The Washington times., 1913-02-28
Remainder of Team Is Capa-
BILE of Taking Care of Itself,
Says SENATOR"
By SENATOR"

The Mackmen, champions of 1slS-
that's the belief OF most baseball men
Indeed, in the opinion Of the writer
the White Elephants should have won
last season, and would have done SC
easily, had Bender remained on the
wagon The team was strong enough
in itself. even without Jack Coombs
and Danny Murphy, to have walked of
! with the banner. Nothing but luck
gave the pennant to the Red Sox in 1872
Apparently Connie Mack will have the
same aggregation this year that he had
last season. 1t is all a matter Of the
pitching with the Athletics; the rest Of
| the team can take care of itself. Any
| pitcher who can face Oldring. Collins,
| Baker. Barry. Thomas. and Lapp and
! get away with his job successfully Is
J no mere child of clay. He's a rippin'.
tearin' man. The long, lean wizard
has but one problem to settle, his
] pitching.
! The signing of Eddie Plank just about
| puts the Mackmen in the first division.
| This old man with the face liked a
! steEed prune was the best southpaw in
| the American league last year. He won
! twenty-siX and lost six games last sea-
son. far better than many a more
youthful performer. He may not do
| quite SO well in 1919. but he is a brave
| may do even better.
| Jack Coombs, Eddie Plank and
| Chief Bender. three Of the smoothes,,
craftiest twirlers in the game, should
win sixty games among them and this
| is a eoodly number to have on the right
| side of the ledger. Ninety games may
| be the total of victories going to the
| champions of 1913 and this means thirty
| to be won by the rest of the fingers.
Has Two Good Ones.
! Connie Mack has at least two good
youngsters right now in Carroll Brown
and Byron HOuck. Their performances
| last year gave every indication of their
| beirg able to stay under the large COW
erinr Brown is "A most effective twirl-
er AT all times and L. not easily wor-
ried. The same, for that matter. may
/ be said Of HOuck
Ensign Cottreli, from the Tri-State
| League, pitched excellent ball in 1912,
In the bushes. and with careful hand
| ling. NAV repeat for the Mackmer.
| Hugh PennoCk. the tall. slender south
| paw, il hardly ripe for fast company.
but Connie Mack likes the looks OF him
| and he MAJ stay with the team all
! season.
Ira Thomas the huge backstOp. had
| q very poor season IN 1912. Perhaps u
| was merely an of-year for him. but
/ many are inclined to think he is 60
| ing back. Wise ola Connie. always
with a weather eye cooked toward the
| offing has provided himself with tie
best minor league backstop in the cour.-
| try. Ii Hung SchanG. OF the Buffalo
| International League club.
All Want Schang.
| Almost every big league club in the
! country put in drafts for Schang, bu:
| the Athletics won out. Now he is GER
| tain OF being tried out thoroughly and
| those who have seen him declare he
will make good. and in another year,
| he the first string catcher for the Mack
men He hit for "a in forty-eight
games last year and iielded for .942.
Jack Lapp is good hitting catcher
but his fuzzy brain work keeps him
from being Il topnotcher Ben Egan.
with wonderful reputation In the
minors. hardly fills the bill behind the
bat for big league club.
That inficld. Where can you find such
murderous clouting infeld? There
aint 20 sich animal" that's ALL And
that same quartet, Mclnness, Collins,
Barr, and Baker. VIII be on the job
from the sound Of the first gong this'
year. winning game after game by their