Great Falls tribune. [volume] (Great Falls, Mont.) 1921-current, 1922-05-02

Of FANS MENACE
GIANTS CHANCES
Expert Says McGraw's Men
Have Hard Battle Ahead
This Year.

New York, May IA baseball ex-
pert says that the most dangerous fac
tor with which the Giants have to con-
tend this year is the talk now preva-
lent among the fans to the effect that
the National league race is a romp for
the local club and that by May 80
procession with the Giants at the head
of it. The fans have given themselves
over to that which John McGraw is
determined shall not make itself felt
in the ranks of his players-overconfi-
dence, and such an attitude on the
part of its supporters is not calculated
to greatly benefit the team for obvious
reasons.
Granted that the Giants ought to win
the pennant again this year because in
all things which pertain to success on
the bali field they have an edge ON the
other clubs in the league, the race will
not be a romp for them, nor will it
be over, to all intents and purpose
by May 80. In order to duplicate the
victory they scored last year, McGraw's
rough, tough ball clubs, the toughest of
which-speaking purely in a baseball
sense-is the St. Louis club.
The Giants have got away to a good
start in their pursuit of another PEN
nant, but they have not shown to bet
ter advantage than have the Cardinals.
While they have been picking on the
Robins and Braves. the Cardinals have
been tackling the Pirates and Cubs and
it would appear from this distance have
drawn the stronger opposition. As the
tussle for the bunting wears along and
the teams settle down to the grind,
endurance as we'll as hitting, pitching
and fielding skill will play its part
There will be slumps and injuries to
hear and long journeys through the
middle west in the blazing summer
months. The Giants should pass
through all these hazards and win in
spite of them, but no one knows or
realizes more clearly. than they that
the work laid out for them nowhere
borders on a romp.
When the late Harry C. Pulliam ad-
monished the world in general TO take
nothing for granted in baseball he gave
voice to a truism which it is well to
bear in mind at all times when con
sidering the pennant chances of any
club. Twice in recent years Giant
teams plunged into a pennant fight
with the object of their quest almost
within their grasp from the start and
twice they failed tt cement their grip
on 1t. This happened in 1918 and again
in 1919. In 1919 they were beaten be-
cause of the Vaccinations of two play
from baseball, but in 1913 their fail
ure to grab the coveted prize was
strictly on the level. Though 1919
may be tossed out of ones calculations
in regard to the present season. it is
well to remember 1918 when talk of
"a cinch for the Giants" is handled
about.
As a matter of fact. one does moi
have to look to the Giants of other
years for a warning against overcon-
fidence nor TO go back as far as 1918
for al example of what fate may hold
in store for q team which starts a
campaign favored by the dope to cop
the flag. The Pirates last year gener-
ally were picked to win when the 1921
season began, and the events of the
first few months served to strengthen
the belief that they couldn't lose. Then
the Giants. strengthened by the deal
which brought Irish Meusel and Johnny
Rawlings here and imbued with a fight
ing spirit which heavy odds could not
lessen, hammered their way right
through the sagging Pirate horde tc
the top of the league and remained
there.
Such upsets in baseball have been so
common as to be almost the rule rather
than the exception. McGraw had his
1906 team. winners of the world title
the year before. fall to pieces on his
hands, and since then never has pre-
dicted a pennant for a team led by
him. He viii 60 so far as to say that
his team will give the other teams a
real battle, but he leaves the picking of
remnant n to the donesterS.