The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1916-07-01
Sport Wheezes
CLUG-

survey of the championship races of
past seasons will show. that a majority of
excelled in club fielding more than in any
other department of the game. OF course,
individual batting has won a few yards of
winners have been compelled to give the
credit to their pitchers But, on the whole,
good fielding has been the secret of sue
cess more than any other one thing.
However, indications are that the West
ern league will upset the dope pot and spill
every drop of the dope this season. Topeka,
a wide margin, is down at the bottom, and
Denver and Sioux City with the best hitters
in the league are having a hard time stay
ing out of the cellar.
Sioux City seems to be tied to the tail
end of the second division permanently,
yet the Indians have Gilmore and Livings-
ton who. are hitting better than any other
players in the league and they have three
other 300 hitters and some good pitchers.
The Indians also stand third in club field
ing. Why they are not able to get up in
the race is mystery that dope will not
clear up.
From the way things look now, this
seasons W. l.. race is due to become a
strong piece of evidence in favor of the
the most valuable asset a club can have.
Undoubtedly this will be the case if Omaha
continues to lead to the wire.
Omaha has only four 800 hitters and the
Rourke clan has poorer fielding record
than any other club. But with O'Toole,
North. Thompson and Merz all pitching
better than 600 per cent ball the Rourkes
are finding no opposition that is capable
of giving them trouble
The league race is almost half over. OF
course. anything is possible in half sea-
son, but the probabilities are that there
will be few changes of Importance after
ha In int fC t.
that the race is yet close and that it will
not take miracles to put the tail-enders
at the top, but it will take a big reversal
of form to turn the table upside down.
Forty thousand dollar -1O-round no de-
vision non championship prize fights will
immediate future. The receipts for the
Dillon Moran go fell short of the expenses
by more than $1,000
Now what's the matter with vour old
Topeka ball team" the pessimist asked
after the second defeat at Wichita
Thursdays defeat very likely was tho re-
suit of errors. aided and abetted by poor
pitching. Fridays was much the same
However the fans who are expecting Mr..
Engle to do wonders right off the reel are
unreasonable and asking too much
Wonders are not accomplished in IOO-yd
dash time.
1t should be considered that changing
managers is liable to make team look
worse at the start than it did before the
change was made. In the first place it
takes a new man more than one day to
size up his task. get a line on his material
and get his shoulder to the wheel. In the
second place, every man has a different
style of tactics and a different method of
doing things and until his men learn lust
what he wants done and how they are more
than apt to pull few boners i'll their eff
forts.
OF course. a lot of criticism could be
made about Mr.. Engle and his actions since
coming to Topeka. But criticising is the
easiest thing in the world and it is often
wide of the mark even when it follows Il
long spell of watchful waiting. 1t might
be a good idea to give Engle n chance to
draw his cards and make Il play before
betting your bank roll that he is playing
flivver hand He has been in the gam,
long enough to know his business and to
know when ball player is ball player
and when he isn't