighty good reasons why the worlds championships and inter- league games will continue to be played.
 In the. first place the ''fans" who support baseball and make 1t the profitable bus mess it is want them and will demand them and in the second place the club
 owners who are not in the game entirely
 for the pure love of sport will not be
 willing to sacrifice the small fortunes
 which come from post season inter-league
 games to gratify the pique of any man,
 not even President Johnson. Neither are they likely to indulge in baseball war which would be destructive
 of profits and would benefit nobody. Tn addition to all this MT. Johnson would seem to have no adequate grounds for his flare up. Speculators, it is true, got tickets for the worlds series in New York, but so they did in Philadelphia,
 and so they have for every great contest in which there was sufficient public in terest to induce men to pay high prices for tickets. a. So far as I have seen no evidence has
 been produced to connect the officials of either the New York or Philadelphia -l..1 ...4f fI.,.1 tion of tickets. If Mir. Johnson had such evidence and had laid 1t before the na- tional commission doubtless the guilty parties would have been punished. If he had no such evidence then he should not
 have taken action which might lead to very serious results to organized baseball if the National league should take up his challenge and resent the insulting Ian guage of the American league resolutions. Garry Herman certainly sprang a sur prise in the appointment of Hank O'Day
 as manager of the Cincinnati Reds. And he may have made a wise selection at
 that
 There are few men in the business who
 know the game from all angles any bet
 ter than the veteran umpire. He should
 be able to handle men. He knows base
 ball players from the ground up and it would not surprise me at all if he should turn out to be the most successful club manager
 With Johnny Ward as,president and Ned Hanlon as manager the Boston Nationals
 will be worth while watching during the next season l Connie Mack is about the coolest propo- sition in baseball. It would be worth the price of admission to rec the tall man
 ager of the worlds champions excited over anything. He doesn't even show any particular enthusiasm over the prospects of the Athletics next season. He compl-
 ments himself on havins . pretty good
 ball team and it would take a lot of beat ing.
 It is probable that the race in the Amer ican league will be a good deal closer
 next year than it was this Cleveland and
 Boston, to say nothing of Detroit, all seem to have look in and the chances are the Athletics will have to hustle to land the third pennant.
 Col. Robert M. Thompson. chairman of the committee to select American teams for the Olympic games, will make deter mined effort to peusuade Secretary or the Navy George Won L. Meyer to send one of the United States battleships to Stickhom next July during the Olymplc. James E. Sullivan, Secretary or the | Amateur Athletic Union, says that he is going to request MT. Richard B. Aircraft, | chairman of the National School Eduea- | ton, to order the schoolship Newport to | stop at the same port at the same time. l should both of these requests be grant l ed if will be cause for general rejoicing l among the prospective members of the | team and those generally interested in the track and field athletics, in the United l States. Fs-
 1 It would mean something to the contest l ants to know that such an array of real l erooters', was punched in the stadium | ready to help vocally to maintain in the 1 high standard of superiority American l athletics now enjoy. l There does not appear to be any reason why any objection should be interposed. l The idea is a good one and is sald to | have originated with Melvin sheppard. It | is certainly worth trying.
 1 Although there is plenty of time before the team will actually depart from this | country in which to collect the $oo,W0 which. it is estimated, will be needed to Gefray the expesses of the athletes. while away. the RsSney does not seem to pc coming iia1trapidly enough to please the l men in charge II appears as if the ath- | letio clubs should begin to take anactive part in the raising of funds and to be I as liberal as they possibly can. ass q, l It is the practically assured that every branch of sport will be competed In by Americans. Even fencing and riding will claim their. quota of entries from this i country. Army officers will be included
 In the riding contests, and tue fencing l lists will include army and naval officers, l as will the shooting. There will be gymnastic team composed of college and | A. A U. athletes. sk
 l The entire Olympic committee will be officials at the Amateur Athletic union l indoor championships at Madison Square I Garden, December 26 and g. This means, | probably, that all winners in. the various | events on the programme will be awarded ] places on the team.
 The remarkable success of the Carlisle l Indian football eleven this season has
 brought to the surface much in negation | of the criticisms aimed at the present l aridiron sport. particularly in the matter | of injuries to players. It is announced | that although the Indians played A youths l at practice all through the season and the
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