New Britain herald., 1915-07-08
Midsummer Roundup.

know that Joe Woods back again With all his ancient spin
 BUT
 I'm glad bet no money
 That the White Sox wouldn't win.
 When the Mackian machine was ! being dismembered and scatetred broadcast, Col. Coniskey wisely stepped in and purchased its motor. It cost him S5o.0o0 to get Eddie Col lins, but it was the wisest buy ne ever made. For using this motor Commy now has machine moving as swiftly as even the Philadelphia Touring Car ever travelled
 The Pursuit Race.
 Without sparring any further for lead, the American League race is now merely pursuit affair on the part of the Red Sox and, Tigers, with the White sox setting pace pretty hard to follow.
 Club for Club.
 As any discussion of the A. l.. race must settle around White Sox, Red s,ox and Tigers, the best dope to be exhibited in this connection is a com. parison of the three clubs.
 In the outf1eld both Tigers and Red ,sox have the White Sox beaten to a froth--just as they have other out fields beaten. For Speaker. Hooper and Lewis on the one side, and Cobb, Crawford and Veach on the other frame the two great outfields of the game
 M The infield is another matter Here with a quartet ranged around Eddie Collins, the White Sox carry all the edge there is The Req Sox run second, with the Tigers last-due in the main to a weak batting combina,- ton that has brought down the aver age of the clubs offense. Fournier, Collins and Weaver are all stars while Weaver and Collins around second are the strongest combination in the league,
 Tn the box the White Sox again have a slight edge over the Red Sox and dependable edge over the Tigers. Dauss, Dubuc and Covaleskie, while k ood pitchers, are not to be compared with Faber, Scott, Cicotte, Benz and others---Ilor with Foster. Ruth, Wood, z Leonard, Collins and Shore
 Back of the bat the White Sox again lead, with Ray Schalk. now rated the best catcher in base ball. Or out Of baseball, as the case may be. The Tigers here have a slight edge on the Red Sox but hardly enough to be called important in any summing up.
 Winning Factors.
 As affairs have progressed so far the }<,E ?, 1e1,< at~a~ strength in the main departments of the vivacious pastime-around the in- field, in the box and back of the bat
 They have no better run-making machine than the Tigers, but they have better defensive club. Their margin over the Red Sox is slight, either upon offense or defense, but the leading advantage here rests in having man like Eddie Collins on the field to keep Morale or the Old Pep in daily working order Collins has been a great factor in the. White Sox rise, but improved batting in other directions has also been a potent force. And credit here belongs to Rowland, the new manager, who insisted early upon dropping the old title: "Hitless Wonders, and substituting the hypno- tic suggestion that "any guy could hit who believed he could"
 Red Sox Prospects.
 Ballplayers around the American league have been steadily picking the Red Sox to catch up and win out. They have never figured the White Sox able to maintain their run-making dive. And with their full strength in the field the Red Sox are strong enough to go far and fast--even fast enough to win if there Is any break in the White sox batting.
 Back in April Carrigan's club had the better of it in the preseason con- versation. But on form shown so far the White Sox should finish first, the Red Sox second and the Tigers third.
 Tanks and Senators.
 The Tanks are a greatly improved club over last season, while the Sena- tors have slipped back. So the batle for fourth place between the two will remain we'll fought. with Washington possessing any advantage there might be lying around. Griff blew away to a poor start, but no club that has Walter Johnson can be stampeded or driven far off the proper course. The collapse of St. Louis and Cleve- land was eXpected--a collapse being their chronic condition-but even with the loss of Collins, Baker and others, no one ever considered any such utter buckling up as the MacKmen have shown. A club that still had some good young pitchers, with Schang, McInnis, Lajoie, Barry, Murphy. Old- ring, Strunk. was rated strong enough for a job at the first division; but the smash up in club spirit mas been even greater than the loss of material, and the once dreaded Mackmen now be-