The Washington times., 1914-09-27
Connie Mack Tells Cobb
Whv He Doesn't Chatter

ing to spur his men on to greater eff
forts without the additional. hardship
of reading interviews in which other
managers are counting ten on him.
You can sum up the whole thing by
saying that talking doesn't get you
anything. They award the pennant ac-
cording to the percentage of games won
and lost. and there is no oratory prize
offered in either big league so far as
l know
Personally. | do not blame Mack
bit for not coming out with lot of
wild-eyed interviews saying what he in
tends to do. The Athletics do not need
to advertise in advance what they are
Soin~ to pull off, for they usually can
accomplish it out there on the field.
There are several clubs whicn can out
talk them. but none that hZs been able
to win enough games t/is season to
beat them out of the p2flnant Boston
still has a mathematical chance. it is
true. but, with so sort a distance to
go ] would not care to have be; on
the Red SoX
Next year. CarCigan's club ought 10
be very much in the running, but il
took too long to get started this sea-
son. You will notiCe that the Red SoN
have won just about as many games as
the leaders in the NatioRssl League, but
there are no Athletics in that circuit to
set the pace. | doubt whether the PEN
nant winner of the old organization will
have as good a percentage as the sec
ond club in ours, so you see that it
isn't SO much that the Boston Ameri-
cans have made a bad record this sea-
son as that they have been opposed to
a club which has been going at a phe-
nomenal pace.
Beyond all question, the squirt of the
Mackmen, which started July l. and
lasted until nearly the middle of Sep
! tember. was the greatest ever made by
a big league club in modern baseball.
The greatest number of victories won
at stretch was twelve, which is far
short of the mark set by the White
Sox in 1906. But.the Macks won thirty
six in forty-two battles. and lost every
one of the others by single run, sew
eral of them in overtime. Thus, there
was a stretch of forty-two contests
in which nobody was able to get a
margin of two over the champions.
Had the breaks of the game been a
little different in those six contests that
were lost, it would have been an easy
enough matter for the Athletics to have
won them. and thus hung up a record
that doubtless would have stood for all
time.
The Philadelphia outfit has been ex-
tremely fortunate this season-as. in
deed, it has been in the past-in having
! little CT no trouble on account of in
juries to its stars. Had anything hap
pened to one of the regular infielders
NnllS lneTe was d race cii, lilcie
might Save been a new champion this
year. cNack is only carrying one infield
substitute now. Kopf. While he looks
| like a fair player. he hardly could be
expected to step into the shoes of any
! of the wonderful quartet and deliver in
quite the same manner.
If the Athletics had had anything ike
, the bad luck that the Tigers struck
around the middle of the season. they
! would have been lucky to finish the
! season Moriarty, of our club, was out
! for a long time with broken hand :
| Burns had u take rest on account of
a damaged thumb. and Oscar Witt. when
! he was badly needed to bolster UP sec
! ond base had the misfortune to sustain
a fracture of his wrist. Just think what
it would have meant to Connie Mack to
have had Baker idle A month and Nc
| Innes in poor physical condition for
. even few days.
! You cannot say that it is due TO clean
living that the champions do not get
hurt. either. Their good habits Will not
protect them from spike wounds and
broken bones any more than Moriarty
who has no bad habits of any sort, was
protected against breaking his thumt
sliding home in a steal.