The New York herald., 1921-04-10
ny DANIEL.

ny DANIEL.
Another baseball season is upon us,
and again the professional game faces
conditions which give promise Of rec
ord breaking interest, the keenest of
competition and financial success. On
Wednesday afternoon the National
League will open it's forty-sixth cham
pioiship season, while the American
League will usher in its twenty-second
campaign, and both have reason to
expect results which will exceed. even
the splendid developments of 1920.
Fans in New York are particularly
fortunate, for they have three major
league clubs. every one of which goes
into the fight with banners flying and
fine chance for the flag. In the Ma
tional League the Brooklyn club,
with substantially the same playing
strength which won the pennant last
season, once more must be admitted
as a virile and trenchant contender.
Wilbert Robinson holds that with
Dutch Ruether i'll ltube Marquard's
place he possesses even stronger
pitching staff than that which won
the championship for the Dodgers last
year, and rotund Robbie may be right
The Giants, who were favorites for
the flag last year, again go into the
fight favorites. and this time they
hope that they will get away to good
start and realize their own ambitions
and the hopes of their friends. John
McCraws club is strong one;
stronger. we believe, than the one
which finished the 1920 race. II events
follow normal lines we cannot see how
the other clubs in the league are going
to stop the New Yorks. But baseball
has become famous for its tendencies
70 disregard the normal and TO strike
Off on 4 tangent. Advance dope Is.
well. just dope. Demonstrations are
interesting in baseball but after all
they are just representations.
Aggregation OF stars.
The Yankees striving ever with
grand aggregation of stars. will open
the season with the brightest chance
yet possessed by New Yorks Ameri
can League entry Through the vari-
Gus deals which gave him Bobbie Roth.
Waite Hoyt. wallie Schang and Harry
Harper. Miller Huggins believes that
he finally has assembled combina-
ton which will prove strong enough
10 fight off tho Clevelands
The Yankees certainly have n club
which seems to overshadow all other
outfits in their circuit II Higgins can
guide his team along lines of concert.
harmony and discipline the Yankees.
barring injuries. should win the flag.
With the Giants. Yankees and Dodgers
all strong favorites. New York has
more than It's usual share or pennant
optimism and preseason Joy but that
condition by no means bars similar feel
.ngs in other major league cities Hope
springs eternal In the human breast.
and In baseball ii springs more eter-
nally and on less provocation than IN
any other human endeavor. The St
Louis clubs still think that they can
break into the list OF pennant winners
Cincinnati. which knocked the baseball
world silly by winning the National
League title in 1919, holds that II Is
going 10 stage a comeback. Chicago
s confident that Johnny Evers will be
the Moses to lead the Cubs out OF the
wilderness.
And over in Cleveland they cannot see
any other club but their own. They
concede that the Yankees have gathered
a brilliant array. They concede that the
race will be hot all the way, but they
believe that the elimination Of the White
Sox as pennant contenders will help the
indians more than the Yanks. They
marshal divers figures which are in
tended to prove this contention but per-
sonally we have little use for past per-
formances in baseball as guide for the
future.
white sox shot to Pieces.
81.
favorites with the Yankees and the In
dams In April, 1920, are shot TO pieces;
cicotte, Jackson. Weaver, Felsch Will
iams, McMullin, Gandil-all have gone
from the game. and gone to stay. Chi
cago deserves the sympathy of the rest
of the American League, but sympathy
will win no pennants. We saw the re-
organized White Sox down In Texas, and
they looked like hustling club with
purpose and remarkable spirit. But
the material for finishing In the first
division OF league like the Johnson
circuit was woefully absent.
Last year baseball opened its cam
paign under most salutary conditions.
Wars shadow on the game had passed.
The clubs had grown stronger and the
old standard most fad peen reattaincd.
But the game finished the year under
cloud. The revelations made before. the
Grand Jury In Chicago made many
unthInldng persons doubt the general
honesty Of the game and the players
Since then. however. confidence has
been restored. 1t has been shown that
crookedness was confined to small
coterie OF players, all of whom have been
driven out OF baseball The prime factor
In the rcstoration of public confidence Is
Judge Lands. high commissioner of the
professional game and man who viii
brook no nonsense. interference and even
the suspicion OF deviation from the
straight and narrow path.
Baseball Is coming back this yeas
under cloudess skies. with players
owners and officials determined a.
prove to the public that the game n