Norwich bulletin., 1914-07-18

scheduic-proaaEiy mapping cut his nuriiDg rroz4 am weeks anead-and tn-s qUes.iG-l was put to him:
 They say you have a weak pitcn- ing staff. possibly the weakest in the league; that you will have trouble re- maining at the top in the pennant race; that your inf1eld alone Is carrying you through. What do you think about 1t 7'
 MT. Mack continued to study the lit- tie book for a minute. as if to fix in his mind how far he could look into the future with his fingers. and then replied: hope they dos it Is going o-make our fight for the flag a whole lot easier.
 Seriously speaking, I cannot under stand why the opinion Is so general that our pitchers are weak most certainly do not think they are In fact, I will say that compared with all the others. I don't see a staff in the league that has anything on us. We are leading the race and that means our pitchers have been winning flames for us. What more can we askf
 We have had several slumps in fallen off; our fielding has been medi- ocre, but our pitchers have continued to win more than their share of the games. Doesn't thatindicate that our staff is O. K.7
 Take Bush, Wyckoff. Pennock and Shawkey, and where will you find four young pitchers doing better work? And all Of them will improve. Wyckon es- pecially has done splendidly for us this year, but he is going to be a bet ter pitcher as the season advances and he gets more confidence. Shawkey, too, is pitching steady ball as a rue and he will be stronger later on. Pen | mock. who was i'll last season. Is going l to be one Of the best ft-handers in | the game unles am greatly mistaken. iG yh0 ie n them some help now and is going to 1 show plenty of stun when he gets the 1 experience.
 'eBush hasn't got into his proper | stride yet, but he's coming along rapid 1 ly. He showed what he could do last season. I think he is going to be one l of the great pitchers In fact, I look | for him to show his true worth be- ! fore this campaign is ended Then with Plank and Bender continuing to i do what they have been doing-and 1 everybody knows what that is-I real | ly fail to see where another team has
 a thing on us in the pitching depart | ment.''
 Although five of his seven pitchers are now entering on their second full I season as major leaguers, they gC | about their work like veterans. Bush l Wyckoff and Shawkey are three right handlers who began their careers 1T 1918. Bush was unusually successful
 in the last race for the flag, but tht
 others were not used much; they were
 being given the first year on thu | bench, a Mack system, Pennock wa!
 with the Athletics in 1912, but illness
 at the start of the 1913 season mad'
 him virtually non -combatant unt
 late in the year. He is a lad yet, bI
 has shown such promise that it i ' freely predicted he will soon step int
 Plank's shoes when that veteran dis
 cards his baseball uniform to live ol his farm at Gettysburg.
 | Have any of the men who thinl our pitching staff is so weak noice'
 that l have had to make fey change this year? I usually feel confiden when I start a pitcher that he will b able to go through the game. unless h I happens to have a off-day or the oc casion arises where a pinch batter
 needed. Last season we invariabl
 had to use two or three pitchers in i, game at one stage of the race" ; Manager Mack pointed out that tn reliability of his twirlers was proc , that they were as good as any in tn
 league. He has weeded out the me
 who could not be counted on to de l>liver for nine full innings and now hd
 a staff that not only is keeping tn
 Athletics in the lead, but made up (
 young men, with the two exception of Bender and Plank. and will surel f be better as the lads gain experience
 Coombs May Come Back" = Jack Coombs, the Iron Man" of tn
 191O-11 campaigns is at Shibe Park
 uniform every day. but MT. Mack doe
 not venture an opinion about what tn
 Colby collegian will do this year or
 the future. Coombs thinks his strengt
 is returning, and he will be able { : pitch again some time. He doesn't sa ! when. But the Athletics are not count
 ing on him to help this season, an z what Connie sai dabout his pitcher was based on the work of the seve s regulars-Bender. Plank, Bush, Wyc < koff, Shawkey, Pennock and Bresele 2 The latter, by the way, is a newkcom'
 this year. but looks so promising thi E a bright future is predicted for him. < T only hope the other teams COT 6 tinue to think our pitching staff Z weak was MT. Mack's parting r
 mark.
 [, And that is the big idea with H < maker of worlds champions in
 baseball campaigns, too. He's pc E fectly willing for the other manag 5 to think anything but the right thil z about the Athletics-in fact, Conn
 Mack will help him to think the wroI 4 thing whenever he can. But, the ia, ilG may be sure that the wisest diamoI 5. leader in the world is not worryil
 about his twirlers, and. to resort + slang. they should worry