The Washington herald., 1913-01-25
by w. It. MACBETH.


more important than either of the two
preceding ones or both together, any
way you take them. Some first ball
hitters are as good as nailed up the
minute a pitcher gets two strikes on
them. Other free hitters like Ty Cobb,
Hans Wagner, or Larry Lajoie do not
begin to get a pitchers goat till he
has them in the hole. For il is then
that such a demon is liable to step up
on one and clOut il into the next
county.
Which little preamble has no refer
ancc whatever to any Cobb or Wagner
or Lajoie, but to one who deserves
more sympathy, poor, oppressed
baseball manager, tO-wit: Big Chief"
George Stallings, of the Boston Ma
tional tailenders. For George is up in
the pinch with two strikes called by
Umpire Hard Luck, the bases choked,
two down, and a home run needed.
Organized baseball will await breath
lessly the outcome of the 1913 cam
paign to see whether or not the Big
Chief" fans. a humiliation he has never
Vet suffered in his twenty years of
baseball
Some pretty wise baseball men will
be nightly surprised If Chief Stall
ings makes failure of il as skipper of
the Hub trailers. 1t is true that he is
up against a rather blue outlook for
tIS Dut ne cOulQ De
situated worse and not have to travel
out of his own circuit. His lot should
be easier than that of any one Of three
new rival managers-Johnny Evers,
Joe Tinker. and Miller Huggins. Tin
ker and Evers have something to work
with at the start, for they take the
helm OF first division clubs. Miller
Huggins. who succeeds Bresnahan,
has a club that ranked sixth in a flight
of eight. But Stallings takes hold of
an absolute ruck runner. He cannot
possibly do worse than his predeces-
sors. and any improvement in the final
standing OF his club will rebound to
his credit
Winner PLAYED to the Stands"
1 would like to lay little bet on
George Stallings. He's just the kind of
a fellow who rises to emergencies. AS a
baseball leader | DO not hesitate to class
him with john J. McGraw and Connie
Mack. Neither OF these shrewd wizards
know more inside baseball than the
Georgian: neither Is better judge of
young talent. Stallings has not perhaps
the general magnetism OF MCGraw. so
Tar as the general baseball following
is concerned. He has never played TO
the stands lie has always kept away
from the noisy acclaim of the popuIace
contenting himself with working in Sc
Cret with his players, of sneaking un-
observed onto the bench just before
playing time. He is bench manager
Of the Connie Mack stamp. not so re-
served as the Athletics boss by a long
way. but still a man who commands
every respect from his disciples. Players
who have worked under him have told |
me that Stallings is nothing short of a |
mad man during the most exciting Pc
riods of a hard fought game. He fights |
=. 1T Within himself every move. And in 1
his zeal he sometimes fOrgetS- himself |
and applies hard names. But these are /
forgotten the moment the last man has |
been retired. and his followers. once !
they understand him, are willing to for |
give any little offenses in the light OF |
such exceptional zeal For the one !
great doctrine OF Stallings is to win. |
win, win, at any cost
In his long experience StaIlings never /
Net has been at the head OF any joke !
ball club. That is, he hasn't been for |
long. He has converted any number of |
jokes into real classy aggregations. In !
twenty years he has never finished |
worse than fifth in any company and |
has had the satisfaction of winning a |
great many mirOr league pcnnants |
Every one is willing to cOncede that the |
Big Chief is a minor league marvel .
They will not go so far when a question !
of big league class hobs up
The only way to judge a man is hv his |
record. Let StaIlings speak for itself. !
Stsllings took hold of the New York !
Americans in the spring of 1909. The |
previous year. under the direction of |
Clark Griffith and Kid Elberfcld. a sorry |
mess indeed had been made. GrifT !
broken-hearted, threw up the sponge in |
midseason. The team started out like !
a worlds champion. stumbled collapsed. i
and hnished the most horribly out-dis- /
tanced last ever seen in the American
Lee u 70
season that the Wolverton regime of |
sad memory. for some of Harry's woes
NAV be laid to the most prosecuting
Fain or hard luck known TO the game
Right in the Hunt.
Wei. Stallings took hold of that teri
rih!e wreck Of 1898 Frank Farrell had
absolutely no outside resources. He had
gust one claim in the minor league. an
opuon 10 pick from the Atlanta team
mat option brought Russell Ford TO the
Hilltop. BY dint of schemiug and hard
WORK Stallings gathered together. LITTLE
uy HIue. some sort of halfway decent
representatives. Cree Warhop, EnpIe
'ardher, Austin. LapOrte Quinn. Mr''on-
nell, and a number of others that escaDe
memory were added immediately Tbongb
1he team was harassed Iy the inform, |
mate attack OF smallpox upon Hal Chase
Suoh h an Improvement Was made the first
Nii'hb SIiIililSS was barely nOSpd |
Hl the hrst division He finished A good
MIN. The next year. Fisher. CaldweII
otter and Daniels were SHARED Again |
'he Stallings aggregation was huffeted
hpout hy sickness and injury. and
though the big chief was dropped Iile
I'VE coal three weeks before the end
W 'he season. the team finished a bang
up second: right in the hunt till the last
tnree weeks. That is the first year the
AIhletcs made 4 show of the field
HtailnSs. almost broken-hearted went
lack 10 the minors for the second time
iroih 'ne American League. Ban john
son Wliled ii; Ban is absolute in his
hallWlck. Once before he had put the
nee upon the Georgia planter. That was
some ten years ago. after Stallings had
taken the erratic Tigers of Detroit to
second place in a whipping drive Ban
believed or imagined that George was
trying to sell out the American League
lie never forsave him. II he has no one
mas learned of il. They do say that Ban
Johnson forced Farrell to get rid Of
StallinSs. Frank signed the big chief
TO two years contract without con-
sulting the car. He didn't know that
Stallings stood so badly in the graces
Of the big ''poo-bah.'' -
So Stallings has taken two strikes as
a major league manager. He's back
there again at the plate with a new
bat, a new umpire. and against a new
kind of pitching. Tom Lynch. 1.-THE king
of uUnuirPsF adD1ireS he ability pf /