El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1915-10-07
PHILLIE5 ARE HARDEST SLI6GER5:
LUCK WILL PLAY PART IN SERIES.
Philadelphans Rank One of Best Hitting Clubs of the
Age, and Far Ahead of Boston Reds; Iris Speaker,
Champion Hitter of Red SOz, Hasn't Made Home
Run All the Year Out of $50 Times at the Bat
BY FRANK G. MENKE-

World series games always have fur
nished surprises and startling upsets
Of the dope-and they nave oeen
caused by the dabblings of rate py
the smiles or frowns Of fortune
Baseball. the old boys tell US, Is -
per cent skill and so per cent luck
Which team Will have the luc6-Wnlch
will get the break" of the game
Answer those questions and you We
named the certain winner OF the
The dope" created by a perusal or
the mast performances Of the contend
ing teams. shows that Alexander ought
10 out pitch every other hurler In the
classic battle. But fill he2 Past
performances say ne ought Io-Dul
that is no criterion for world series
The dope" says the Phillies should
out-slug the Red Sox and the SoN
ought to outrun the Phillies- But the
old dope" may get Jolt Fate may
twist things.
Pre-Series Dope Means Little.
World series combatants rarely play
true TO regular season form Men who
have been figured to star, TO be
tower Of strength have fallen down
mfsera bly, Ty Cobb furnished the best
example of this. others from whom
almost nothing was expected have
risen TO great heights; have, by their
wonderful achievements. cinched their
title for their clubs Whitley kone'
Of the 1916 White Sox, is one example.
Hank" Gowdy, Of the 1914 Braves, IS
another.
Fortune smiled upon the Braves in
LELAND the Braves won II smiled
on the Red Sox in 1912-and they won
1906 White Sox, on the 1911 Athletics
and they won
They Got the Breaks.
These teams got the Breaks; and
II was because they got the breaks
that they became the baseball cham
nj Of "a universe
Hank" Gowdy's 1914 world series
accomplishments stand out as one case
where the dope went awry-
Before the series Hank wasn't
real clouting during the regular 1914
season-nor has he done anything re-
markable in the batting line this
year
Luck Was With GOwdy.
But Fortune smiled upon Hank
during those four world series days in
1914 and Hank hit for the tremend-
Gus average Of .545. He went to bat
II times-and got six hits Three or
those were doubles. one was triple
and the other a homer. Every one OF
his extra base swats came exactly
when It was needed-came at a crucial
moment during the game.
Hanks" clubbing feat always will
rank as one Of the greatest in world
seriesies history, but IL must rank too
as a bit OF luck that an ordinary
ClOuLeE SnOulQ ne auAe 10 EDuArIL WIN
a smuggling streak during the most
critical period OF his career
In 1912 the Red Sox out-lucled the
Giants-and the Red Sox won the base
ball championship of the world In the
first seven game Of the series the Red
Sox got the "breaks"-and they also
got them that last game You re-
member II don't you2 It was the last
half Of the ninth inning and the
Giants were in the lead. The Red Sox
went 10 bat and Engle sent a fly to
Snodgrass. The Giant outfielder didn't
have to move for the ball It was the
easiest chance he had during the en-
tire series. He put out his hands. the
ball dropped into it and out again.
Snodgrass had made the $4,000 muff'
and most inElorious foozIe Of the
career-and paved the way for the Red
Sox rally that won the game-and the
championship.
Drove Two Into Stands.
Frank Baker smOte two baseballs
into the grandstands for two separate
and distinct home runs in two OF the
world series game in 1911. Certainly
Fortune smiled on Baker because the
Athletic sluEEer in those two games
made as many home runs as he had