The Washington times., 1912-08-07
"OLD FOX" WILL ...
TAKE NOCHANCES
Cannot Afford to Experiment When Team Is So Near to
the Pennant-Has Found Winning Combina-
tion In Short Time.
By SENATOR"

CHICAGO. Aug. CLARK Griffith be-
neves he has a chance to win the PEN
nant, and for that reason he must con-
tinue to make the fight with the very
best men he has He cannot afford to
experiment at this stage OF the battle
for the supreme honors in the American
League.
when club has a chance to win
the pennant," says the Climbers boss.
everything should be cast to the winds
that may interfere with the winning.
Many a good club has never had q
chance to win and, on the other hand,
many weaker clubs, having the luck
. with them. have slipped in apd taken
the pennant.
A Bit Unexpected.
1.-The success Of this team this year Is
a little bit unexpected, to tell the truth.
/ figured on experimenting this season.
trying out bunch of young pitchers,
swinging in a number of infielders, and
searching for the ideal lineup. You
know 1t generally takes couple Of
years to find the winning combination.
"I must admit that the success of the
Climbers was unlocked for by me this
year. For the first month carried out
my plans as had doped them out dur
ing the training season. Ny infield was
weak and my outfield, at the very start,
poorly balanced. The pitchers. too. were
going badly. Only the backstops gave
me no trouble.
Taking Schaefer out Of the pasture
and putting Gandil and Morgan into the
infield seemed to give added life to the
general play Of the team, and> then all
needed was strong pitching stan
Vaughn and Petty, and the continued
Improvement OF Cashion has made 1t
possible for the team to make q fight
for the flag. I cannot therefore. take
Tried It Before.
''When I was in New York followed
that time-worn theory of trying out
youngsters when had a chance to win
the nag. I came pretty close to land
ing the banner in New York twice, and
when quit the town. the fans hooted
me for never having won pennant. A
pennant-winner, you know, is excused
for everything else he does. .
MY team now has an excellent
chance to land the flag. II we get any
kind of an even break in the luck, we
should crawl up very close to the
leaders by the middle Of next month.
- c.. pS Ni, " ehe Aoeh
"If we can be within striking distance
for the nag. shall work only my best
men until the thing Is settled. Walter
johnson says he's willing to work every
other day when the time comes, and
] know that Tom Hughes and Bob
Groom will go the limit to put the team
In first place
Would Be Foolish.
$50, you see, II would be foolish for
me to experiment now. These young
sters are learning all the time and they
are keeping in good condition. They
are picking up pointers fast. and when
the time comes for them to take up
the burdens of the veterans. they
should be all the more likely to sue
ceed.
But right now we have fine chance
to slip in ahead of the Red Sox. l shall
drive my team down the line as hard
as 1t can be driven. l hope the boys
can stand the pace. for they certainly
Will have all the work cut out for them
during the last month of the race"
Manager Griffith talks of nothing but
mad. He lives and sleeps baseball the
whole twenty-four hours out of each
day and he has worked his young play
ers up to the same pitch. Indeed, they
are counting the days from now till the
end Of the campaign, and conjecturing
their chances OF taking the lead.
But experiments are out of the Ques-
tion, and Paul Musser expresses the
attitude of the team very we'll himself
when he says, what. put me up there
and lose a game? Huh. nothing doing
ON that. I'd be a fool TO expect to
We want every game We can get and