, 1923-10-31
BY n L.


NEW YORK. Oct. si@United
PressSFuel ap'enty Is stacked up
in the bin to keep the fires glowing
this winter for the Hot Stove League
whatever that means.
The Hot Stove League is like the
AIl-American football team myth
ical thing that provides enough n
guments to carry the sport through
the ~off-season when there is no ac-
tive food for conversation.
, The pennant races and the worlds
series will be fought all yer again
and the second-guessers viii have
their annual opportunity for discuss
ing the why's and wherefores of the
late season. Juries will be drawn
and managerial crimes viii be heard.
There Is as much interest in fig
uring what the major league teams
viii do next year. as there is in de-
Gliding why they didn't do certain
things last season.
Not figuring on the New York
Yankees. at all. there Isn't a single
team in the big leagues that can feel
safe in depending on the same team
for a better position in the 1924 pen
nant race.
In the opinion OF John McGraw.
the manager Of the Giants, who had
a fine opportunity to observe Just
what kind of a good team Miller
Higgins has to present next year as
the worlds champions, the Yankees
need only some added strength be-
hind the bat and there is no danger
GUS weakness in that department.
Being a shrewd builder. Huggins.
however. is not likely to take 1t easy
during the winter and feel assured
OF another pennant simply because
he had an easy time turning In the
championship last season.
The Yankees. no doubt will be
strengthened with IN eye to the flu
ture, mode than through a feeling
hat there is any immediate demand
for reconstruction Of the club.
The pennant race OF 1923 is almost
as important as next years fight
for the flag TO the owner OF the
champion Yankees. The necessity
of building strongly and we'll for a
stretch of seasons in the future WINS
wisely expressed in the words Of
Jack Hendricks, the dashing man
ager OF the indianapolis American
Association club.
Can you imagine a seventh place
club in that huge two million dollar
ball pnrk7 Hendricks said during
the worlds series.
Col. Jake Rupert has a tremen-
dous Investment in the ball park and
It will remain a paying proposition
only as long as the Yanks succeed in
being a prominent factor in the
championship.
The Yankees are not a young ball
club and neither are they tottering
on the edge OF senility. They have
one or two spots where younger
blood would speed up the machine
next year. and perhaps younger
blood viii be in those spots when the
1924 season opens.
1t is a well known fact that the
Giants are badly in need of repairs.
and McGraw will have to do some
reconstruction II the former worlds
champions nre to win another pen
nant.
The Giants will have a hard road.
even II the Cincinnati Reds and tho
Pittsburgh Pirates do not improve
themselves by a reorganization Pr
ing the winter.
The Reds need a little more punch,
and the Pirates need better pitching.
II Luque, Rlxey and Donohue CON
tinue In good form next season. the
Reds win be dangerous all the way.
and II sheehan, the latest addition
10 the club. is as good a pitcher as
he was in the American Association
the Reds are going to be the favorite
in the ice
with a minor league pitcher like
sheehan. II is never certain that he
win retain form over a winter. Last
fall all the major league clubs were
hot after Jakey May. the Pacific
Coast League lefthander. and all the
club bosses r glad now that they
didn't put out the pile OF cash that
was demanded for him. ms he was a
bust last a In slower company.
The Pirates have a powerful OF.
fensive club, but they have no young
pitchers with promise enough to sup.