Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1927-01-12
Action in Breaking Up
Athletics of 1914 Is Justified
By Collins as Economic Move
TWENTY-ONE YEARS OF BASE BALL.
BY EDDIE COLLINS.
Up the As

There have been many attempts 10
| cless Connie Mack real reason lor
breaking up his four-time champion
team at the close of the 1914 season.
L have repeatedly been asked the same
question. r. 80
1t would be presumptuous i" me
| to delve into the secrets OF a cruz
owner, but it happened long liift9
ago and [ don't think Mr. Mack VIII
hold il against me if / give two
reasons. 49,, --<,,,
In the first place. the 1914 season
was not a financial success Tor the
owners of the Athletics. me SERIES
with the Braves went only four games
and the additional income from lhal
source was negligible. Prices LOT
seats were not as high then as now
and the capacity Of the stands less. :,
Besides being great base Dali
general Mr.. Mack is a business man.
Compared with most OF his associate
club owners he was not Weaithy d.
that time and the offer he recelVeu
from Mr.. Comiskey was too tempting
and meant too much In various ways
TO be turned down. Had the series
with the Braves lasted six games, !
always have believed that he would
have refused the Chicago offer.
Mack Saved Much Money.
To the fans the unconditional re
lease of his three veteran pitchers'
Render. Plank and Coombs, probably
was more surprising than my trans
fer to Chicago. But the same logic
that sent me to the White SoX de-
manded the release of those three
stars. While Mack received no money
in the latter case, he saved a lot,
which means the same thing.
I am sure of one thing, which Is
that he absolutely believed he was
not weakening his pitching staff at
all, and as he secured Larry Lajoie
to take my place at second, he was
justified in the opinion that second
base was we'll protected.
After the release of the three vet
Grams there still remained Joe Bush,
who with two seasons of experience
was considered one of the best or
the young hurlers; Weldon Wyckoff
and Carroll Brown, who had made
a fine showing in IA, and. like Bush,
were not only good young pitchers,
but great hitters. Then there We're
Raymond Bressler, a promising south
paw, and Byron Houck. 1t seemed
that Bender and Plank could be
spared and Coombs had been an in
world series injury in New York in
1911.
Federal League No Factor.
1t Is true that almost every player
of prominence had offers from the
Federal League, but l never thought
that those proposals had any influence
in the case of the three pitchers and
Connie, and l know they had none
with me.
/ would like to have readers get
this straight: l never contemplated
for a moment signing with a Federal
League club. The fact that / was
loyal to the American League in
thought and action need not be
stressed, for / had an ironclad con-
tract. If the terms did not suit, 1t
was my fault. But the fact is they
did.
Had an earthquake shaken Phila-
delphia I could not have been more
surprised than l was when I real
ICED that / was no longer a. member
of the little band with whom l had
spent eight exceedingly happy years.
My home was in Philadelphia. l had
been first introduced to Mrs. Collins
by Mr.. Mack, who was a lifelong
friend of her father, and / had some
how always supposed / was forever
going to remain "at home"
l want to acknowledge here that
was a long time getting used to the
change, but at last / realized that
there was at least one other city than
Philly where fans are loyal, friends
faithful and employers just.
Deal Had Amusing Side.
My transfer had it's amusing side
The deal took place in December.
remember 1t was near Christmas.
One evening as we were at dinner the
phone rang and Mrs. Collins answered
it. The voice at the other end asked
If / were in, and, being told I was,
the speaker said. he was Mr.. B. B.
Johnson and wished me to meet him
immediately at downtown hotel
1t is not uncommon for players to
be called to keep various foolish