The Washington herald., 1915-10-09
Breaks of Luck
Are Big + actor
Gods of Fortune Smile on the
Mighty Alexander in Phil
lies Initial Victory Over
Red Sox by 3 to /.
TOUGH LINES FOR SHORE
By DAMON RUNYON.

oCt o. iiCS uiu -
The gods of baseball fortune smiled
very. very kindly on the big star OF
the Philadelphia Nationals and the men
behind him. this afternoon. but he did
what he was expected to do. He won
He carried his club through to q
3 to 1 victory over the Boston Red
Sox in the opening game of the world
series; slipping and stopping and stag
gering along, he carried it through
and though he must have gone to bed
tonight with a feeling that Friday was
a mighty auspicious day for Grover
Cleveland Alexander, he won.
That's the main thing-he won.
The world pauses but briefly to an
alyze the reasons for a winner. 1t may
sympathize a fleeting moment with
Ernest Shore. the long, thin. scissors
legged lad from way down South in
Georgia; he will hear a great deal the
next few hours about his tough luck.
and then the procession will move on
great.
He won. Shore lost.
| The Royal Rooters, of Boston. 40O
strong, tramping disconsolately across
the muddy field of the Phils behind
their band and the only Honey Fitz
late this afternoon, mumbled Horse
shoes at the shrilling thousands in
the stand. but a hundred yards away
Alexander was fighting his way toward
the clubhouse door through a wild jam
of humanity that chanted: "Oh, you
Alec"
Alexander Gets Breaks.
Pitching nothing like the mighty Alex
ander who showed the heavy-footed Phil
lies across the summer months of the
| National League campaign. his delivery
was cracked to all corners of the yard
in eight sharp. decisive hits. while his
! towering young opponent was holding the
clubbers of the Philadelphia outfit to five
| safe blows-four of them spongy infiel5
rollers-the big Nebraskan had to have
all of what baseball men call 'the
| breaks to win.
Tonight in the huge parlor Of the
| Bellevue-Stratford Hotel that is used for
press headquarters. above a weird jangle
of typewriters rocking under the fingers
! of two score newspaper men telling the
| tale of the days game, can be heard a
! hum of argument which indicates widely
| varying views of the proceedings.
SCOTS boner in the eighth did it."
says q Boston man. irate over the de-
| feat
"Paskert's catch in the eighth saved
| the day asserts a Philadelphian.
"All luck" declares an out-of-towner.
| Nothing but luck. Alexander had rab-
bits foot
But the score remains unchanged-3 for
Philadelphia and / for the Boston Red
Sox.
Nothing Sensational.
There was nothing homeric about the
struggle. Did it take place on any Fri
day in the run of the regular session it
would be called a poor game, lsstless.
draggy game, for In the regular session
it would carry none of the intcrrst that
naturally centers about worlds cham
pionship fight.
There was just one flare of the spec
acular in the course of the afternoon.
That was George Paskert's catch in the
eighth. Going into that inning the Phil
lies had a one-run lead. Scott. the young
shortfielder whose error of omission later
on rests heavily on the minds of the Bos-
ton rooters this evening, was retired on
fly to Bancroft.
Iris Speaker the Texan, generally rec
ognized as the greatest fielding outtielder
in the baseball world. was given base
on balls by Alexander. The pitcher tried
to work the corners on Iris, which
translated means that he endeavored to
put the ball over the edge of the plate
farthest from the Lone Star slugger.
Something should be said here of the
craft displayed by Alexander in working
on the Boston batsmen.
Alexander a Little wild.
Maybe it was overcaution in this re-
spect that made him a little wild. Maybe
it was extreme care that was responsible
for what the baseball people are now
calling ragged" pitching. He had pass
ed Speaker In the first inning trying to
confine his delivery to a scant few inches
of the plate. and now, In this eighth. he
did not get a ball across that William
Klein, shrill-voiced, dapper, alert, umpir-
ing behind the bat. could call a strike.
AS craftily as Alex worked. just as
craftily did Speaker squat there, sliding
his eyes along the range where he knew
the ball must come to suit his purpose.
The great Texan is growing gray in the
service of the Sox. but no pitcher. how
ever wonderful. may take liberties with
him.
He walked Dick Hoblitzel, discard of
the Cincinnati Reds. and passed up by
every club in the National League, only
to find himself in a world series, hit a
sharp Grounder down to Milton Stock,
the pudgy little third baseman discovered
and developed by John ]. McGraw, of
the Giants. to finally make a useful play
er for another manager.
Stock Makes tumble.
Stock fumbled the ball for an instant.
But for that tumble he might have had
a chance to toss the ball to Bert NeilIoff
at second and start double play. See
ing it was too late to get Speaker at
second. however, the small Chicagoan
twirled the ball over to Luderus and
Hoblitzel was called out by silk"
O'Loughlin. the American League UNI
pire, in that high vocal scream that car
ries to the distant edges of a crowd.
Duffy Lewis slugged the first ball
pitched at him by Alexander for a
single to left field. Speaker was in
motion with the swing. He crossed the
plate several feet ahead of George
Whitted's arm. and though Burns
whipped the ball down to Neihoff as
soon as he saw he could not tag
Speaker. the Californian was easily
safe.
Then il was that Larry Gardner
drove a fly far out over center field.
but little toward left, and then it
was that Paskert came racing up out
of the distance and clutched the ball
while travelling at full speed. That
catch may have changed the entire
aspect of the game. Had the drive
gone safe the Sox would have been in