Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1916-07-15
CRITICS PAN MACK
AND HIS BALL CLUB;
CONNIE JUST SMILES
Tall Manager Says He Is
Building Team According
to His Own Ideas
SPENDS LOTS OF MONEY
BY CHANDLER D. RICHTER

By CHANDLER D. RICHTER
"I am part owner Of the Athletics and
am perfectly satisfied with conditions and
SO are the Shibes. We are willing to lose
money while we are developing new
team. We do not expect the fans to patron
ize losing team All we ask ls patronage
when we show them a real ball team and
we will do that" said Manager Connie
Mack, of the Athletics, today in answer
TO a bitter attack made upon himself and
the club by New York writer.
"I have everything l own tied UP In this
ball team and am doing what / know is
best | believe / know the baseball busi-
ness and am stalking my reputation on my
ability to come back and am coming back
with n greater team than ever before.
don't believe in building up ball team al
other managers do and, therefore, care
nothing about the charges made by critics
throughout the country"
The article in question llkened the Ath-
letics baseball club to n sand lot organiSa-
tion" and blamed the failure Of the team on
Comics ''close-isted policy which was to
get players at n minimum cost. 1t said that
the weak. tail-end club hurt the other clubs
in the league and something should be done
to change things Immediately.
Seven other American League owners
are perfectly satisfied with the way we run
our ball team" continued Connie, land also
have confidence in my ability to construct
two separate and distinct machines which
have been powerful pcnnant-winning COM
binatons and will have another within two
years, American League magnatos believe
in me and will not disappoint them.
"As for the Athletics not spending money
for ball players-why the charge is II joke.
| we have spent more money for bail players
| than any other team in the country barring
| the White Sox and Giants. The fact that
we spend 1t differently than other teams is
| our own business and because do not be-
| lieve in building up teams as other man
| ayers do
"I have been managing bali teams for
more than 30 years and have tried out
| every method. l managed In minor leagues
and learned my lesson there.
while in the minor field, tried develop
| ing ball players from the raw material and
| discovered that after had sent them up
| to the major leagues they had to be started
| all over again because they played a df-
| ferent style than their now manager used
| 1t required two or three years for tho
youngsters to get going and then they were
| not playing their natural game
"I made up my mind then that would
| build from the ground UP IL ever I got a
chance and It came shortly after. seldom
| go after q minor league star, not because
of the ridiculous price asked for his release
| but because / find he Is harder to develop
to my style of play than the inexperienced
youth.
Does 1t not stand to reason that IL q
| youngster with natural ability can be de-
yeloped into n minor league sensation in
| two years and then come into the major
| leagues n star. that the same player could
also be developed into star In the same
| length of time playing right under my
| eyes?
| ~ have tried my hand ut handling these
| high-priced minor league stars and find that
they are too set in their ways and invariably
cannot be broken of faults which will not
| tolerate in a ball player. Therefore, / made
| up my mind that in the future would do
my own developing at any cost.
Nobody knows better than do that the
| fans viii not patronize n losing ball team,
| don't ask them. All I want is a fair chance
| promised a powerful team In 1917 and
will have It,
"It was three years before Collins, Barry
| McInns. Strunl, Baker and others OF my
| old team. found their stride, but this new
bunch will come along faster unless 1 miss
my guess. They have a better chance be-
cause they are getting more opportunities
| to play in regular games"
when 1 built the old team I foolishly
| tried to keep Il in the race with comblna-
| ton OF my new and old players and the
| result was that 1 got nowhere until
| cleaned house and put 1t entirely up to my
youngsters and started from the bottom.
'I have the foundation for great club
| right now. / admit that am disappointed at
| lnb showing Oh several Oh my IetIuiNS anu a
| few OF tho veterans who were left over, but
| want to say that we have others coming
who will fill the bill IL these youngsters
| fail to come through.
"roo much cannot be expected Of a
| youngster They are slow striking their
| stride. but when they have the natural abil-
| ity they come fast. once they get the con-
| hdenoe. Elmer Myers was three years in
| n minor league under my direction before
| he came through He was lad who natur-
u L.. a Inc INNNN Ia
his way now and next season will be the
best pitcher In the country.
Take the case of Witt. l don't believe
there was another person who saw Witt in
the South. aside from Harry Davis Thomas
and yourself who thought he was going to
be a star. He is just beginning to strike
his stride He will be a marvel. He al
ways was a natural hitter, but his fielding
was uncertain and weird at times but he
is now developing even faster than Barry.
"I have the foundation for wonderful
pitching stan, and that is where the base
ball machine should be started. Opposing
teams are scoring many runs, but the ma
jorty of them are made in one-inning
rallies, because the youngsters do not know
enough to pull themselves out of tight
places. Later on they will not be passing
up the chances not apparent from the
stand. which are offered to retire the side
and they will start TO win games.
"As for the work of the Athletics to date,
the league a great battle until we were
badly crippled. We have them all worried
and anybody who saw the Athletics in the
early part of the season knows this.
why, we were close to the 500 mark
after having lost IS out OF the first 16
games played. and won successive series
from five of the seven clubs in the league
when the team was shot to pieces. / hon
estiy believe we would have been close to
the first division II we had not been crippled.
SHOW me another that has been handl-
capped so much by wholesale injuries to
stars and illness. There Is not a regular
on the team, or I should say those whc
started the season as regulars, who has nss
been out of the game for a long stretch,
barring Jimmy Walsh At times we have
had four or Ave regulars out of the game,
and while l like to try out my recruits as
soon as they report would have presented
stronger opposition than have to date"
Montgomery County League Notes
BY the results OF the Montgomsry County
Leagues games last Saturday. BethAyres attn