The daily Gate City and constitution-Democrat. (Keokuk, Iowa) 1916-1922, 1919-09-03
Fans Who Expected to See Them Sat
Ting to Get Into the First Oi-
vision Have Surprise OF
Their Lives.
CIcoTTE RIGHT THERE
Gleason May Have Been Power Be
hind Throne When Rowland was
Getting All the Credit 1t
Looks Now.


cago in October to see the White Sox
on one side of the scrap FOR world
title. The team that has come DacK
would be a good title for Gleason $
men. and Frederick G. LteD, sport
Ing writer in the New York Sun has
IN interesting analysis or the team
success:
The Chicago White Sox surely have
rome back. No mistake about that!
n the club regains the American
league penant, which now seems GER
tain. 1t will be great boost for the
Kameness and fighting spirit OF
Comiskey's famed team. Further
more, it will be big personal tribute
to the popular Kid Gleason, the
aggressive manager Of the Windy
City troupe.
The Chicago team beat out the
Red Sox In keen fight in 1917 and
then defeated the Giants in the
worlds series that fall, four games
to two. 1t is true the White Sox did
not impress very strongly in that
Beries, and the Giants lost the flag
by outerring the Sox.
The White Sox were big favorites
when the 1918 race started, as It was
fgurei that only Red Faber and 4
few lesser players would be drafted.
But a South Carolina draft board de-
creed that Joe Jackson, star maurer
of the team, belonged to the army
despite the fact that he had wife
and two children AS result Joseph
became a painter and left the Sox to
don the overalls of a shipyard.
Williams and Lynn soon followed
q inv e,f-ff
Jobs, and after an argument with
former Manager Rowland, Hap
Fetish, center fielder, left the club
for a munition factory. Eddie Col
Inns, the handspring OF the club,
stayed on the Job until August. when
he left the club TO cast his luck with
the marines.
Toppled to Sixth Place.
Rowland had only the shell Of his
championship machine left and the
worlds champions toppled to sixth
place. Oddly enough the worlds
champions of 1918, the Boston Red
Sox, also will finish In sixth place
this year from present indications.
Outside of these two years there is
no other case in baseball where a
worlds champion team has slumped
to sixth place year after winning
basebalPs highest honors.
Evidently Charles Comiskey did
not believe the slump of his team in
1918 was due entirely to the war
Other teams, too, lost lots Of valu-
able men and beat out the Sox by
quite margin. "Commy" therefore
made move last winter that for a
time stunned the fans of the south
side. He let out Clarence Rowland,
the man he had hand picked from
the bushes and to whom he chung
despite criticism, only to have the
manager vindicate his Judgment by
winning a worlds championship.
Kid Gleason, who coached the Sox
in their worlds championship year,
was appointed Rowland's successor.
When the Sox were at the top OF
their success much of the credit for
directing the team went to Gleason
He was the man behind the throne
1t even was limited that Rowland was
manager in name only, and that il
was Gleason who was the real head
OF the team.
Gleason Doing Very Well.
The success that the peppery Kid
is having with the team this year
Justifies most of these reports Glea
son seems to be doing tolerably well
without Clarence, but Clarence didn't
get along very well in 1918 without
the Kid.
Few baseball sharps, even in Chi
cago, gave the White Sox much OF
tumble last spring. 1t looked as
though the team would have to be
reconstructed, and that Gleason
would have to dig up a new pitching
staff before the club again would
become serious contender Ship
yard assertions Of the previous year
also were figured to have a bat
effect on the morale and general har
mony of the club, but Gleason doesn't
tolerate any dissension. Not if he
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