The Bridgeport times and evening farmer., 1919-08-06
PLOT TO DOWN
 F0HL STARTED
 LONG TIME AGO

John B. Shedden in Sporting News writes the following about the change in the Cleveland managersflip:
 Many days before 1t was made known, I forecasted the passing of Lee Fohl as manager of the Cleveland team. It was clear. from the club standing, that the Indians were not going good. With Boston out of it, the Yankees too slow to run a base. Frank Baker suffering with sleeping sickness, Pratt sttffened up, Bodie still believing that the game Is won when he gets his second hit and Glea- son depending upon two pitchers. tt did seem that with Speaker, Chap
 man, Gar dner, Smith, Graney, O'Neil for all of Schalk about the best catcher in the game-the boys from Lake Erie should be leading the American League.
 Now they say, indeed they have said it
 for 8 long time, that the Cleveland team did not give F'ohI it's best, that 1t was waiting on" Speaker. I do not know that this is true. Lee Foh1s scheme of ball never did appeal to 1ne-it was too tame-but he prob
 ally is as good Q manager as the next man and when 1t comes to estimating
 manhood, Fohl averages very high.
 He is a firSt-ciasS man, a regular tel- low.
 One very fine thing about F-oh1 is that he never could be made to be- Heve or to think that any man was wrong" that any one would do him an injury.
 Many times within the last year Fohl had been assured that his days as manager of Cleveland were num- bered, that Speaker was out for the job and was going to get it. Fohl could never be brought to believe any such thing.
 So many men are always eager to believe that they are getting the worst of it even when they are getting the best of it. that 1t is refreshing to meer a man like E'oh1. who always believed that he was getting d square deal, even when his throat was being cut In the end. Fohl will be the winner bv that belief. In fact I believe that he is winner now. Human nature is very much better than any one credits it with being, men are more disposed to do you good than evil, and the fellow who does you i'll turn today will do you a good turn tomorrow In any event the man who has an abiding faith in the goodness Of hu-i man natrre will profit even 1T they do cruelty him.
 Probably Fohl counts himself fort unate in having been so long manager of a major league team and having done so well with it. No doubt he is right. Not many men have been SD fortunate as to manage major league team. I know many brilliant baseball men who have never had such a chance, though they might have done well at it, and I have known men who had the chance under such hopeless conditions that they ruined all further chances by accepting 1t. Luck breaks drolly in life as in baseball.
 As for Speaker, who succeeds to Fohls job, much that Is good and some that 1t is bad has been s- l about him. He has been accused of having harbored managerial ambi- tions-no cirme-for years. One thing, Is quite certain, he gave his best to F'ohl for the first two years he wal at Cleveland. I have never seen an5 one man make such a difference in the play of a club Speaker made in that of Cleveland in 1916. He worked hard, hit wonderfully with men on and seemed to drag the club right along with him. Now If he wanted to ease up a bit he probably is entitled to do so.
 Still if there was any scheme actual or tac1t, to lay down on Fohl, no good will come to the men who were mem bers of 1t. There is absolutely noth- Ing fn being Ion the crook" I have seen hc "cross'' played innumerable times in racing. and I have never seen the crook flourish nor have I ever 'een the honest man decay