Daily capital journal. (Salem, Oregon) 1903-1919, 1914-01-17
M'GRAN IS LEGREE
OF NEW YORK GIANTS
Menke Thinks Little Head of National
Team Is Greater Than Connie
Mack, of American.
MACK MOSES OF ATHLETICS
BUT HE HAS BEST PLAYERS
Menke Thinks McGraw Is Entitled to
Most Credit Because He Drives
Rather Poor Bunch.
BY FRANK G. MENKE.
UNITED PRESS LEASED WIRE. 1

thN NA"hbsf 90 NiNNly oNp@lobSu ~
permanent and in their managerial meth
DDS as the north and south poles, rank
as the greatest leaders in baseball his
tory.
But which is the greaterl
It's a natural question that follows
such situation, and it's a question
that at first seems hard to answer
Yet, after studying the records of both
men, it seems that the honor of being
the greatest leader must rightly be Civ
en- to McGraw.
This statement is made in the face |
of the fact that Mack has won as many
pennants-five in number-as has Nc
Graw, and that Mack has captured |
three worlds championships in four
starts, while McGraw has won but one
in four starts.
The success of the Athletics has been
due mainly to the ability Of the play
ers; the success of the Giants has been
due mainly to the wonderful, uncanny
power of McGraw to weld bunch of
mediocre ball players into a pennant-
n winning combination.
In 1913 Mack won the American
league pennant because his team, as a
whole, ranked as not only the best in
that league, but the best in the world
With McGraw it was different. He
entered the race in the spring of 1918
with only one reliable brainy pitcher
Y the wonderful Mathewson-and with
team that, on paper and in actual nat
a ural strength, ranked below three 9th
< er teams in the National league.
? Yet the Giants won the pennant by
= wide margin. Why7 The answer is,
e McGraw! He took his ordinary, me-
e chanical ball players and made them
II into a machine. Then he oiled the ma
chine with his own wonderful fighting
spirit, supplied the brains that his men
lacked, thought for and did everything
put play the game LOT Inem'
With any other manager but McGraw
l. at the helm the Giants never would
u have been in the race last year When
5, the team crumpled up early in the sum
u mer mad seemed to have gone to pieces
70 other managers would have felt that
lo there was no chance to finish in the
" lead But McGraw was different He
T. never gave in and he never let his men
u quit. The more they were pummeed
u and pounded around by their rivals the
IL faster he sent them back at their op-
- ponents,
The situation in 1918 was no excep-
tion to what it has been in other years.
Fate seems to have ruled that each
" year Mack is to have a wonderful gal
le axy Of brainy players, and that Nc
,e Graw is to have nothing but mechanical
lg men,
TO Look over the list Of men who have
/. played on the Giant team since Nc
co Graw took charge back in 1908. Ex-
in cepting Mathewson, there never has
been one man on the Giant roster who
compared in brains to Eddie Collins,
Danny Murphy, Harris Davis and the
other handy men that Mack has had,
Mack started in the American league
with team noted for its brains And
- it seems that each year when some star
ey has dropped from the Athletic firma-
Id ment another has risen to take his
he place. Always on the Athletic roster
lg have there been men Of brains, men who
could do their own thinking, who could
ny plan their own actions
d In MeGraN's case he has had under
&" him year after year only men who were
;" mechanical baseball stars, with Math
ewson the only exception, Of course Yet
p he has taken these men, lent them some
Of his own brains, aroused their latent
'e- fighting blood and has kept the Giants
ID. at or around the top for ten years.
re. How many will dispute us when We
". say that Mack, at the head Of the 1919
ng Giants, would not have breezed home q
lid winneri Mack would have been fail
uro as manager Of tho Giants, and
would be failure as the manager Of
VI any team numbering on its roster mer
Ia Of such ealibre as the present-day
u Giants.
-, The Giants must be driven, not led
~ :, Mack can lead, but he can't drive. Tn,
~, Giants must be nagged, scolded, abused
n almost matreated TO get them to Dc
w their best work and to keep then
~ keyed up 10 their highest tension. Cai
any one who knows Mack kindly, gen
lie, fatherly Mack imagine him drivinl
I'M. his players, abusing them, calling then
sic. names and threatening them with ev
les. erything short Of asassinationi
Mack directs his men from the bench