Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1915-04-26
PHILLTES NOT SERIOUS
PENNANT CONTENDERS,
SAYS BRAVES LEADER
George Stallings Declares
He Has Been Expert
menting, But Will Set
League Attire - Mitchell
Now a Scout.

George stallIngs, manager of the
worlds champions, does not take the
PhillIes' squirt seriously. lie says that
Moran has a good ball club and one that
will almost surely land in tho first divi-
sion, and possibly in second place, but as
for beating the Braves for the pcnnant,
that is out of the question, according to
George. To date Stallings has been ex-
perimenting with young pitchers, and he
believes that his club could have won
several games that have been lost had he
wanted to send his frst-strng men to the
pitching hill.
Tho 21-player limit goes into effect on
May 1. and at present Stallngs has 25
men on tho list. not counting Fred
Mitchell, his first lieutenant. He does
not want to part with any of his men,
but realizes that he must, and it ia for
this purpose he has been experimenting.
Mitchell, who has been given full credit
for the wonderful work of the Braves
pitching staff. will no longer appear on
the coaching lines. but will act as head
scout and coach In the mornings when
the team Is in Boston.
Dick Egan has been purchased from
Brooklyn and makes 1t all the harder for
Stallings to cut down. At present he has
five outflelders. They are Magee, Con-
molly, Moran Gather and Gilbert. One
of them must go, with chances favoring
Gilbert, because OF Gathers hitting and
ability to play third base. One inflelder will
have to go also unless Stallings can cut
off three pitchers, and at present that
looks like a hard job, Either TradgressOr
or Bruggy will be cut loose, with chances
favorIng the retention of Bruggy. STALL
ings likes his fighting spirit and head
work, and intimated that Tradgressor
would go back TO the Birmingham Club
of the Southern League.
Eleven pitchers are on the Boston
roster at present and two. and possibly
three. will be released on May l. James,
Rudolph, Tyler, Hughes, Strand, Hess and
Davis are certainties. but the latter will
not join the team until the middle of
June, when he is graduated from the
Harvard Law School. Aside from pitch
ing Hess Is first substitute for Schmidt
at first base, while Strand is looked upon
as the best pinch hitter on the club He
made good In Fridays game, when his
single drove in the only run scored by
the Braves.
Cochrehan and Crutcher appear to be
worlds champions ranks. Cochrehan has
shown only fair form in a year and n
half. but Crutcher has pitched some eX-
cellent games The latter apparently has
everything needed to be star but the
stamina. Stallings says he lacks the
thickness in the back of his neck ever
to have much stamina, This is n strange
remark but the Braves leader, who is
a graduate physician. says that this is
n gtIrA sign of lack Of
With his team working as mapped out
above, Stallings believes that the Braves
will break all records for number of
games won in the National League, The
present record is held by the Chicago
Cubs and was made in 1910, but STALL
ings says that his club will easily pass
this mark. The Giants are looked upon
as the most formidable opponent. though
George admits that the work of the
Phillles is more than a flash and that
Moran's team might possibly keep up in
the race for three months.