Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1917-04-16

HNfIERE Is at least one situation winch
i seven American League ball clubs might
ponder with considerable earnestness, VIZ
the job Of beating out the Boston Red sox
is going to be one Of the toughest assign
ments that any league ever tackled.
There were rulnors about early In tho
year that the old machine was slipping But
after watching this club work through its
first series you can take these rumors as
being grossly unfounded
II the Red Sox are bad club Rumania
has been the winning factor In this war.
World Series Ways
The Red Sox have proved before they
carried all the essentials Of a winning club
The one point was that, perhaps, they
had slowed up. Not so as you could notice
Il at close range. Hooper, Lewis and
Walker still have plenty of speed. and all
three can throw. Hooper and walker nave
two of the greatest outfield arms in the
well-known profession. They are danger
Gus rfemen to fool with, and they are as
GOOD this year as they ever were before.
The same goes for the infeld. Hobby.
the veteran. is around like youngster. He
looks better today than he looked last
spring Jack Barry still under thirty is
close to his best, and one Of the game S
stars
Everett Scott has all the briliancy he
has known before with experience to steady
HIM down. He is one of the great short
stops of the game.
As for Larry Gardner, this veteran Is as
active as ever. The tip was out that he was
fading out a bit You can erase this from
the debate. He can hit, field and throw
with all his old world series ways.
The Old Vitality
The Champs of Christendom still main
tain their old vitality. Make no mistake
about that.
Hooper and Hobby have served nine
years. Lewis, Barry and Gardner have
served eight Cady and Thomas have seen
several years service, but Scott and the
pitchers--Ruth, Leonard, Shore and Mays
are all under twenty-six The wonder is
that none of these veterans has slowed up.
We were told by rival clubs two years ago
that Lewis and Gardner were slipping. They
show no evidence of this today. They are
apparently as fast as ever and can throw
with the old-time snap.
The vital spark is still there-or we miss
one of the easiest guesses in the game.
Smart Club
We should say the Red SoX were easily
the smartest wiSest club in baseball. They
play the game and they play every square
inch of it, Their heads are up and they
know what to do-and how to do it,
with so much winning experience behind
them, they are wise lot. All they need
for a manager is some well-liked leader to
keep them hustling. They won under Jake
Stahl. Bill Carrigan came along, and they
won for Bill. Now Jack Barry is at the
helm, and they still look like winners
Changing managers hasn't upset their plans
a trifle. They still keep driving along, play
ing a lot of baseball and missing few OPEN
ings to arrive.
One of the Gamest
For two years now they have proved tc
he one of the gamest clubs i'm baseball
Hard luck doesn't break their spirit. Las
wear they lost Speaker, had two stars in
iured a big part of the year and then los
Jack Barry in the last main drive dowr
the stretch.
But they refused TO wilt, holding the
course with unbroken lines to the finish.
1t may be that constant victory has de-
veoped this esprit de corps to an abnorma
extent Whatever the reason, the Red So,
have it in copious quantities
They have developed the rare faculty OF
not losing heart, even under the most ad
verse conditions.
There are few great players on the club