The sun., 1919-09-30
BROKEN FINGER
KEPT GR0H ON
THESIDELINES
Injury, Unknown Hereto
fore, Causes Stir Among
Cincinnati Supporters.
MAY AFFECT HIS GAME
Likely to Handicap Reds's Cap
tain in Worlds Series
Duncan to Play.
MAY AFFECT HIS GAME
~ FREDERICK G. LIEB.

third baseman OF the Heds. connessed
that the injury which kept him out Of
the Rediand lineup for the last month Of
the season wasn't a bruised finger. as
was announced by the club. but that the
finger actually was broken. Groh met
with the mishap on August 81 when
Carlson, the Pirate pitcher, hit the mid
die finger Of his throwing hand with a
pitched ball. An X-ray examination a
week later showed that the bone In the
finger was splintered.
As the Giants still were in the race II
was deemed advisable by the Cincinnati
club not to announce that the finger was
broken, but to say that II merely was
bruised. The fact that Groh remained
out of the lineup for nearly a solid
month caused much conjecture as to
how badly he was hurt
Groh played the last two games of
Cincinnatrs schedule and oddly enough
he lid not get ground ball. Heinie
will of course start the series on wednes-
way, but according to man close to the
club the preacher who advised his flock
10 pray for the Reds will have to keep
on tho job all through the series and
pray for Groh.
Groh VIII he Handicapped.
The truth Of the matter is that Groh's
finger still is far from being healed and
that he will be considerably handicapped
during the series. Moran hardly would
employ him I'm an ordinary series. Groh
will have to favor the finger and will not
dare % make any bare handed stops OF
balls hit to his right
He also puts quite lot OF pressure
on the finger in throwing ball, and an
other whack on the finger would put him
out of the series. However, the Redland
players themselves will not admit hav-
ing any worries about Groh. They say
he will be in the series and will be one
Of its stars.
After buzzlng around the Reds one
must come to the conclusion that they
are a pretty confident bunch. They a-c
not cockey, as were the Boston Braves
Of 1914, the last team to bring a worlds
Championship to the National League.
There is nothing boastful about the Reds
nor Is there, any braggadocio in their
talk. But the team manifests a feeling
Of quiet confidence in Its ability that Is
rfreshing. 1t isn't club that is licked
before a ball Is pitched. Its members
think II can beat the White Sox. and tell
you Just why they think 90.
Take n Day on.
Pat Moran, the Redland chief. gave the
boys day of to-day, and they chatted
things over at the downtown hotels or
vent over to the races at Latonis.
In our ambles to-day we ran into
Slim Sallee and Bill Rariden, the former
Giant battery; Ray Fisher. the former
yank slabster; Jimmy Ring. the clever
youngster from Brooklyn, and Jake
Daubert. the old Dodger first jbasemsn.
None OF them is boastful. but any ore
will have to give them strong argu-
ment to convince them why the White
Sox should be favorltes in the betting.
Some people have the idea we're n
lucky club said old Whoa Bill Rariden.
the Indiana farmer. But really we're
not. Maybe we did get some breaks, but
all winning clubs get them We made
the same kind of breaks that the Giants
did when they won the pennant in 1917.
When we needed the runs we went out
and got them, You can call that luck or
good baseball"
I'VE won the National League pen
nRnt with higher percentage than any
club has had since 1909. when Pittsburg
won the championship. From that 1
Judge we are a pretty good ball club.
And when we had to beat the Giants,
We did. When we played that series Of
six games in New York we really
should have won five out of six games
playing our nearest rivals away from
home
That 14-inning game, to 0, that
Jimmy Ring LOST to Toney was the best
pitched game OF the series think Ring
Is the best right handler in the league
to-day. Just why we can't score for
him is more than we can fathom. 1
guess it's just baseball luck. But there
was one stretch In which we didn't get
run for SO innings"
salIee Says He IL in Fine Form.
Slim Sallee. the long. Ieathery finger,
WIN hPafan twice in the
by the White Sox while wearing. Giant
livery, says he never felt better In his
life, I've been doing well since got
here" said the slender Sheriff. "This
heat agrees with me, and I've had fine
ball club behind me. That infield gets
pretty near anything that can be COB
bled up. I'm glad to get another
chance at those Chicago Babies. I'll
say they can hit but so can our boys
II don't know who Pat will work in
the first game We all are going good.
Yes, sir I'll say we have some pitchers
on this club. l don't see how any club
can beat us with two pitehers"
No one here knows what pitcher
Moran will select to open the series
with, though the choice rests between
sallee and Ray Fisher. the former
Yank. It probably will depend on the
weather. If the day Is as hot as II IA
here to-day Hallee will draw the open.
ing assignment. but II 1t COILS up before
next Wednesday afternoon Fisher likely
will get the call
oddly enough the average citizen here
Is pulling for Fisher to start He has
pitched some brilliant ball in the last
elk weeks, a whole cluster OF shut outs
and low hit games and he's quite a
hero out here. They also figure thai
his long American League experience
will come into good stead. The fact thai
Sallee was beaten twice in 1917 by the
White SoN is another reason why the
Cincinnati fans would like to see Fisher
start
Fisher Receives Praise.
They give Fisher much more O. a
tumble here than he ever got In New
York. Next to Moran he Ia given credit
for bringing out the hidden talent An
Ruether, Ring and Eller. In a tanning
bee Ruethar went so far as 10 give
Fisher credit for 90 per cent OF his sue
cess this year. That fellow Fisher
taught me stun I never knew before. +"
said Ruether, what he doesn't know
about pitching Isn't worth knowing"
Pat Moran has made the definite an
souneement that Pat Duncan. his re-