The Washington times., 1920-10-04

know the dope all pointed to Chics
Caldwell has been of little use 70
Cleveland In it's last drive for the
American League nag. but when
BaKby and Coveleskie arc right, they
rank with the best pitchers In the
game. Duster Mails. once Dodger'
has been the sensation of tho closing
weeks Of the race and may be the
Dickis Kerr of 1920.
The Dodger stan. however pos
sesses the advantage OF having been
rested a full week before the start
of the series. just about enough to
enable them to freshen up for the big
test. Cleveland has been obliged to
light to tho finish, and both Bagby
and Coveleskie have shown signs OF
overwork.
FINISHED MUCH FREsHER.
The entire Brooklyn team finished
the season much fresher than Cleve :
land. Some of the Indians, especially
the veteran Doc Johnston. have be-
come jaded from the hard grind.
The figures show that Cleveland
outfits Brooklyn, 400 to .I6, and
also is more consistent fielding
combination, the Indians fielding
average being 1915 against 1867 for
the Dodgers. Brooklyn has made
thirty-one more errors. There Is lit
tie to choose between the clubs in
baserunning. as Cleveland has only
ffty-six steals against ffty-seven for
the Dodgers. In extra base hitting
Cleveland has a tidy lead in doubles
and homers; the Dodgers lead In
triples.
We recall that before the 1919 Sc
ries Kid Gleason remarked OF Cincin-
natis pitchers: "Yes. Moran has
some fine pitchers. but he can only
pitch one at a time
ONLY ONE AT A TINE.
The same applies to the coming
series. Robinson's great strength lies
in the arms OF Burleigh Grimes, Ed
Pfeffer. Sherry Smith. Leon Cadore,
AL Mamaux and Rube MarQuard. But
he can't pitch them all at the Same
time.
For world series purposes, a stan
of three steady men often Is enough.
often two pitchers can turn the trick
Mathewson and McGinnity won the
world series for McGraw from the
Athletics in 1905 in FIVE games,
Mathewson pitching three games and
Iron Man Joe two.
Only two years ago Jim Vaughn and
George Tyler pitched practically the
entire six-game series between the
Cubs and Red Sox, and though they
lost the series, they held their con-
auerors to a team batting average
of .1S6.
Burleigh Grimes is the ace of the
Brooklyn staff, but he proved recently
that he is not unbeatable. Grimes
rather disappointed us in a recent
crucial game with the Giants. He
had been primed for the contest, but
the Giants rushed him for three runs
in the first inning. and soon batted
him out Of the box. Marquard then
practically clinched the pennant for
Brooklyn the next day.
In the matter of world series eX-
perience there isn't much to choose
between the two clubs. Marauard
Pfeffer. Smith. Miller. Olson, Myers
and Wheat played with Brooklyn in
the series of 1916, which resulted in
a rout for the Dodgers.
OF this collection, only Smith and
Myers distinguished themselves, and
Myers hit under 200. Marquard also
played with three Giant world series
losers. and should Brooklyn lose this
time. the Rube would tie the record
Of Fred Merkle, who played on five
world series losers.
Merkle was a teammate OF Mar
guards on the Giant teams OF 1911
1912, and 1913, and the Dodgers Of
1918. Fred also played first base for
the Cubs in 1913.
Iris Speaker and Joe Wood played
on two world champion teams in Bos-
ton. and Larry Gardner and Chet
Thomas on three. Nunamaker was a
member of the 1912 Red Sox world
champions.
None OF the Cleveland pitchers has
any world series experience, though
Duster Mails was Brooklyn bench
warmer in the series of 1915.
TWO WEAK PLACES.
Earlier in this series of articles we
called attention to the fact that
Brooklyn's weakness was behind the
bat and we are not so certain of
shortstop. Recalling Ivy Olson's work
in 1915, we can't feel any, too sure
of the Swede. when he makes errors,
he has the unhappy faculty of making
them when it hurts most.
with Sewell playing short, II will
greatly enhance Cleveland's chances.
He Is a great rookie, and a far SUI
perior hitter to Lunte.
To the superstitious, the jinx of the
old Oriole managers may also carry
some weight BY strange travesty
of fate, members of Ned Hanlon's old
Baltimore National League champions
have made great managers, but a
strange hoodoo always has followed
them into world series.
Look over the record. McGraw
won six pennants with the Giants
jennings copped three in Detroit; this