Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1920-07-14
WINNING BALL TEAM
HAS MANY Ell ElNENTS
Singing Without Good Pitching FONT Capture PEN
nants-Connie Mack's Famous Old Machine One
OF Fe,o Clubs Having Every Essential
BY GRANTLAND RICE

~ CONNECTION with Christy
uotbcwsop's illness and his forced
.,,remcnt from the game he has hon
..d 60 long. the following verses Of
...ersl years ago seem to be still ap-
pIcablc today
A Camp Song Of the Giants
n, bitter days are on US noto
'Icro. the dredrp fold;
rts iovrel no more ,rredthes our croD
h the days of old;
ris cheering that once came our toay
=, ,ileut nor aud still,
whsre bkck defeat holds ns at bay
Ird life has lost ito fhriiit
~ az the drifting shddoD' nedrs
Icross our pdfhtcdy strung,
M boM one dream of vdnished gears
Vheu Mdtfv's arm ioas young.
|n,,o in the Barren Lands at last
Ws face the hopeless fight,
vk,re mockino echoes of the past
Return beyond the night;
iad ohosis of glory and ren6,cn
Come back from Long Ago,
ro haunt us as pe gdliop dopn
ri, ,odu that leads to noe;
svt chen along the UanqRished beat
The nournful dirge Is sung,
Ee Mold one dream beyond defeat
When Matty's arm toas poung.
~, kno,o the la,o that rules the gdme
Where all must one day yield;
w. kno. the fckleness of fame
| Along the open field; -.
Ne knoio the bitterness that comes
TO those pho've held command,
When from afar the mu6fed drums
Roll back across the land;
|Bst as zoe reel and fall today,
| The broken clans among,
|Ope dream they cannot take andy-
When Matfv's arm cds young.
|The Two Details
Ia YEAR or two ago we asked Miller
"a Higgins If ball club lacking speed
|could ever win pennant.
"Few clubs can have everything"
|he replied. THE old Orioles did--so did
|the Cubs of Frank Chance and 40 did
|the Athletics up to 1914. I mean by
That these three clubs had speed, batting
power and fine pitching, plus strong de-
ienslve strength along other lines.
"If you ever get a club like one Of
these, the rest is simple. know the
Yankees haven't got much speed. But
they have two big factors--with the
least in good shape they can make lot
|oi runs through their hitting and their
pitchers can keep the other fellows from
making quite as many.
IA Matter Of Runs
|NDASEBALL, after all, is matter
I'd Of runs--of making more runs
than the other club. This Is all that
counts. This season know we had the
hitting power to get the runs, and
enough good pitching to keep the other
clubs, on the average. from getting as
many. In other words. we had enough
Ipitching and batting power to win
fovided too many accidents did not
PECK our strength. You can't win
It'll lot Of regulars in the hospital.
nd this goes II every one can run a
ndred yards In OF seconds when In
ape"
be Essential
hNE Of the most attractive features
~ OF baseball is that SO many elements
Figure in the makeup Of a winning
team. s.
There Is no one essential. The Tigers
proved year after year that mere slug
gins and run getting wouldn't win
minus the needed pitching strength.
Other clubs have had fine pitching,
only to lose through either weak bat
ting or poor fielding.
Yet Of the two stout defense counts
more No slugging club. minus the
has ever got there.