Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1916-06-15
CINCINNATI REDS, PICKED BY
M'GRAW AND STALLINGS TO
BEAT PILLS, ARE HERE TODAY
Charley Herzog Has Powerful and Well Balanced
Team, But Champions Are Not Worried
by Predictions of Rival Managers
BY CHANDLER D. RICHTER

CINCINNATI, touted by John McGraw
~ and George Stallings as the most dan
gerous contender for the honors for which
the Giants and Braves will be battling
somewhere along in late September, are
here today for thrce-game series with the
Phils. Just what these honors are that
the Giants and Braves are contenders for
has not been discovered, but It is presumed
that McGraw and StallinBs mean the Ma
tional League pennant
McGraw recently declared that he did not
fear the Phillies and Brooklyn 40 much as
the Reds and Cubs which Is enough to
convince local fans that the champions are
going to have n great battle on their hands
with the Dodgers, because was II not Nc
Graw who named the exact date when
Moran's team would crack last season?
But allowing for the fact that McGraw
and stallings can never see anything which
bears Philadelphia label, the Reds really
look like team sure to cause the leaders
a lot of trouble before the season closes.
1t probably is the best-balanced team In
the league, all things considered. 1t has
hitters, fielders and pitchers, base running
being the one weak point but that has been
bolstered up by the addition of the sensa-
tional Hal Chase.
The Reds are five and half games be-
hind the Phils at the present time, but
u
rapid clip. Tho poor condition of Fred
Toney, Herzog's best hurer and one of the
leading pitchers of the league. was largely
responsible for the slow start made by the
Reds. Toney lost five out of his first six
games, and also failed to save n few more
which would have resulted in victories IL he
had been right.
Harmony Prevails
There Is no limit to the possibilities of
the Reds II Manager Herzog can keep har
mony in the ranks. with the same McGraw
trying to kick up trouble between the hust.
ling manager and the temperamental Chase
and does not lose sight of the fact that the
race calls for 154 games and not 10 or o.
If Herzog gets his staff of star twirlers
working properly, once they have struck
their stride, the Reds will surely be dan
gerous.
To date the Reds have been playing err.
ratio ball. When the pitchers were not
going good the team was batting hard and
scoring lot of runs, but as soon as the
hurlers struck their stride the team fell
into n batting slump. This slump still grips
the Reds, and the Phils will try to put them
out of the race before they recover.
1t will be the first appearance of Hal
Chase in a National League uniform Chase
was once recognized as the peer of first
basemen and Is playing better ball today
than he has shown since he made his sensa-
tional debut with the Yankees 10 years ago.
Chase is now playing left field, as Herzog
was badly in need of an outfelder who
can hit, and with Mollwitz, a fairly good
hitting first baseman on the bench, the
Cincinnati pilot decided that the switch
would strengthen both positions. SO far
the move has been great success.
There Is plenty of individuality and color
in the makeup of the Reds. They have
four star hurlers. n slugging catcher in
Wingo and the best all-around pair on the
left side of the diamond since the days of
the Nash-Long and McGraw-Jennings COM
binations in Manager Herzog and Heinie
Groh. The latter is easily the best third
baseman in the league, while Herzog has
no superior at short and only Bancroft his
equal
Elmer Jacobs was with the Phillies for