Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1918-09-13
BIG Series THIS YEAR
MAKES GOOD SHOWING
Records for Fourteen Years Show
That Half the Games Failed to
Equal Attendance.
ny pErNAN THOMPSON.

ny DEN1rAN THOMPSON.
Il IL curtains for base bali now. The
day Of grace of. the national pastime
has expired with the settlement OF
the world series, and the players. In
GLIDING the plutocrats Of the title set.
are heading toward essential Jobs.
It will be tough on some of the ath-
letes who, for years. have come to re-
gard the winter months as meant for
loafing, but mono. no matter how
well he can afford to do 30. will be
able to idle through the cold months
this winter.
Base bali, as played by profess
SIGNALS, steadily had been losing caste
for the past few years. 1t had be-
come commercialixed to such an ex-
tent that much OF the glamour was
stripped from 1t and 1t stood revealed
simply as a business, nothing more
nor less. The game. although mis-
managed and subjected to much criti-
cism as q result, has not lost favor
with the fans, however, and after
the argument Uncle Sam and his al
lies are having in Europe Is settled
and the imperial crown prince be-
comes a head waiter it will be re-
vived. the better for its lay-off.
Although much has been said about
the financial failure" Of the world
series this year an examination Of the
figures proves this was far from be-
ing the case. The attendance fell but
a little short of 10000 and $4,000
in gross receipts. In these days of
concrete stadiums and mammoth steel
plants the figures are not particularly
impressive, but contrasted with past
series and allowing for these being
war times the blue ribbon event of
base ball this year made an exceed
ingly good showing. Records for the
fourteen previous title clashes show
that exactly half of them failed to
reach the attendance, and Ave Of the
this year. The extent to which the
turnstiles clicked far exceeded the
expectations Of the governing heads
OF the games, Acting President John
Heydler OF the National League be-
ing authority for the statement that
the advance calculations Of the ma.
tional commission.
In more than one respect was the
world series of this year noteworthy.
A number Of records were broken.
up by the players in the fifth game
at Boston. Nothing like it ever had
occurred before. or probably will
again. Another was the scoring
mark Of the winners. Previously no
team that ever wore the uniforms of
the Red Sox ever had been shut out
In world series game. Still another
was the defeat Of the Red Sox on their
own grounds, the first they have sus-
tanned at Fenway Park in a world
series since the seventh game of the
set with the Giants back in 1912.
he held the Cubs scoreless until the
eighth inning. The clouting colossus
went twenty-nine innings without be-
ing scored on. He pitched fourteen
inning contest against the Dodgers
In 1916, two runs being scored on him
In the opening round. In Chicago a
week ago he held the Cubs scoreless
in nine-fnning battle, and Monday
he got by until the eighth, this con-
shutting the best record for a world
series pitcher. the previous mark hav-
ing been held by Christy Mathewson,
VINO pitched tWenty-seven scoreless
innings against the Mackmen in 1906
Another remarkable angle of the
title set just ended was that every
one of Boston's victories over the
Cubs was by a margin of one run.
This single tally advantage seems to
be characteristic of Boston clubs. for
In sixteen world series successes all
but three have been registered with
single tally margins. In 1915 the Red
Sox took all their four games from
the Phillies by a lone tally.
The world series this year was the
fourth in the fifteenth played since
1903 that required six games to de-
eide. Five games have been enough
to decide six title sets, and only four
battles were necessary for the Braves
to obtain a world championship from
the Athletics in 1914.
To the captain of the Red Sox,
Harry Hooper, goes the distinction
held by no other player, of having
played with a four-time winner of
the world series without having been
connected with a loser. McInnis and
Strunk tie his mark. but were mem
bers of the Mackmen when Stallings'
meteoric clan cleaned up for them
An odd contrast to Hooper's record
is that Of Fred Merkle. first baseman
of the Cubs. The former Giant has
played with five world series losers
and never has been connected with
a winner. He played with the Giants
in three different years they were
beaten In the fall classic onoe with
tho Brooklyn Dodgers and this sea-
son with the Cubs.
Merkle has Z record all his own
however, IN 90o1t1on TO t04& or nav
Ing played with three different world
series oontenderA Wednesday, con-
test. the final Of the series, was the
twenty-seventh in which he has par
ticdpated. Jack Barry set tho mark
at twenty-five In 1915, and but for an
injury late in the season Of 1916 un-
doubtedly would have established q
record that would have stood for
years Eddie Collins set the figure
at twenty-six in the final battle Of
the set between the White Sox and
Giants last fall. Barry holds the rec
ord for sharing in world series money,
he having been a member OF four
championship clubs at Philadelphia
and two at Boston, although he
played in only five series His world
series dividends have totaled more
than $4,000, a record for one player
likely to stand for all time, as the
system now In effect for distributing
money to the athletes precludes the
possibility Of such a figure ever be-
ing reached by another player.
Another record for the 1918 world
series IL embraced by the fact that It
was the best pitched and best folded
in the annals Of the title clashes. The
Cub pitchers held the Sox to q total