The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1914-10-05
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 gregatfon in the hitting line. It has but one consistent 300 hitter, Out hlder Connolly, where the Athletics have at least three, Collins, Baker and McInnes. The Athletics also hit together better than Sta1ings' men. timely httters in either league. In the Big Three, Collins, Baker and McTnnes, mentioned above. they have trio of sluggers that are to De feared at all times.
 On the defensive. the Boston team is somewhat ragged. The outheld. which has been shifted and shunted about all summer, is a mediocre one. Connolly is the only player who stands above the erdznaryse Devore has seen his best edays. although he Is not quite through in the big league lust vet Aside from the wonderful work of Evers and Adaranv1lles around second base, there is nothing brilliant about the work of the Bos-s ton inf1e1d. However, Schmidt at first base. and Smith. at third, have played a steady game and deserve their full share of the glory that goes with the National League victory of the Braves.
 Good catching goes hand-in-lnand with good pitching. One cannot thrive without the other. Some times good pitching makes good catching, or at least makes catcher look good More often. though, good catching is the wool of which good. pftching is made.
 Boston has a good catching staff. without doing Whaling, the brilliant second catcher, an injustice, 1t might be said that the good catching star of the Braves is Gowdy. Once cast off by the Giants; GoWdy has done excellent work with the Braves this ceason. He held down the three <7, -s1.-p the, remarkable squirt in the latter part of the race and worked equally as swell when the team was in the ob- scurity of the cellar. Whaling is no mean catcher and Is better by far than several who are doing regular Gowdy has played we'll enough to keep him on the bench most of the time.
 Narrowing down the Boston situ- ation places virtually the entire de- fensive power of the team upon Ma ranv1IIe and Evers around second base and the pitchers and catchers. This constipation swept through the National League race unscathed. IL may do the same in the big series. The offensive powers. compared to that of the Athletics appears minus quantity.
 Having conceded the Athletics the edge on the attack, the Philadelphia defensive department of play is more evenly distributed on Mack's team than on the Boston soutflt.s While good deal. in fact. the biggest part of the defense, Is centered in the famous s$100o0O infeld," yet the out field is well able to hold up it's end in times of stress With Oldring. Stru4k, Eddie Murphy and Jimmy Walsh for regulars. the outer garden looks as strong as any with the possi- ble exception of the Hooper. Speaker, fv.iI1 f1aa R<17. GnH =g
 The catching staff of the Athletics, because of it's previous wor1d'5 ser ies experience should be given the preference over Boston's. Schang, rated with the best catcheqs in either league and Lapp, should be able to carry the pitchers through the worlds series without trouble.
 In the pitching line, Mack has Ben der and Plank, seasoned veterans both in years of experience and In third man, in case of need, he prob ably will call upon Joe Bush,s who pitched and won a game against the Giants last fall. While neither Ben der nor Plank has shown himself to be fnv1ncible in worlds series games they are pretty safe bets when they are right. Bender. especially, with the inherent stolidity of his race, is hard man to beat when there is much at stake He is generally con- sidered to be one of the best worlds series pitchers of all time.
 A resume of the dope convinces one that the result of the series will prob ably hinge upon the pitching. It looks like the Mack batting and fielding strength against the pitching of Ru- dolph. Tyler and James All of which brings us down to a more minute study of the pitching problem
 The big question along this line is: Will the Boston pitchers be ready?
 Will the strain attendant upon pitching almost every third day dur ing most of the season, tell on them? Will they be stale by the time they face the MIackmen?
 I they can stand the tax on their re- serve energy and pitch as we'll in the worlds series all will be rosy for their team But can they2 That is where the dope is stuInped. The physical condition of these three men at the beginning of the series means much. It may mean the winning or losing of a worlds s championship for Boston
 On the other hand, Bender and Plank have not been called upon to over-exert sthemselves at any time this season. For the most part they have taken their regular turn on the mound and have shared the work about ev- enly with the oungstefs on the staff Because of the cIoseness of his fight with the Giants, StaIIings was unable lO 11e4S{k3ls E1A1S 41OAACy tW4tt1z HIS PlCCa- ing staff He had three men he knew were fairly certain of winning when worked every third day and given reasonabIe support Therefore he worked them according to the dic- tates of his Judgment.
 The Umpnes.
 Much Of the success of a worlds series depends upon the umpires. Bad umpiring will spoil any game or series of games For this reason fthe officials in charge on the field dur ing the cIanpi onship games must be the best obfainab1e-
 Above all, they must be strictly hon est and above suspicion. What think you would happen if a decidedly wrong decision by an umpire in the world series should lose a game for Esa.e ee tl.a aaataating teans. especiaI-