New Britain herald., 1918-09-04
RIVAL TEAMS
 EVENLY MATCHED
Surprises May Be Sprung by
 "Green" Recruits

While there is little to choose be- Boston Americans, who opened the worlds series at Chicago this after noon, there is a slight edge in favor of the SoX. The National leaguers have the advantage in the box, behind the plate and in the int1eld. The Red SOX are superior in the outf1eld. As a team the Cubs are stronger hitters, having finished second to the Reds in club battling with an average of .270 while the Red SoX finished seventh in Amer ican league batting with an average of .246. Granting that National league pitching this year was not quite up to the standard in the rival organization there is no question that the Cubs are l more formidable Wielders of the clay than are the red hOsed cohorts. The Cubs won the National league flag by playing consistent. dependable ball, without iluTries or dew dabs. They got there perhaps because divers vet erans like Merkle and Paskert outdid themselves, but a good deal of credit must be accorded to Mitchelps system of running his club. Ed BarroW's team will find that plugging system hard to beat The Red Sox have shown
 
 We already have gone into the de- tailed analysis of the strong and weak points of the contending clubs. Man 1 for man comparisons are OdiOus in worlds series for they get nowhere. There is no telling who will jump into | the limeIight. The Ruths and the Hollochers may strike in vain, while the Manns and the Coffeys may deal 1 the telling bows.
 Rohe, Substitute Third Bascman, Star of 1906 Series.
 Quite a bit has been written of the 1 one weak spot of the Red Sox at third base No matter who covers that bag
 be it Coffey. Thomas or Cochran
 he will be regarded the weak member
 of the machine. However, this ap- l praisal does not prevent the weak
 member from going out and doing the l hard hitting. We are tempted to turn 1 back the worlds series pages to the conflicts of 1906, in which the White l Sox, then hitless wonders, won the
 title from the Cubs. Tn that series the hero was George Rohe, substitute 1 third sacker of the Sox. Rohe drove triples off the Cub pitching with such
 regularity that he drove the Sox into
 the championship.
 The series should develop some fine outfielding. The Red SoX trio-Ruth, Strunk and HOoper-eXcel their rivals --Mann Paskert and Flack-both on
 attack and defense. In Strunk and Hooper the Sox have couple of fly
 chasers who as ground coverers are
 exceIled only by Speaker.
 Cubs Have Many Players with Worlds Series Experience.
 Though not a, single member of the Cubs who represented the Chicago Nationals in the 1910 worlds series Is
 on the present Chicago teams pay
 roll, it Is interesting to note the great number of Cub players who have had worlds series experience. Merkle leads,
 having participated in four series, in
 all of which he has been on the losing
 side, three times a a Giant and
 fourth time while Dodger. Merkle
 and Chief Myers are the worlds cham
 pion worlds championship losers. The
 worlds champion Braves of 1914 have
 four represe natives on the Cubs
 Fred Mitchell, who was coach on the
 Braves; Pitcher George Tyler, Out
 fielder Les Mann and Third Baseman
 Chuch Deal.
 Dode Paskert and Reindeer Kinefer
 were members of the Phillies when
 they were defeated in the 1915 worlds
 series by the Red SoX. Killefer, how
 ever. watched that series from the
 bench. being laid up with a, lame arm.
 The Red SoX, at least the star mem
 bers of the team are all worlds series
 veterans. Hooper has been on three
 winners, playing on the Red Sox worlds series champions of 1912, 1915
 and 1916 and taking a strong part in the victory of each SoX team. McIn- his and Strunk were members of three worlds series winners with the Ath- letics and played with the team that lost to the Braves in 1914. Scott, Ruth and Mays shared in both the victorious Red Sox series of 1915 and 1916 and Sam Jones and Sam Agnew were m mbers of the 1916 team. Wally Schang and Joe Bush helped the Ath- | letics beat the Giants in 1913, but showed little against the Braves the 1 following year.
 Series cVterans Not Very Formidable Hitters in Classics
 While there are many worlds series veterans among the 1918 title con- | tenders it is a peculiar fact that most
 of them were batting failures in past worlds series contests. McInnis has been weaker with the stick in worlds series than any other famous batsman. Despite the fact that Stuffv hit over 300 seven times Tn nine years he hit a measly .118 against the Giants in 1913 and .143 against the Braves in 1914, getting only four hits in the two series Mclnnts suffered Injury on the eve of the 1911 series gainst the Giants and took part in only one Inning StrunlI hit fairly well against the Cubs in 1910, batting .273, but he was carried along with the Athletic ava la1an1no which 0MnIllnr.nrnL C11ln