The New York herald., 1920-01-19
PENNANT TEAM Of
1917 SCATTERED
Only One Pitcher and Five Other
Giants Remain Out of Squad
of Twenty-Four.

OF the twenty-four players on the
Giants team who were eligible TO play In
the worlds series little more than two
years ago, eighteen are no longer with
the club. OF the .seven twirlers upon
whose shoulders rested the responsibility
of checking the White Sox batsmen in that
series only one is left on the Giants roster
Ere the 1920 season opens one or two
more of the six survivors of that pennant
winning team may have been dropped or
traded. Such are the swift and almost in
credible changes that major league clubs
undergo. Rube Benton. Slim Sallee Al
Demaree, Poll Perritt Jeff Tesreau, Fer
die Schupp and Anderson were the Giant
twirlers of that year. OF that array Ben
ton is the only one left on the Giants
salary list. Sallee is with the worlds
champion Reds and one of their leading
performers. .Schupp is with the Cardinals,
Demaree with the Braves, Perrit on the
suspended list and probably through with
baseball, while Tesreau and Anderson
have dropped out of the majors. Lew
McCarty alone remains of the catchers.
George Gibson left year ago to BECOME
manager of the Toronto club of the In
ternational League and only recently was
chosen manager of the Pirates. Onsiow
is in the minors, but Bill Rarden is q
member of the pennant winning Reds.
OF the infielders on the 1917 roster two
regulars are gone. Walter Hoike, first
baseman, to the Braves, and Charlie Her
zog, second baseman, TO the Cubs, after
ms half tI,a L.-t ain
Hans Lobert utility infielder, is out Of
baseball and Al Baird another substitute,
has been recently released 10 Rochester,
Henie Zimmerman, third baseman. is
about to be traded. and that viii leave
Arthur Fletcher the only surviving in
fielder.
In the Quilted George Burns and Bennie
Kauff are still going strong and praeti-
cally certain of their jobs, but the third
outfielder of the pennant winning group,
the temperamenta Dave Robertson, Is
now a member of the Cubs. Utility Out
fielder Jim Thorpe was sold td the Braves.
Joined the class of 800 hitters and for his
efforts drew release TO Akron. Joe
Wilhoit, who also subbed in the outfield.
Went to the Pacific Coast League, where
his feat of beating the record for safe hit
ting on consecutive days attracted so
much attention that he has been brought
back to the majors by the Red SoX. Red
Murray played a few games in the out
field that season and at the close ended
his baseball career.
Pennant Winners Crack Early.
Very few pennant winning teams have
remained intact or nearly so for more than
a season or two following. In the Giants
case the numerous changes were not
exactly unexpected, for the club was made
up of many veterans, some OF whom were
IL, 1f
while others were threatening TO retire.
Slim Sallee was Of those who might have
foisaken the game had he been unable to
induce McGraw to trade him to Cincin-
natl. where he could be near his home
half the season. Bill Rariden was an
other. The pitching staff, which failed 70
hold up it's end in the worlds series Win
the White SoX. was, more than any other
department of the club, in need OF re-
building. and McGraw set at his work with
little delay. The result has been almost
a clean sweep Of the twirlers OF that pen
nant winning year.
The experience of the lther teams mas
led fans TO wonder how long 1t VIII take
the Cincinnati Reds TO crack as a cham
pionship aggregation. The Reds have one
thing in their favor-namely, that the team.
with one or two exceptions, is not squad
of veterans who are dangerously near the
end of their career. In the infield only
Jake Daubert at first may be expected TO
fall back several strides; yet he may fool
all the experts as he did last season when
he played as well as at any stage OF his
baseball life. Rath. Kopf and Heinie Greh
have still a long way to go before the tide
turns against them. In the outfield Eddie
Roush, National League champion bats
man for two seasons; Greasy Neale and
Pat Duncan are In their prime apparently
Ivy Wingo and Bill Rariden are still con-
sidered among the leading catchers in the
majors. At for the pitching staff. Hod
Eller, Walter Ruether. Jimmy Ring and
Luque are comparative youngsters. all of
whom found themselves in the 1919 cam
pagn; while old Slim Sallee pitched more
effective ball last season than he did as n
Giant. He was the second best twirler In
the league.
Baseball is so uncertain that il is not at
all impossible for the Reds TO crack in one
season. II is scarcely probab, e., however.
One or two players may weaken, but the
baseball machine as a whole should run
with credltable smoothness throughout the
pennant race of 1890. Garry Hermann.
and Pat Moran have come out for a stand
pat, let-wcll-enough-alo policy That is
the only logical policy to adopt. They can
not see where the worlds champions can
be improved. No trades could be made.
without weakening the :sam as much as H.
would gain. Moran probably would be
glad To land one more dependable out
fielder whom he iyould hold ready for one
of the outer garden positions should one
of the three regulars show signs of slip
ping. Good oLtfielders. however, are
scarce and have to be developed. At any
rate. they are hard to get, for rival clubs
will not part with them.