Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1914-10-07
nWTNNTNG-TOSS"
JTNX MAY CAUSE
ATHLETICS TO LOSE
Misfortune Has Habit of
Following in Wake of
Manager Getting Choice of
City for First Game. a.

is there jlnx in winning the toss to
decide where the first game of worlds
series Is to be played?
Those who are superstitious will an
swer in the affirmative because the rec
ords show that the manager losing the
toss has been almost universally sue
cessful II this jinx holds good this year
the Boston Braves will carry Off the
baseball honors President Gaffney failed
to call the turn when Hermann tossed
the coin last Tuesday week. That, ac-
cording to the ink theory, gave Mr..
| Gafney's clut the Championship title,
while It only gave Manager Mack the
right to open the series in Philadelphia.
This calls to mind again the many Incl
dents which go to show the honesty OF
baseball. 1t would have Deen far more
profitable to the club owners and to the
| National Commission to have the first
game played In Boston, II 1t turns out
that only five games are TO be played.
In that event the increased seating ca
| pacity of Fenway over Shibe Park would
net the clubs many thousands more doll
lars. Yet there was no attempt made
to decide the matter any way except by
the spinning of a coin. This happening
took place regardless Of the prediction
of a paragrapher who recently said: IL
the coin 10llS neauS OF I0llS, tHe
game will be played in Boston. # 1t stays
in the Dir, it will be pulled off in Phia-
delpha.'
MAY FOLLOW ATHLETICS.
But to get back to the original subject,
this jnx which has been hanging over
winners of the toss. is one of the big
gest arguments against the Athletics to
; win, or. at least, that is the theory ad-
vanced by many ball players who would
otherwise favor the Mackmen in their
/ scrap with the Braves.
The first worlds series game under the
present rules was in 1903, but the rules
were different from those of the present,
! hence we will only consider those cham
| plonship struggles from 1905 to the pres
ent time. During that period there have
! been nine series played and seven times
[ the defeated club has won the toss. The
two exceptions were the Athletics in 1910
and the Pirates in 1909 In those years
the winners OF the series won the toss.
The following shows who won the
toss and the series from 1905 to 1918, in
elusive:
19O5-Athletlcs won toss, lost to Giants.
10O5-Cubs won toss lost to White SoX.
l907-Detroit won toss, lost to Cubs
l9S-Detroit won toss, lost again to
Cubs.
19Oa-Pirates won toss also beat De-
troit.
19l0-Athletics won toss and beat Cubs.
l9l1-Giants won toss and lost to Ath-
lctics.
1S12-Giants won toss lost to Red Sox.
lalS-Giants won toss, lost to Athletics.
19li-Athletics won toss.
This ink has followed the New York
team with unwavering regularity. The
Giants have played in four world cham
pionshp series and the only time they
have won was in 1906, when they lost the
Toe !, Ice a..
have been consistently successful in call
Ing the turn of the coin and just as con-
slstent In losing the series to their oppo-
nents.
1t appears that the Giants have been
beseged by baseball hoodoos. Besides
having been followed by the jinx just
discussed. McCiraw's chances to win the
pennant in the National League this seq
son were somewhat lessened, according
to popular opinion. because no club had
ever won four pennants in q row
SUPERSTITION IN BASEBALL
Superstition has been going hand IN
hand with baseball and baseball players
since the game began. When nlayer
loses or breaks favorite bat his hitting
Is sure to be way off for some time to
come, because he believes that a certain
bat "has the hits in It," This was the
case with Ruhe Oldrlng this season. Rube
was hitting above 800 when some one
made way with his stick after an exhI-
bition played in Buffalo. Rube's hitting
Immediately went bad and ne failed to
connect for many games. The slump
caused by having his bat taken from him
caused Oldring to finish the season under
The 300 mark when otherwise he would
probably have been among the elite.
Many times fans attention has been
called TO the queer movements of Louis
Van Zelt, the Athletics mascot. Louis
gees out before game and makes little
impressions in the ground with his spikes.
Every inning when he takes his stand
to carry the bats back to the bench he
places his spikes in those same holes. IL
some one should kick up the dirt or tear
the ground where Louis had been stand
Ing he wouldn't give two cents for the
Athletics chances to win
Many persons will scon at the idea OF
such things playing any real part In base
ball in this enlightened age. Nevertheless
they do, and it is not at all improbable
that more than one of the Athletics in
Guiding Connie Mack himself will feel
that the chances are materially lpssened
by this so-called iuN.
Time and again things have hanuened
on the ball field that have caused Diayers
10 believe that they were followed bv
some kind of persistent i'm luck ana Won
find that many OF the New York National
Leasuers this season az no time expected
to win, because they had won three nen-
nants IN row, as previously remarked.