The Birmingham age-herald., 1918-03-05
Draft May Make Second Rate Teams Out Of Pennant
 Winning Aggregatians
Much Uncertainty Major League Race Caused by Con- scription-No Manager to Be Immune From Ravages
 of Recruiting Officers-Tough Job for Dopster
By HUGH s. FULLERTON

I and Eller-and both men are in the first list to be called when the nation l neds more men.
 Take the Chicago Cubs: Weeghman has spent lot of money and mas l spread a lot of the c. Webb Murphy brand of manure to make and press agent a team which depends largeiy upon pitching to win. He oousht Grover Alexander at stupendous price-and Alexander is in the first class to be called on if the nation needs more men.
 The fact is, there is scarely a team in either major league that Woulu v
 able to hold within two places or where
 the present dope places it II the oraIe
 hit them in vital spots. Ihe conscrip- ton may make second division cluos out of teams that figure up at the
 top. but by the same process, 1t may nlace tail-end clubs up near the top. Ii may eoualize the race after 1t sems over. and it adds the zest of unoer- taintv to races that might be figured as over before they start
 There is vet another angle from
 which we must figure; Miller Huggins goes to the New York Yankees Jack Hendricks tried and successful minor leaguer, takes the St. Louis CaTai- naIs: Ed Barrow, veteran with wide exuerience in baseball and darned little in inc active playing part of the game of recent years, takes the strong Bos- ton Red Sox-his inaugural experience was two years in Detroit; Rowland, the "busher" of the last two seasons. has won his spurs; Hugo Bezdek promises to become one of the most popular, even if least successful, man. agers as leader of the Pirates. Fielder Jones may even now retire.
 C4oniroS MeGraw Moran and Mack remain about the only managers who can be called veterans. There is new school of management springing up and each of the new managers is bringing new theories into the game. OWNERS PLAY BIGGER PART Besides all that, the element of own ership is entering more and more into baseball. No fewer than five major league clubs are owned by men who insist upon dominating the manage
 hurt the teams anu we. must figure how this ownership by press agenting
 and publicity seeking men will affect
 the playing strength of the clubs. This makes doping the pennant races this season a task of infinite calcula-
 tion We cannot figure upon the play
 ing strength of the teams alone. We
 must figure how they will be affected
 by the war, how they have been af-
 fected thus far, how the new system of management will affect them and
 whether or not the owners will cut in and upset all the dope by insisting
 upon helping manage the team.
 In the ownership problem, we must
 figure the Chicago Cubs, the Brooklyn
 team, the Boston Americans, the Phil adelphia Nationals and the Pittsburg
 al
 Phil Ball of the St Louis Browns has
 not vet learned to permit his manager
 to manage the team He had a lesson last season which should have shown
 him that one man must have full au- thority, but, on top of this, we find him issuing notices that Jones must do so and so and@snIss tsenfofeeNsd sdisclp- line. Incidentally, Balls attitude last season did more to prevent Jones from enforcing discipline than anything else.
 However, it is not for us to regret or censure, but to figure how these outside influences will affect teams. We will start the doping this season
 by studies of each team and the com ditions surrounding it. After that we will delve into the realms of pure
 dope, compare the teams position by position, and then reduce the position
 strength of each team to figure which
 will apply to the schedule and figure
 out where each team ought to finish. In the next article we will take up
 the Chicago White Sox first, because it has suffered less loss than almost any club in either circuit, and second,
 because it is practically intact and
 stands on it's strength of last year.
 There are several things about the
 White Sox that the fans generally do not know and which may affect their
 strength in the race.
 Copyright, 1913, by the Bell Syndi-
 cate, Inc)