The evening times. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1906-1914, 1912-11-30

release of baseball managers and, at
the same time. the exceeding reluct-
.ance with which the owners part with
players. n ce nor brings up the
question az to whether the success of
the players is due to the ability of the
managers.
Excepting a very few instances.
such as the career Of McGraw. Con-
ME Mack and Fred Clarke. the EVIL
dence seems t point In favor of the
player. This is shown by the fact
that the owners are more 10th to part
with their players than with their
managers.
The recent worlds series throws q
good light on the question Of what
makes the ball team-the players or
the manager. In Stahl's case it is
undoubtedly the players. AS the man.
ager of Washington Stahl was a fall
ure. He went back into the game as a
player and then retired. Coming out
O Retirement. he assumed the man
agement Of the Red Sox and SO great
was the ability of his men that he was
carried into a worlds championship.
Made Good With Poor Team.
With only II year of experience
and no opportunity TO make changes
III lib SluO ~ = oS SNAA Ne
success of the Red Sox was due to the
manipulations Of Stahl. On the other
hand, the New York Giants. through
out the country, are looked upon as an
ordinary ball club with an eXtraor-
binary manager.
The true test comes when a man
ager takes a shattered team n
gradually builds up a winner. The
only men that have done that are
Connie Mack. Fred Clarke n John
|McGraw. Frank Chance ought to be
included in that class, but he was left
a corking good team by Frank Sc
lee and the experts are now saying
that Chance lasted just as long as his
team. Chance did not develop as
many players as the others. though
he made a. trade right at the start
that gave him a championship. He
managed to do this b ysecuring jim
my sheckard. Harry Steinfeldt and
Miner Brown. Since then he has de-
veloped very few youngsters.
This inability on the part of man
ayers to develop and build up teams
ia largely responsible FOR the whole
sale release of managers this fall.
The trouble with these men is that
they were hard put to make a reputa-
ton so as to hold on for another year
and did not have the opportunity to
start at the bottom n build up for
future years.
The Highlanders lost the services
Of Cree. Wolter and Chase at the
same time. That is enough to put any
club out of the race. Seeing that he
was beaten. Wolverton set about
building up a. team for next yea His
judgment ma have been right. but
the result was SO disastrous that he
had to retire. There is no doubt thai
Wolverton made man mistakes In
the handling Of his pitchers. but if
he had been ure of another years
work he might have brought the pub
lie around to his way Of thinking.
In getting rid of Frank Chance
II is generally believed that Charley
Murphy made n colossal blunder. We
must admire the nerve of a man. how
ever. who will depose a manager who
has won him four championships n
cratic fellow like EVers. who has no
experience whatever as a leader.
The release of Johnny Killing was
not due so much to his lack OF ability
as to the chance Of getting a recognize
ed leader like Stallings to take charge.
King went into office with little hope
and came out In the same fix. Nothing
much was expected Of the Braves and
there can be little disappointment.
O'Day lacked Ability.
Hank O'Day's downfall was due to
his lack Of executive ability. He had
been' In the office II umpire SO long
that he did not understand the rather
subtle art Of handling a lot Of young
fellows who have different tempera-
ments The players did not like him
on account of severe discipline and
could not get their heart in their work
after the first few weeks. AT least.
Is what some Of them nay.
Another thing hat worked against
O'Day was that lie managed entirely
fro mthe bench. Connie Mack 10 the