The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1918-01-27
ESTIMATING MACK IN
HISTORY OF BASEBALL
VIII He, After All His Success. Be
Rated as a Manager Whose Fame
Was Not His Own After All?

One can't help but wonder just how
| Connie Mack's name will go down In
history. Three years ago 1t would
have been easy to guess what the
future historians of the national pas
time would say In referring to the
manager of the Athletics. but many
things have happened since that fall
of 1914, when the Philadelphia club
| lost four straight games to the Bos-
ton Braves There is no doubt tnat
today Connie Mack Is far from beng
the impressive figure he was three
years ago. OF course, no one would
axpect a manager OF taIlenders TO
command the attention paid pilots of
pennant winners and Mack suffers in
this respect Just as has every other
manager who won a flag and then
dropped back in the rut. But one
would think Mack's prestige would
have survived, owing to the fact that
| he voluntarily broke up his famous
collection of stars and realized at the
time he was left with taliend outnt'
Such, however, is not the case. IL
will be remen bered that when Mack
asked for waivers on Bender. Coomhs
and Plank and sold Barry, Collins and
| other stars. he announced TO the
sporting world that in few years
! he expected to have another club. an
| entiteIy new one, with which he would
startls the fans OF the country. This
talk, owing to Comics successes of
the past, was taken seriously by many
| critics and the opinion was expressed
| the veteran manager would live Up
TO his boasts.
| Mack's Fall Down Known to All.
Today every baseball fan knows
Mack fell down on the Job. For three
! kaw aF 70.
building pennant mainline and at
| the end of that time he still had an
eighth place aggregation. Inasmuch
as no team can finish lower than this
| osition in the major leagues. one
might cay that Mack has accom-
| plIshed absolutely nothing In the three
years he has dallied with the rebuild =
/ ing task Before he undertook the
/ fob the pilot of the Athletics was re-
garded as In class by himself when
| 1t came to building young ball CLUBS.
| but today the same folks who sang
/ his praises at that time, now say he
was lucky in getting his talent before
or else the knack he once had has
deserted him. In other words the
fans now believe the Athletic players
made Mack instead of being made
by him or else they take 1t F1r grant
ed the procession has passed tina long
and lean Cornelius.
To those who still think Connie
/ Mack will go down in baseball his
tory as one of the wonder pilots OF
the game, we might refer to the case
| of Ned Hanlon. Today half the fans
who attend major league ball games
twould have TO be told Just who Ned
IHanlon was, but there was time
twenty years ago when Hanlon's fame
IN the big show was the equal, II not
! superior, to that achieved by Mack
| in Comics palmy days. Likewise the
fame Of Hanlon was built along the
same lines as was Mack's II was in
the old days OF the twelve-club Ma
ttionaI league when Baltimore had a
team on that circuit. The Orioles
were one OF the joke teams of the
old circuit and worthy rivals OF the
/ Louisville, Cincinnati and Pittsburs
OUTFIT for tailend honors. Billy Bar
nis was managing the Baltimore out
I fit and not making much OF success
at it when Ned Hanlon was given
lccmmand, The first thing Ned did
was to rid his lineup Of the old.
timers and gather the youngsters
from all sections OF the country. In
short time he had them in the run
ming for the pennant and in his sec
ond year. 1894, he won his first pen
nant with the Orioles
| Hanion's Players Become Famous
! Keller. Kelly, Jennings and Nc
Graw were the talk OF the world and
every one of these brilliant perform
ers was developed by Hanlon. Fol-
three years Hanlon and his gang woT
J pennants in the National league
Then the National league was cut &c
eight clubs and Hanlon took his STARE
to Brooklyn. where they won flags II
1889 and 1900. though many OF the
former brilliants had drifted to other
clubs. Then came the American
/ league war and the end of Ned Han
Ion as a flag winning manager. Dowr
at Cincinnati he tried to come back
but his attempt was dismal failure
and today most OF the fans have ever
forgotten here ever was such a man.
aEer in baseball. In the days of the
Orioles success Hanlon was giver
credit for making those stars. but
since that time the opinion has be.
| come prevalent that McGraw, Jen-
nings, Kelley. Keller and others were
the ones who made Hanlon. And II
In pretty safe bet the time is coming
when Collins. Barry and others viii
no credited with putting Connie Mack
on the baseball map. This may be
all wrong. but baseball fans are flckle
and when a manager quits producing
the goods he ceases TO be of interest
to the followers of the game.