Newark evening star and Newark advertiser. [volume] (Newark, N.J.) 1909-1916, 1914-02-27
COLLINS ON HOW MACK
SHIFTS HIS PITCHERS
Connie Saved a Game in Detroit
by Derricking Brown at
Right Moment.
BENDER GREAT RELIEF MAN
A Change in Pitchers Works
Wonders With the Rest
of Team.
BY EDDIE COLLINS

One evening last year when we
We're seated in the lobby of a hotel
in Detroit, I heard a man, who was
evidently a ball fan, ask Connie
Mack the following question:
why was 1t, Mr.. Mack, that you
waited until the eighth inning of to-
days game before you took Brown
out? 1 never would have believed
you'd let a pitcher stay in long
enough to give fifteen bases on balls
in one game"
The substance of Comics reply
was that Brown had pitched an ex-
traodinary game in the sense that
he had given so many bases on balls
and still allowed only three or four
runs. The secret of Browns success
was his wildness; it was an asset
rather than a handicap. As a rule
he would retire the first two men in
each inning without trouble, and then
develop wild streak and fill the
bases, finally managing, however, to
get out of bad hole all right, or
with possibly the allowance of a
single score. In other words. he
showed that he was pitching and
working all the time, and although
ne was making his work very hard
for himself, he seemed to hold the
trump card when the situation de-
manded.
But l noticed that he was slowing
up in the eighth" said Connie. ANY
time you can see a pitcher ease up
in order to get a ball over the plate,
it's time he got out. It's no wonder,
though, Brownie was slowing up; he
pitched about four games out there
this afternoon, anyway"
Mack Took No Chances.
The trained eye of our manager
had discerned that the last free pass
which his pitcher had handed out
was the result of fatigue, let us call
it, and even though we were leading
Detroit by three or four runs, he was
taking no chances and substituted
Plank, who thereafter held the Tigers
in check.
The very first hit that Larry Chap
pelle, the star outfielder the White
Sox secured from Milwaukee, made in
the American League really knock
ed one of the Athletics pitchers out
of the box. If ii did not actually
force Browns retirement at the mo-
ment it went whizZing out to right
field, it was the forerunner of a
cluster of base knocks which drove
Brownie to cover. The rally took
place in the initial inning of the
first game of a double-header which
we were scheduled TO play the White
Sox. Although the latter collected
only two runs and Brown seemed
to be going strong, Connie decided
to derrick him. This was his dope:
Russell was the Sox's pitcher, and
two runs advantage at the start for
him ordinarily looks as big as a
mountain. Brown was one Athletic
pitcher who usually could beat Chi
cago, but this time he had got away
bad Houck, Bush or young Wyck-
off were available to shove in to
fight it out with Russell. and that
would save Brown for the second
game. Comics line of figuring work
ed out all right, because we were
unable to do anything in that first
game, and Brownie" came back
strong in game number two and we
beat some pitcher3I think it was
Cicotte-in ten or eleven innings.
Instances such as this often hap
pen where a good pitcher, because he
is behind and his club seems to have
a hopeless task of winning, is taken
out In order to save his strength,
and another substituted who is very
liable to hold the opposition down,
but who would not have as good a
chance of winning as the man whom
he has replaced if the game were to
begin over again.
Bender's Value Hard to Estimate.
The value of Charles Albert Bender
to the Athletics would be hard to es-
innate He has always been looked
upon as one of the big mainstays of
the pitching department. But in none
of his ten or eleven brilliant years of
service with the Athletics did he
show to better advantage than dur
ing the season of 1913.
Up until last year, Chief was al
ways the kind of a pitcher who
could and did take his turn regular
ly and would win two-thirds of his