The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-08-30
LEADING CLUBS DEPEND
 ON DIFFERENT SYSTEMS
CARDINALS WIN ON BASE RUN
 MING; CUBS ON HITTING;
 BRAVES ON PITCHING, AND GIANTS ON COMBINATION
By MONTY


 New York, August 29.-There may be prophet here and there who thinks he can predict the ultimate winner of that break-peck race in the National league, but if he happens to name the correct team he can be branded as nothing more than good guesser. There is not sim gle way under the sun that a man calH forecast the victor with any reasonable degree of certainty, even in his own mind, that he is right. Any one of the four clubs punched up in front has such good chance to win that it cannot be counted out of the sght until the last week of the season. With the thing as close as it is. some ne little event dur ing the final five or six days-possibly the injury of some star player-may de- eide the argument.
 One striking feature of this battle royal is that each one Of the four clubs in- volved has a different style of playing, or rather a different kind of a punch The strong point of the Boston Braves IS a sensational defense, with about as much responsibility on the fielders as on thee pitchers. The Braves are leading their league in fielding, but rank only fair in other departments of play. The Car dnals are running wild on the bases
 
 for steals whenever an opportunity arises. The Cubs are relying mainly on heavy hitting. The Giants strength lies prin- cipally in balance. fair work in every de- partment when the team is on it's game
 There is one thing that we believe would put the Giants on their feet again immediately if it should be brought to pass. which, however, seems hardly at an likely. That is the locating by Larry ' Doyle of a certain loud-mouthed fan in Brooklyn. Along in last May, when the Giants were playing the Dodgers at Eb- bets field Larry strode to bat in the eighth inning of close game with the bases full and two out The foghorn voice roared
 ''Overrated Larry Doyle" beloved the fan. It appealed to other Brooklyn par tisans in the stand and soon the yell be- came general.
 "Overrated Larry Doyle,p the crowd shouted. Larry stepped forward and put all the strengt hat his command into the swing He missed the ball a foot Strike one!' yelled the umpire, and Larry was getting red behind the ears. Strike two!" the umpire sang out a moment later, and Larry turned around for | look at the stand to see if he could pick out the ring leader. But Reulbach who was pitching, was winding up again and once more Larry set himself for a horNa run swing. The force of his effort turned Larry completely around. It was a wild pitch, but Larry had taken his swing just the same. Strike threer-ye're out said the umpire as Larry ambled back to the bench his face fiery red and his eyes scanning the grandstand The Giants lost the game
 The old horse laugh otherwise known as the merry ha, ha. is rampant in St. Louis just now. Chief Wilson, Jack Mill Ter, Cozy Dolan, Art Butler and Lefty Robinson are the ones enjoying the hoase guffaw. When they were traded last winter by the Pirates for Ed Konetchy. Bob Harmon and Mike Mowrey, Pitts burgers laughed so did the three players s last mentioned. for everybody figured that Fred Clarke had put one over on Miller Higgins and that the Pirates had become through the trade a sure pennant winner. Now the Pirates have practi- cally no chance for even first division berth and Mowrey. one of the traded trio, has been released to the minors. The five that went to the Cardinals. how ever turned that club into a champion- ship factor. which it now is. Even if the team doesn't win it's way into the worlds series, giving the players slice of that big pie, the men will divide the receipts of what ought to be a corking city series. The Browns and Cardinals are the best two teams St. Louis has owned in several years, and the St. Louis fans are pretty certain to pack the parks which would mean probably 5000 for each player