Newark evening star and Newark advertiser. [volume] (Newark, N.J.) 1909-1916, 1914-03-31
FEDS DEALT CLEVELAND
HARD BLOW, SAYS COLLINS
Loss of Falkenberg, Kahler and
Blanding Makes Big Hole
in Team.
TEAM is NOT CONSISTENT
Forest City Team Fell Down at
Wrong Time Last
Season.
By EDDIE COLLINS
(star Second Baseman of the Philadelphia
Athletics.)

AInIeI1cb.)
Just why the Federal League picked
out one lone club in the American
League upon which to make it's grab
is hard to explain, but when the de-
scrtion of Falkenberg, Kahler and
Blanding all came at once it made
an awful hole in the Cleveland roster
of players. What the loss of one
pitcher for even a part OF the season
means to a club has been already
demonstrated in the case of Wood, of
the Red Sox, but for a club to lose
), at one fell swoop three such depend
able pitchers as Falkenberg, Kahler
and Blanding means task in team
reconstruction which seems almost
impossible of accomplishment.
However, any man who can do as
much with the Maps as Dode Bir-
Apingham did last year. when he gave
T'tre' Forest City the best ball team it
he's been able to boast in years, one
that was in the running from the
start of the season until Washington
Put it to THE bad in the closing weeks
Of the campaign, is apt to find
means to recover from the blow dealt
him by the outlaws and give a good
account of himself in 1914.
The Cleveland Club in 1918 failed
where the Boston team of 1912 sue
ceeded; in other words, the latter
maintained consistent game, where
as the former did not. Any club
that can go through a season, as
the Red Sox did in 1912, and win
about every two games in three
played, and at no time lose over
three in a row, or win more than six
or seven consecutively, is playing
what I would call good, consistent
ball, and championship ball, besides.
This Cleveland failed to do. 1t had
its good and bad streaks, but inva-
riably when the club ahead showed
4 signs of slipping, and a victory or
two would have put Cleveland in the
lead, that team could not rise to the
occasion. In every crucial series the
Red Sox engaged in during its banner
year. it won.
This is only to show that the Maps
have the goods, and. from Cleve-
land standpoint, it is to be regretted
that Birmingham cannot start the
year with the forces he left off with
in 1918, so that he might show how
years experience had benefited him
in the race for the flag. AS 1t is, he
is starting the new season under big
handicap.
Pitching STAFF still Strong.
But at that he has no SLOUGH of
pitching staff minus the outlaw jump
ers; Vean Gregg, Willie Mitchell and
Steen are nearly a whole team in
themselves. Believe me, would
rather face any other bunch of twirl-
ers in the country, even the Wash
ington lot including Johnson. OF
course am in no position to compare
him with Plank, as l have never
raced the latter in competition, or
with Rube Waddell when he was in
his prime, but to me Vean Gregg has
looked better than any southpaw I
ever faced Any left handler, or any
pitcher for that matter, who can
bald a batter three balls and nothing
and then curve over three strikes,
and do II right along, ] will take off
my hat to, and that's what Gregg has
done to me more than once. Mitchell
is not far behind his team mate;
only his tendency to wildness is a
handicap, while with Gregg his lack
of control is very often as asset.
jackson and Lajoie the Stars.
But the two big luminaries on this
club are Lajoie and jackson. What
pair of sluggers, I'll bet they have
received more free trips to first from
our pitchers than from any other staff
in the league, and possibly that is why
We have had better success against
them; we've never given them
chance to hit At that, Cleveland
beat us nearly every game last year,
Larry or Joe, or both, taking a lead
ing part in administering defeat.
"Iow shall I pitch to this fellow
Lajoie?" innocently asked one of our
young pitchers of Connie Mack be-
fore game last spring. you take
II from me- Kid spoke up Plank, be-
fore our manager had a chance to an
swer pitch, and then duck your
head or he will be apt to knock 1t Off.
That's what I do And the same
goes for Jackson, and serves to illus
trate how these two are respected as
batsmen. 1t almost seems as though
they alone could bat a club into the
first division berth.
The development of Leibold into
very creditable outtielder supplied
the long-felt want of a good lead-off
man for the Maps. Chapman came
into his own at short last year, and
now he would be hard to improve
upon at that position. Not only de-
fensively, but extensively as well, he
is of the aggressive type, and while
not a three hundred hitter, he is
good baserunner, and led the league
in sacrifice hits by a big margin.
Steve O'Neill was another young
ster in years who enjoyed a banner
season behind the bat, and now is
boosted as strongly In Cleveland as
Schang and Schalk are in the cities
where they play.
Maps Look Good on Paper.
The Maps certainly look good on
paper, and if it had not been for the
desertion of the three pitchers to the
Federals, | never would have picked
them to finish below Boston or Wash
ington, but under the circumstances,
if they do as well this season as they
did last. they will have had good
season, in my opinion. Birmingham,
like Griffith, has instilled into his men
spirit previously noticeable because
of it's absence, and now they do not
lack for aggressiveness, or as it is
commonly termed, pepper; and as
soon as they are able to maintain a
consistent quality of ball, something
that perseverance will aid them
greatly to secure, they can be counted
upon as the team which must be
beaten in order to cop the grand old
rag.