Evening journal., 1913-10-07
By Hal SHERIDAN.
y TIT" II - T|IT1
BY The United Press.

OAAANNtA A~n1a
POLO GROUNDS, New York, Oct. IT,
As darkness gave way to dawn, and the
first gray strealSs Of light filtered over
~ the Polo Grounds today, nearly 5000
tired-eyed, rabid baseball fans stirred
uneasily in FIVE separate lines waiting
Tor the chance 10 buy tho FIRST tickets
for the opening clash between the Giants
and Athletics Their gaze moved up
ward. 1t "looked like rain" In fact, il
drizzled
With the last word said insofar as
this battle of Harlem could be fought on
paper, and the warning forces primed for
the fray, arguments as TO whether
solid base hit from the elements would
offset both the cunning of Mathewson
and the slugging of Baker took the place
= Of baseball talk.
as the mist became heavier, umbrellas
? were put up in the crowd The throng
ingrew momentarily OF the 5000 who
Were on hand at s o'clock more than 500
had waited throughout the night Fifty
i or seventy women arrived between
8 and 4 o'clock this morning and took
up their positions in the line of watch
ers Small boys, anxious TO sell their
places as the hour for the opening of
she gates approached, occupied the choice
positions. There were probably 250
youngsters, tired and sleepy, but loudly
calling attention of the newcomers TO
their places. One boy sold his place for
SO. As time wore on, however, prices
declined, and the average was about 81
~ dor place IN the line by o'clock.
as 10 Pitchets.
~ With drlzzle and dark, lowering
~ clouds, the weather man could offer,
speculation as to the pitching choice OF
Manager McGraw, of the Giants, was in.
creased tenfold. The general belief yes
terday was that Mathewson would be
given the opening assignment. With
the coming of clouds and darkness, how
ever. Rube Alarquard loomed up as tho
hkcl1 choice. Dark days were made To
order for Rube's fast curves Putting
on his speed he is fairly unhittable
when his shots come sizzling up from
behind the hreastworks of darkness
Tesreau was looked upon rs the seconc
choice AlcGraw was silent, The con
ditions prevailing just before the game
would settle the issue.
1t seemed certain that Shafer woul,
a go to center field and Herzog to thirS
base In today's game.
Snodgrass put another twist to hil
s IS charley-horse yesterday and may b'
kent out OF the entire series. Larr,
Doyle has rounded into fairly salts
81. factory shape and will probably b'
= at his regular station at second base
McGraw is not worrying over the
80 loss of Snodgrass. He is confident
o. victory. Mathewson, Marquard
q. iiTesreau and Demaree the big four
~ ~ are on edge. McGraw only awaits
s.si the call
Mack Is confident.
Connie Mack is satisfied that tho
81, Athletics will conquer the Giants.
sc The board Of stragedy. consisting of
- Mack. Harry Davis and Danny Muir
KS ply held midnight session and went
over every detail Of their prepara-
re' tons for the series. Nothing was
overlooked and McGraw will have TO
call upon all the cunning at his
command to catch the Mackian
forces off guard.
Bender and Plank arc in perfeci
y. shape. This mukh the strategists ad.
mitted. If necessary these two viii
~ pitch every game. Bender never wa,
~, in better form and Connie Mack ex
poets him to perform the feats of al
<frl iron man" such as made Jacl
Coombs famous, If necessary.
The Athletics do not fear the Clan
pitchers. They claim McGraw's bi
fs i four had an easy time in the Nationa
League compared TO the rough an
-~--. rocky road the Athletics were force
to travel They pick Clevelan,
Washington and Chicago teams
American League as equals of tn
Giants and they beat these thre
u teams in the race for the pennant
Neither do the Athletic strategist
fear the batting of the Giants. Nc
Grew's batsmen will be weakling