Evening star., 1914-08-13

Good old Billy Murray, e1-manager
of our club. certainly had the right
dope" when he said the fan and news
paperman had something on the base ball
| manager. because they had the second
guess" writes Manager Doom in the
Philadelphia Ledger. 1t might well be
called the last guess" for there might
be two or three guesses before a play is
completed by the men on the field. but
| the fellow who cannot be wrong is the
one who guesses what should have been
done when it is all over.
Joe Cantillon wisely remarks that he
Will stand for any suggestion from a
player on his team, but the man who
voices second guess on the bench
may as well pack up and leave.
What is the last guess or second
guess? Well, it's the thing that makes
every fan think he would make good
manager. The fan can always see what
should have been done after the play ls
over, and, Of course. the ''bone-headed'
manager. who had to make snap judg-
ment. was wrong.
Several Kinds Of Guesses.
Here's an illustration. A team has
three men on bases in the ninth inning;
two are out: it's the pitchers turn to
bat The score Is tied, l to 1, and both
twirlers look good for nine more innings.
Now, in the twinkling of an eye. the
manager has to decide whether to let
the pitcher go to bat or send in plncn
batter.
Wen say. for instance, that the pitcher
is permitted to take his turn at the plate
and strikes out. Then, In tne next IN
ming, the opponents get run ana WIN
the game. OF course, the men In the
stands have an opportunity to guess now
a pinch batter might have made the M
in the ninth that would have ended tne
game right there.
on the other hand. suppose the man
aeer selects his best pinch batter to go
to the plate for the pitcher In the ninth,
and the .'pincher" hits fly which is
easily caught The new twirler. in the
tenth. is easy for the opposing o,up ana ~
they score two or three runs 1hen. OF
course. YOU will hear a fan shout: When
they were handing out brains they over
looked that manager. schoolboy wouio
have known better than to take that
pitcher out when he was going SO good.
So. you see, the manager stands to
lose, any way you take it The fellow
with the last guess can't possibly
make a mistake.
A Good Illustration.
In Cincinnati recently a good illustra-
ton of the second guess" was given.
Mattison, our pitcher, had been going
| fine and had the Reds to 8. In the
last half of the eighth inning, Matty
walked the first man, one was retired
| and then came an error. 1 put in Mayer
| (Iiillefer, by the way, had been put out
| Of the game, which. l imagine, some
what ratified Mattison). With three balls
| and two strikes on Hoblitzell, who was
pinch-hitting for the pitcher, Umpire
Myron let the batter walk on a perfect
| strike. Moran then hit a single and be-
] fore We got them out they had three
| runs.
| In the clubhouse after the game some
of the boys said they thought l should
have started Mayer Off in the eighth
| The last guess" you see. l was sup
posed to know that Mattson was going
| to weaken.
| However. we went to st. Louis, and
| lineup opened for our club. He pitched
a wonderful game, holding the Cardinals
scoreless in the first eight innings. while
we made three tallies.
| Wilson, the first man up for Higgins
team in the ninth. got hit lineup wa:
taken out and Alexander went to the
| mound to pitch. Before you could take
a drink of water. st. Louis had us tiec
up by means of hits and errors An
other second guess" Tfncup probabl,
would have won out in nine.
But the old last guess" came up il
this game. We finally won out in thirteei
innings under peculiar circumstance:
connected somewhat with the guessing
business. Paskert had previously beer
| put out of the game by the umpire ant
was "panned' severely for depriving VI
of Cravath. our only pinch hitter-Gavv!
had to take Dode's place in the outfield
| But In the thirteenth round. with tw,
on bases, Cravath hit one to the fence TO
three bases, winning the game. That. o
course, gave St Louis fans an oppor
tunity to blame Paskert for their defeat
they figuring that Dode might not hav
hit the triple had he been up instead O
Gavvy. And there you are!
| Might Have Started Rixey.
Only last week lineup. who, by tn
way. was hit harder in one inning thai
he was on the whole western trip, wa
belted for four runs with only one 81
| louis player out in the first period