The Washington herald., 1917-11-19
BALL CLUB OF STARS
FAIL in Big SERIES
Well-balanced Teams Prove Winners
in Pinch-White Sox Example.

New York. Nov. 1s.-The result OF
the worlds series this year was the
strongest kind of an argument in
support of the theory that a ball
club with balance is better than a
ball club composed Of individual
stars.
Scan the roster Of the Giants. Nc
Graw's team is made up of the pick
of the National League players and
few who were combed out Of the
defunct Federal League.
Compared to the White Sox the
Giants are a team of stars, and be-
ing a team of stars they are full of
temperament. With the exception of
two Of three members of the Giants,
McGraw's players are out there
fighting for personal glory. 1t isn't
that they refuse to boost for each
other, or that they do not want to
pull together. They simply can not
do it. i..
They go up to the plate with a
desire to drive home any runs that
may be on the bases, but they all
want to hit the ball a mile. and
once they take toe-hold the
thought of the glory they could get
out of a home run is uppermost.
Benny Kauff got his first hit of the
series that way, and the hit was a
homer. And, as the writer has men
toned before, Benny was sent up
there with orders to push a swing
ing bunt past Urban Faber.
Kaufr is one of the outstanding stars
Of the Giants. Heinie Zimmerman is
another and Buck Herzog still an
other. Zimmerman, secured from the
Cubs by McGraw. is probably the best
all-around third baseman in the Ma
tionaI League. Kauff, from the Feds,
is an outfielder of updoubted class,
and Herzog. scrappy, brainy and ca
pable in every way, is a real star.
George Burns. who has never play
ed with any other major league team
but the Giants, is admitted to be the
best sun-fielder in either big league,
and George Is perhaps the quietest
and most unassuming player on the
team, yet he is a star that any man.
ager would be glad to have.
Davy Robertson, who may not be In
Giant uniform next year, bloomed
forth as a star after McGraw had
groomed him for an outfield. Davy is
temperamental, and, as McGraw once
said, "he can be just as good as he
wants to be-"
McGraw's pitchers, for the most
part, have been picked from other
clubs. Perritt, Benton and Sallee,
three of his best bets, are all stars
In their own leagues, and Schupp is a
young luminary of undoubted class.
But the pitchers do not count as
heavily as the players in regular posi-
dons who play day in and day, out.
OF these there are several we have
not mentioned. Artie Fletcher is one
OF them, and every National League
fan knows that Artie is full of tenn
permanent, and that he has long been
rated as star in the old league. Bill
Rariden, from the old Braves, and
later the Feds, is one of the best
catchers in his league. Lew McCarty
was without a doubt the classiest all
around catcher in the National League
with the possible exception of Frank
Snyder when McGraw grabbed him
from Brooklyn. and Lew is still star
ring in Gov. Tener's loop.
With the White Sox it Is different
Rowland has several stars, but as a
whole his ball club does not bristle
Win lhSIH- SlcOlte StOOQ out alone
all season among the pitchers. Eddie
Collins is star Of undoubted caliber
and Ray Schalk ranks as tho best
catcher in the game. Hap Felsch ap-
preached stardom this season and is
really a wonderful player, and Joe
Jackson completed the list. Weaver,
McMullen, Gandil, Leibold. and John
Collins are the cogs who it into the
Rowland machine with the outstand-
ing players named here. They are all
good, consistent ball players, but not
famed as stars. And the Sox played
the more consistent game in the
worlds series. They got the better of
the breaks after the fourth game, It
is true, but the team that has bal
ance is very liable to get the breaks
most of the time. 1t Is balance that
counts most.