Pine Bluff daily graphic., 1914-10-01
BOSTON BRAVES
 AND ATHLETICS
Mackmen Have Little Lead on Great Machine Stallings
 Has Built This Year.
(By Frank G. Menke)

| 1alH1CllO HldSulAC, anu pl CulS'ih 6 what it will do in the world series, seems to entirely overlook the fact that George Stallings of the Braves has assembled one of the greatest baseball machines that ever repre- scented the National league.
 The Sailing machine is new. Ii doesn't run quite as smooth as the 1 grand Philadelphia machine because it's cogs are new and all the rough time to wear away. But, nevertheless 1 that Boston machine has a terrific drive, terrific power, and an endur- ance that is marvellous. And fandom soon will find that the Athletics ma chine hasn't such a huge edge on the little heralded but great Boston ma | chine.
 1 The Athletics probably will finish the season with a higher rating than the Braves. They will have won more games and lost fewer On the surface this would seem to show that the Athletics are far superior as a team. But in digging under the sur face, you will find that the Braves since the latter part of July have played better and more consistent baseball than have the Atheltics.
 When the 1914 season opened Con- nie Mack had his machine intact. He sent it along on it's course He didn't | need to experiment. didn't need to | tinker. The machine was perfect But how different was the case with Sailing.
 Sailing had to spend nearly three moznths of the 1914 season in eXperi- | ments. He had plenty of material but what was the right combination? | That was his big problem. Outside of Evers at second and Maranville at short he wasn't sure which men had l qualified for the different positions. He placed Schmidt at first and kept him there, although the big German | made mistakes during the early part l of the year that lost games for his team. But Sailing saw a diamond ill | the rough. Constant playing and the ! resultant gathering of experience has developed Schmidt into one of the most reliable first sackers in the game.
 Sailing didn't know what Gowdy l could do behind the bat. He had to | experiment. He wasn't sure which | of his outfielders were the three he needed for regular duty. Again he l had to experiment. The pitching question was a hard one for him to solve. He didn't know that the right | combination was James, Tyler and Rudolph until he had tried out some of the others who pitched poorly and l lost games for him.
 Until the early part of July Stall ings, had to juggle. experiment and l tinker. Time and again he seemed to | have his machine in working Order, it would make few perfect revolu- tions-and then one or another of the cogs would slip. He had to tear the machine down again and rebuild. ] It was along about July ! that Stallings got his machine into real working order. And then he sent it along on it's way. The result was that the Braves have played the most sensational baseball in the history of 1 the game. The team, seemingly hopelessly damned into last place, started with the precision of clock and the speed of a cyclone. Terrific and relentless it moved along, smash | ing to shrcds every bit of opposition l that offered, never stopping, never hesitating in it's whirlwind dash from the lowliest depths to the crest of National league.
 When Sailing got his machine into motion the club, in last place had a l standing of 2S games won and 40 lost "a percentage of .412. The Athletics on the same day-July 7--had a standing of .631 having won II games and lost only S5.
 From that point on it is fair to judge the respective qualities of tine the Braves by healthy margin. On that day the Athletics were II full games, or 219 points ahead of the Braves But look at the standing to- day and you will find that the Braves have reduced that edge al- most to nothing.
 Won Lost Pct Atheltic5 .9o 5O boa l Braves .......... 50 DO oll time as did the Braves. It kept I The Athletic machine started on a winning streak just about the same time as did the Braves. It kept a pace with the Braves for many weeks land then the Philadelphia machine stopped Something was wrong--and something still seems to be wrong The Athletics after gaining lead of nearly IA games over their nearest rivals, seemed to "crack." Weaker teams came along and beat them. Tht Red Sox, runners up in the pennan1 fight beat them six times out of the last seven attempts, and the Athletcs have come perilously close to losing out in their pennant fight.
 The Braves, pitted against fiercel opposition than the Athletics, have \ failed to crack. They have gone along day after day playing better baseball than the day before. Thell machine has been working constantly for nearly three months But never