The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1926-02-27

am frank 10 say bnEAI from t1S&N
to 1925, inclusive, the standard Of
baseball was lowered considerably.
lay this to the introduction Of
the lively ball. One standing proof
OF the perpetration of this crime
in 1926 was the downfall Of the
Athletics. Just before the ball was
changed again they We're slashing
their way through, driving all
pitchers to grief. Suddenly their
hits failed to carry up against the
fences and then we all discovered
really had ~
i mention these things to make
clear my process Of reasoning In
selecting the star players Of both
leagues. We have, for example,
some nice looking ball players
In the American League who
show high averages in The last
two or three years, but they have
not been playing baseball rs
real stars should.
AS result OF the lively bal, and
the chance for making long drives,
the fine points OF the game in
both leagues have been sl1unted
into the background. The ringing
base hit and self-defense fielding
has been the vogue since the lively
ball was introduced.
With great care have gone over
the records of some of the great
ball clubs within my memory. AS
they narrow down to a few like the
Athletics Of 1911, the Cubs Of 1908.
the Giants Of 1905 and the Tigers
of 1903 it makes me smile to think
what would have happened IL the
lively bau had been In use then.
Let me say right here that the
best ball club / ever saw in action
was the Athletics, who played In
and the Giants In those years run
ming from 1910 to 1912. The dates
are not well fixed In my mind but
1 mean the club composed Of
Plank. Bender, Combs and others
as pitchers; McInnis, Collins. Barry,
Baker as infielders.
That was the outstanding ball
club to my way of thinking. 1t
not only showed superiority over
competition In its own league, but
won all its world series clashes
with the exception of the one with
the Boston Nationals, when the
Athletics lost four straight.
As . matter Of fact the Ath.
letics lost that series with the
Braves ON account Of OvercOnfi-
dence, stalepeSS and being Off
their stride: To illustrate, / know
that they did not even scout"
the Boston club. By that mean
they did not take the trouble to
study the Boston batters, the
pitchers and 50 on.
In the American League at that
time they told a story OF Chief Ben
der having been sent to New York
to watch the Braves. So little did
he consider the use of scouting an
easy club like Boston that he went
out and played golf.
Another story that came out of
that surprising series was that Deal
and Gowdy were shifted in the bat
ting order for the series, Deal was
a lowbal1 hitter and Gowdy was a
high ball hitter. The Athletics did
not notice this change in position.
In the first game with runners on
the bases Gowdy came up early.
Bender, thinking Of Deal, pitched
Hank a high ball and he socked
II. On the bench several of the
Athletics players asked Bender why
he had pitched a high one.
We'll" explained Bender. Deal
Is ordinarily q low ball hitter, so,
] pitched him a high one"
The Chief, In his supreme con-
fidence, had got the batting order
confused.
In the series the Athletics were
SO absolutely sure that many such
incidents occurred. They could he
excused for their confidence, at
that. Among baseball people the
Braves were not regarded so strong
AS two or three other clubs In the
National LeagNe--clubs that the
Athletics had already beaten.
1t was the carefree way in which
the Athletics took this series that
caused Connie Mack TO break up
the team. The team really was 100
good. and what in worse the play
ers knew that. They won so regu-