New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1913-04-13

vantage eight times out Of ten; for the latter
is likely to he expecting fast one.
| don't believe any pitcher ever gave a
more wonderful exhibition OF this kind OF
pitching than Vean Gregg, the crack south
paw Of the Cleveland American League
team recall the comment Of Mack on that
performance:
"Never in my life did see greater exhi-
bition Of nerve II was a bit OF pitching that
must 90 down in history without an equal
Gregg had a world Of stuff -" but lacked
control Of his fast ball. The Athletics. a
wise team. were quick 70 notice this tact.
Gregg had always been effective against
them and they decided to wait In the first
two innings Of the game Gregg'S wlldnesS
had him in the hole constantly; but he man
aged 20 pull through each time. In the third
inning after he had passed the third man he
walked up 10 Sid Smith. who was catching,
and said:
During the rest Of the game when any
batter gets the call three and two I'm going
To Use my curve ball. | have much better
control Of il than have OF my fast one. The
Athletics won't be looking for that with the
count three and two, and ought to be able
10 slip il over on a lot OF them.
worked behind the plate that afternoon,
and should have been as much surprised as
the Athletic batterS were il had not over
heard the conversation between Gregg and
Smith Seven times during the third and
subsequent innings an Athletic player
worked the Nap southpaw until he had the
count three and two, only 10 have Gregg
slip his curve right across the heart OF the
plate, and 10 hear me call him out on strikes.
Gregg was continually doing the unexpected
and getting away with 1t. II was truly a
marvellous exhibition OF nerve.
THE overwhelming defeat Of the Cubs by
the Athletics in 1910 was big surprise
to a lot of folk and particularly to ardent
National League followers. To those who
really knew the strength Of Mack'S team and
the resourcefulness Of the tall leader the
outcome was not unexpected. Mack did the
very thing that Chance and the rest OF the
Cubs did not expect him TO, and II was doing
the unexpected that put the great Cub
machine 10 rOut.
During the season Of 1907 and for several
seasons following the pitchers in the John
son circuit appeared 10 have a considerable
edge on the batterS rs result the clubs
for the most part were playing one-run base
ball. and were using the sacrifice almost eX-
cluSivcly. The league was accused OF not
mixing up its play enough and OF not pos
ScSSing the many STYLES of attack boosted OF
by the National When American League
clubs went into the worlds series they con-
tinucd to play one-run ball When a man
reached first base it was invariably the sac
rificc, and it was an easy matter for the OPP
position to break up the play because II
knew the style of attack.
When the Athletics and the Cubs met il
was only natural for Chance and his men tc
expect the same style Of play that had been
shown by former American League cham
pionS There was a surprise for the Cubs
The sacrifice hit was almost completely Ia
boocd by Connie Mack'S athletes 1t was
the steal or the hit and run all the time
When lnieldcrS came tearing in. confidently
expecting the bunt. the ball shot by them
at a rate of a mile a minute. No team could
possibly have presented a more varied at
tack than that of the Athletics They did
just about everything the Cubs did not cx-
pect them To do As a result of this general
shift of play the Athletics won four out of
five, and really should have had four
straight. In almost every game the Ath-
letics decided the result in one unusual in
ning Instead of playing for one run, they
rounded them up in punches.
Prior to the beginning of the series Mack
drummed into his men the fact that they
must a icon tho Cttbc y,tpcctuU all tho