Evening star., 1921-09-20

DOOR pitching has been handicap
which three of the four contenders
in the two major leagues have been up
against all season.
The two New York clubs and Cieve-
land have had to worry along with
rather erratic pitching. Pittsburgh
alone has had consistent box work.
That fact, plus the addition of Maran-
willie, has been the reason the Pirates
have constantly been in the running.
At the start of the season Cleveland
seemed to be pretty well fixed with
Coveleskie. Mails. Bagby, Uhle. Cald-
we'll and Morton. However. during the
major part of the season Speaker has
been constantly up against it, During
the first four months Coveleskie was
the only Cleveland pitcher Speaker
could count on. And even the great
Coveleskie has not been the consistent
ly steady performer of 1920.
Marvels at Indians.
AS 1 have watched the Cleveland
pitchers perform throughout the sea-
son I have marveled at the ability
of the club to stay on Top. Surely it
has been A great testimonial to the
ability of Speaker as manager. and
the old determination of every player on
the club to fight for every game. OF
course. the failure of Mails to win
regularly was hard blow. but per-
haps even greater was the reversal of
form by Bagby.
In 1920 Bagby. with thirty-one VIC
tories. led the American League in
pitching. That was a remarkable per-
formance. Basby. of course. had his
share of the breaks. Any pitcher to
win thIrty-one games in the ma jors
must get them. In summing up the
chances of the Cleveland club to re-
a icfin 7
on the fact that Bagby's thirty lone
victories must not be given too much
consideration. In rating Bagby, and
what he must do if Cleveland was to
win. figured that he would have to
turn in twenty victories. 1 thought
he had a pretty good chance to come
through: Bagby is destined to fall far
short Of last years record.
BaEby ls Smart.
Bagby is smart pitcher, one of
those fellows who mixes limited
amount of stuff with a lot-of excel
Tent Judgment. He always has been
one OF those pitchers who seemed easy
TO hit. yet mighty hard to beat Often
the f1elders would back up to the
fence for drive after drive. The other
DAY Bagby remarked to me after he
mad been driven from the box in a
couple of innings:
What's the matter Bill have 7
lost what stuff 1 had?"S
That query of Bagbys was interest
ing TO me, because in all the games 1
have worked in back of him this year
ne mas had more stuff than in the
years when he was unbeatable l feel
that Bagby's failure to win can be
traced to his increased speed. When
bagby was winning consistently. he
used half-speed ball, a sneaky curve
snd tantallzing fadeaway. Repeated
failures at the start of the season
caused him to exert himself to greater
enorts. to try for more stuff. His old
time style was different. his present
style Just the ordinary.
Others Unreliable.
The rest of the Cleveland staff has
not been dependable. Morton, UhIe.
Caldwell and Mails have turned in
some corking good games. but tbev
have been totally lacking in consist
ency. Speaker took chance ON
Sothoron and he has more. than justi
ned his judgment
The New York Yankees have been
sser Huggins looked in pretty fair
shape at the start of the season. but
seldom has he had more than two de-
pendable twirlers. At the start of the
season Shawkey had trouble with his
arm: During the first five or six
weeks he was of little use because of
his injury. That forced much of the
work on Mays and Hoyt. Then lust
as Shawkey returned TO form Mays
slunped for couple of weeks. Late
in the year Rip Collins. who has as
much stuff as any pitcher in the busi-
ness. came through with a run of CON
secutive victories at time the staff
was sadly in need of bolstering In
the final series in Cleveland. when
Huggins was up against it for pitch
ing. Jack Quinn responded with a
dve-hit game. The Yankees pitching,
like the Indians, has been snoffv
throughout.
Giants Weak In Box.
Manager McGraw of the Giants. has
suffered the same as Speaker and Hug
gins. Never has he had four regulars
capable of working consistently, and
who could be called on in rotation.
Toney. Barnes, Nehf. Ryan and Doug