New-York tribune., 1920-10-06

Three Sisters
Termed Fates
Upset Wilbert
Flatbush Fans Should Shout
to High Olympus, "Take
EN- Out!'' Says Broun
By Haywood Broun


spinning thread and cutting it. The
Greeks called them Moirae and we
call them the Fates. They have been
engaged in their present occupation
Tor some time, long before Joe Jack
son looked under his pillow or Eddie
Cicotte thought of the wife and the
Riddles and threw the ball into the
grandstand. Nobody can accuse
them of shirking, and what with
wars and plaques and pestilences
they have grown gray in the service.
And yet tonight we think all true
lovers of baseball ought to look up
toward high Olympus and shout:
"Take 'em OUT"
They have control, but no speed
just consider what happened at Ebbets
Field shortly after 2 o'clock yesterday
afternoon. Edward j. Konetchy was
playing first base for the Brooklyn
Robins. He was born in La Crosse,
Wis, in 1855 and now he is thirty-fvc
years old, which is close to senility.
according to baseball standards. Some
body took him out of a coal mine
years ago and set him to playing ball,
but he was of no great account. Three
or four big league clubs have kept him
awhile and then passed him on He is
q big, stolid, slow-thinking Pole, whose
chief virtue has been that he could
hold what he could reach. Once he
went through an entire season with
only five errors.
Atropos Ships Thread
Yesterday he played in worlds series
ming Burns, of the Cleveland Indians,
swung at a ball and raised q high fly
directly between Konetchy and Kill
duff of the Brooklyn team Konetchy
became excited and edged over so close
to Kilduf that the second baseman let
the ball drop.
BY that time Burns had rounded first
and was we'll on his way to second.
Konetchy reached for the ball and
scissors, shipped a thread. Konetchy
hurled the ball into left field. Burns
scored and that was the end Of ball
game.
We have become accustomed to the
idea that life is fixed, bat we wish it
could be done more ingeniously. When
the Fates allowed, in fact arranged,
that wild throw, more than ball
game died. The cheapest fiction writer
could have done better. In fact, we
were already to do something rather
appealing about konetchy, the Cinder-
ella of the National League, who came
to his first worlds series game at the
advanced age of thirty-hve and won it.
But AtrOroe cut the hreaQ and also
our lead.
Once again the proper fctonal
values Of the game were ruined in the
second half Of the eighth inning.
Cleveland led by two runs, but the
came did not seem as close as that.
Brooklyn was not threatening. Krue-
ger came to bat. Coveleske pitched
wide one, but the next was good and
Krueger smacked it. The drive was
tween Jameson in left and iris Speak
or In center ii looked good for
triple. Lachesis, she's the one who
keens the record, did not even look up,
hut simply found Speakers name on
the score card and made dot under
the column marked put-outs
Iris Comes Up With Ball
The ball was miles away from iris
and going great guns. iris was gal
loping toward it at right angles. 1t
was necessary for him to reach a pre-
else spot at precise moment to make
the catch. Lachess killed off q fam
lily of six in southeastern China and
yawned Iris. on the dead run. stopped
down to the fourth eyelet on his right
shoe and came up with the ball.
We wanted to shout and tingle, but
we couldn't Somehow we had senscd
that yawn in Olympus. We knew from
the beginning that iris was going to
catch the ball. He always does unless
it takes to cover on the roof OF the
grandstand or over the fence. Nat
urally he is favorite of the Fates
because he makes things so simple for
them. They don't have to keep an eye
on him.
They don't even have to pull any
wires. There's no nuisance about
watching the relay or anything like
that. Just kerchunk and that's that.
But the rest o. US aren't all old and
jaded and lovers Of system. We want
to see runs and rallies and three base
hits.
What we want up in Olympus is new
blood. Whoevers in charge of the
office ought to pension off those three
old maids and put in somebody who'd
give the batter a chance. More than
that, we have a sneaking suspicion that
If the grand jury had the nerve to
press its investigation little further
it would find that these Olympian en-
ployees had put a pretty stiff bet on
the Indians. If there's no chance of