The sun., 1919-06-15
HIGGINS FAILS TO
SNARE POPULARITY
His Managerial Abilities Are
Solely With Playing End
Of the Game.
COURTS NO PUBLICITY
Wants Deeds to Speak for Him
and Is Getting Splendid
Results.
COURTS NO PUBLICITY
By sHoRTsTOP.

the club by Miller Higgins, the midget
manager Of the club. Despite the splen-
did work of Higgins with the St Louis
Cardinals, there were many local fans
who had little confidence in Higgins
when he first came to town. But he
is showing themi
There is no keener student in baseball
than Higgins. He constantly Is think
ing out plays, and tries to implant his
ideas on the men he commands. He is
a clever Judge Of pitchers, and though
he always Played the infield he can
teach a young pitcher more than the
average retired star moundsman.
Despite his success here 1t neverthe-
less is true that Higgins has not won a
great deal Of popularity in New York.
He has won many Acknowledgements Of
his ability. but the fans do not feel for
him like they do for McGraw or like
they did for some of hin numerous sue
cessors, particularly Clark Griffith and
Bill Donovan.
The occasion last week where Higgins
was hooted throughout a game was n
strange Illustration of this. In fact, II
was one Of the oldest things in crowd
psychology that ever came to Short
stops attention. Here was an instance
Of a crowd booing a successful home
manager who had his team in the thick
of a pennant scramble because he saw At
TO take a player out Of the lineup after
having a bench quarrel with him.
Fans Didn't Understand.
It is true that the American sense of
injustice. which is so quick to manifest
itself, may have been responsible for
the outburst. The fans knew Bodie had
been going good and thought he had
made n hard try for the long fly he
missed on Holman. They could not
understand Higgins taking him out OF
the game under the circumstances.
Most of the men in the stands were
not aware OF the real conditions. In
the morning talk before this game Hug
gins had instructed Bodie just where to
play for Holman. Had Ping played
deep he could have caught the fly. Hug
gins, vexed that the player did not obey
Instructions. bawled Ping out, which
started the wrangle. Higgins afterwRrd
admitted he may have said things al the
moment which he did not mean.
Yet veteran scribes' compared the in
cident with one which happened on the
1911
series between the Giants and Cubs.
Red Murray at the time was playing
grand ball for the Giants. Early in the
game in question he had been instru-
mental in driving In some runs.
Again he hit safely to right field and
ioafed going to first. Schultz fumbled
the ball. Had Jack been going at ful'
speed he could have made second. AZ
1t was he was compelled to remain at
F,TNv ov,-ga L..
Murray was taken out OF the game i'm
nediately II memory is right McGraw
also plastered a $50 fine on him.
Yet there was no den. In
Murray's behalf It was MoGraw move
and the fans let II go at that. yet MUIR
ray in his time had one of the most
loyal legions of fans of any then play
Ing on the Polo Grounds.
Crowd with McGraw.
The difference is that the fans had
come TO take McGraw's cause as their
own. He had way of walking up to
an umpire which McGraw was smart
CROUCH to know brought the entire stand
at his back. Often when Higgins barks
al an umpire he gets lot Of laughs
from the stand.
Huggins largely Is to blame for the
fsct that he has not won more popular
ity in New York. He discounts both
popularity and publicity. Despite the
fact that he is one OF the smartest men
that ever trod on a ball field, and Ia a
lawyer In the bargain, he does not seem
TO realize what assets popularity and
publicity can be to a successful man.
ager.
He is willing to let the congenial
"Cap"-Lieut.-Col. Huston-do all the
mixing for the club. There perhaps never
was club in which there was greater
intimacy between the owners and base
bal writer's than there Is between Rup-
pert and Huston and the New York
Chapter OF Baseball Writer'S yet on the
other hand few managers are as distant
from the men who write of the exploits
Of their team as Higgins.
BIZ Donovan, Huggins's immediate sue
cessor, was Just the opposite to Hug
gins. Bill was a mixer and was loved
by all with whom he came In contact
His radiant smile was one Of his big.
gest assets. Bill never objected to talk
ing for publication or making himself
agreeable.
Donovan's Smile.
Donovan's smile kept him in the public
eye, Even after there were rumors that
Bill would be endorsed during the 1917
0'uo0Al IlObN WtEC Bldu 70 dNOlu
mentioning the subject. hoping that q
change OF luck might bring a Yankee
winning streak and keep Bill in the
saddle
So many sad things happened to
Chance In New York that he had few
intlmates among the newspaper crowd
while he was here. In Chicago Chance
made lifetime friends with some OF the
Windy City scribblers.
Wtlbert Robinson. manager of the
Dodgers, like his good pal. Col. Huston
~ fond OF palling with baseball writers
and always has been famous as a good
mixer Robbie has the happy faculty OF
making friends wherever he goes
In Justice to Huggins II must be said
he Is getting results after all. thai
counts He is managing his club In his
own way. and he has the respect OF his
players. They say he knows baseball
and that when he tells them TO change
their style 1t almost invariably improves
their play
Perhaps, as II takes many kinds OF
people to make up the world, II also
lakes many types Of managers to make
the national game.
TO STAGE SWIM MEET.
The mems Metropolitan half mile
swim Ind fancy diving oh