New-York tribune., 1918-01-14
Famous Baseball Machine
N0v q Complete Wreck
Sale of McInnis to Red Sox
Removes Last Of Old
Athletics

The trade which sends John "Stufy"
McInnis to the Boston American League
Club marks the. complete disintegration
OF what in many respects was the great
est professional baseball machine ever
assembled in either of the major
leagues. McInnis. the last cog in the
combination, moves on to a rival team
which absorbed 80 per cent Of the play
ers whom Connie Mack welded into an
invinciOlc group OF diamond stars, su
prone holders of pcnnants and world
championships
The Philadelphia Athletics reached
the zenith OF their team play during
the season of 1913, when they simply
walktd away with the American League
championship of that year, and fol-
lowed the capture of the pennant with
a decisive victory over the New York
Nationals in the world series of that
season by four games to one. The
Athletics finished the regular season
with record of SO canes won, 81 lost
and percentage Of .ec7. This was s3
points better than the average OF the
}, v
IN second place.
A Runaway Race
Connie Mack's players took the lead
III the pennant race during the second
week of the season, which opened about
the middle Of April, 1913. and were
never headed or tied in the struggle
for the title thereafter. The records
show that the Athletics led the league
in team batting with .2S5 and in field
ing with .966
1t goes without saying that Mack
would naturally present his strongest
combination in the world series. and
the lineup against the Giants in the
battle for the premier baseball honors
Of 1913 may be taken as the best and
most powerful arrangement available.
New York team four out of five games.
played as follows: L. Murphy, right
field; Oldring, left field; Collins, second
base; Baker, third base; McInnis, first
tase; Strunk, centre field; Barry, short
stop: Schang, catcher; Lapp, catcher:
Bender, Plank OF Bush, pitcher. Dur
ing the regular season other players
were used and were factors in winning
the pennant, but the men mentioned
were the pick of the combination.
day not one of these twelve play
crs is member of tho team, and Con-
ME Mack is engaged in an attempt to
| rebuild his baseball machine with new
(, material. Murphy was sold to the Chi
cago Americans for $4,000; Collins
went to the same club for $4,000, as
did Lapp without cash consideration.
The Boston Americans took five men of
the combination at one time or an
other. Strunk, Schang and Bush be-
came the property Of the Red Sox in
the recent 100000 deal. McInnis has
followed his former teammates as the
result Of the latest trade, although so
far as is known no money consideration
is involved Barry preceded these play
ers to Boston, bringing the Philadelphia
club $500, and last season managed
the Red Sox.
Players Brought $4,000
1t will be seen that if the publicly
announced figures in connection with
these deals are correct the Boston club
| paid $68,50O in addition to some play
er for these five Athletics. The Chi
! cago White Sox paid $56,000 for Muir
ply and Collins. The New York Ameri-
cans also contributed to the Philadel-
phia strong box, as the Yankee club,
owners gave $3.50 for Baker and
| $4,000 for Oldring, although it WAS re-
ported later that the Philadelphia club
returned this sum. or portion Of it.
when Oldring failed to continue with
the Now York team The two pitchers
Bender and Plank were unconditionally
released bv ManAcer Mack thus com