New Britain herald., 1928-08-02

records reveal, never had to see an
ear specialist because of sustained
cheering for the Giants on the road.
Even the willy Cornelius McGilli-
cuddy suffered minimum OF incon-
venience from alien shouts that
went up for the Athletics in the dis
tant days of Bender and Coombs
and Plank, although the tall leader
always had to prepare himself
against any world series which in
volved his team against the Giants.
Connie got the yells then. as the
lesser of two evils-to the fans at
large.
Messrs McGraw and McGilli-
cuddy, being persistent winners. be-
came greed and tyranny incarnate
to fans beyond the limits of New
York and Philadelphia. How the
tall tactician, as he once was called.
broke up his famous team is we'll
remembered. John McGraw always
insisted on waiting for some other
club to break up his great combi-
nations on the field Of battle. He
carried on his success after Mack
stepped down, and by just so much
increased his "unpopularity" in GEN.
tiers which considered him
menace" to the peace and we'll
being of the various local conten-
ders.
What a change few short years
can make. The season of 1928 finds
Mr.. McGillicuddy something of
grand old man" in his mid sixties,
making a gallant fight against the
Yankee octopus. He finds nation
of fans applauding his efforts. and
not few of these would be willing
to see even the Giants win and SO
revive the splendors of '05, il and
'13 when New York and Philadel-
phia met for the highest crown in
baseball.
Rain forced the maintenance of
the status quo i'll the National league
yesterday when all three scheduled
games were postponed. and stimuli
taneous victories by the Yankees and
the Athletics accomplished the same
result in the younger major circuit.
The chase remains stern for Connie
Mack and his veteran array even
though he has won nine straight. 16
out OF II and &c out of 80. Only
super-teams can move at that gait,
and the Yankees still dangle five and
one-half games beyond the Mackian
grasp.
BY all of the laws of averages. the
Athletics should soon falter against
some weak team when least expect
ed. BY the same laws, fortunes
should take an upward turn. But
baseball has a way of twisting up
all rules and regulations every now
and then.
The numbering Mackmen showed
some signs of tagging yesterday. but
pulled through to a s to 4 victory
over the Indians at Cleveland. How
ard Ehmke gained a six-run lead in
the second when the Mackmen as
saulted Willis Hudlin with vigor, but
the reformed Bostonian himself gave
up one marker in the home second
and three more in the seventh. Ed
die Rommel then was called on, and
gave the Indians only one hit in two
innings. Billy Bayne, the veteran
southpaw who relieved Hudlin with
none out In the second. allowed
Philadelphia only three safeties in
eight rounds.
more than game won as the Yank-
ees overcame the Browns by II to
/ in the series opener at st. Louis.
Young Henry johnson, whose chief
fault, even in victory, has been APP
parently incurable wildness. let Dan
Howleys boys down with seven scat
tered hits and only one base on balls.
Perhaps only johnson himself is
interested in the fact that his bat
ting average was lifted So points to
ESQ in one afternoon through the
handy medium of five assorted
singles in five times at bat This rep
resents almost a seasons work for
many pitchers and is almost unpre-
cedented in hitting feats by pitchers
Johnsons fine performance mark
ed the first gallant effort by the
Yankee second pitching string in
many weeks--the Shealy- Johnson
Campbell combination which looked
10 good while winning.
That other slugger. George Her
man Ruth, added his 42d home run
to the woes of Alvin CroWder in the
first inning at st. Louis. This puts
the Babe 20 games, 27 days and
eight home runs ahead of himself.
as measured by his record gait of
1927. Bob Meusel added his ninth
circuit blow with two on in the sixth
and Harold Wiltse in the box. Dick
Coffman tried his hand in between
CroWder and Wiltse. The defeat dip
ped the Browns below the 500 mark
ami left the Yankees and the Ath-
letics alone above that figure.
The White Sox ran their string
10 fix straight by downing the Red
Sox in Chlcag 90. TO .. and to 3. Ed
Walsh. Jr.. officiated in the second
clash and won his first home VIC
tory, The Tigers pounded the Sen
ators. 10 to !, in Detroit.