The Washington times., 1915-06-02
PHILLY FANS ARE STAYING AWAY.

However. even with this quartet in
uniform. the fans have steadfastly de-
cIined to VISIT Shibe Park this season
and the outlook Is for serious deficit
In the treasury of the Athletics at the
close of the 1915 campaign. Yesterdays
attendance of less than LOCO was scat
tered all over the immense park. fully
half being In the 25-cent seats in left field.
The grandstand. even with its dead
heads, looked empty. 1t seemed shame
that this should be the situation in
city which has known so many Amri-
can League championships and SO many
victories for the worlds greatest base
ball glory.
Back of the right field fence Is a row
of houses. There are some sixty-six
windows In that row and in the old
days not one was vacant whenever the
Mackmen were In action at Shibe Park.
Yesterday just six windows were occu-
pied. Six out of sixty-six were used
by those who could look at major league
baseball for nothing. Is it to be Won
dered, then, that the fans Of the Land
of Nod refuse to pay money to see the
team?
According to the underground dope,
the dismissal of Plank, Bender and
Coombs killed the enthusiasm Of the
1ans. The unexpected success of Coombs
with the Brooklyn Dodgers intensifes
the hostility Of the rooters. They now
Huntington and yell for the National
Leaguers. Indeed. the Pbillies are ex-
pected to have a prosperous season.
not be popular here, it is felt that his
presence In the lineup of the Mack
men would mean first-division team
and the fans claim that Connie Mack
Is showing too great parsimony in keep
ing the leagues leading slugger playing
with a semi-pro team on Saturday aft
ernoons. At any rate, Philly fans are
not going to the ball games at Shibe
Park, that's clnch.
The Griffmen will engage in their first
doubleheader Of the 1915 seaHOn toner
row. providing the steady rain now de-
lusing the land of nod ceases in tune
game is scheduled to begin at 3 O'Clock,
and the Nationals plan TO leave the
Quaker city at :38 o'clock. In addi-
ton to the evils Of loafing around a
tice. the Griffmen are losing an excel
lent chance to seize another victory
from the crippled Mackmen.
If the rain continues through tomor-
row rendering 1t impossible to stage a
contest, the Nationals will have suffer-
ed even more at the hands of the wealth
ed gods. Bert Gallia viii very likely
first game of the bargain day attraction
tomorrow. facing Joe Bush, one of the
few Mackmen who is pitching creditable
ball just now. Bob Shawkey, who de-
feated the Nationals on their last visit
here, Is expected to be in the points
against Jim Shaw in the nightcap con-
test.
off by Connie Mack, the Griffmen scat
tered to various parts OF the city. Joe
Boehling escorted a bunch of his mates
they studied the making of the movies
from A to u.
Another party booked a vaudeville
show for the afternoon, while George
Mcbride, lover of the squared circle,
looked around for a fight club enter
tainment during the evening. This Is
just our usual luck with the Athletics, I"
said Manager Griffith. as soon as he
had been officially informed that the
game had been called off. Seldom do
we ever get the breaks with the
Macks"
They're going bad now and we can't
get at them, 1t wouldn't surprise me
a bit. either, If it rained through to-
morrow and we had to go back tc
Washington without meeting then
again. Perhaps the next time we're
here Connie will have a hard team ia
beat. but that's Just our usual luck
If II is impossible to stage tomorrow
double-header. the postponed games
will go over to September. One will be