New Britain herald., 1930-09-26
NO. 11-TRYING TIMES

| the Athletics followed the breakup of this famous 1910-14 champions.
 They took heavy toll in money and prestige. The Philadelphia club, stripped of it's stars, dropped from the top in 1914 to the bottom of the American league in 1915 for the first time in it's history of 5 years under Mack's management.
 It not only sank to the depths, once a name to strike apprehension among opponents, became the joke of the league. The team occupied the cellar for seven successive years and remained in the second division for ten seasons. It looked as though Mack, with the advancing years and keener competition for promising young stars, had lost the masters touch.
 It was a period filled with bitter ness and disappointment for the veteran, He was able to take q brighter view of it's, after he had at last driven another team to the top in 1929. Looking backward he told me:
 T made a mistake in under-esti- mating the ability of the game to come back after the war. I was caught mapping. As consequence it took us longer than I expected to develop another winning club.
 The three main reasons for the of fortunes of the Athletics were:
 First, the Federal league and the upheaval it caused in organized baseball's ranks, forcing me to break up a championship team.
 Second, the world war, taking so many of the best players and retard- ing the production of younger ones for several years.
 Third, the reconstruction and readjustment period immediately following the war, when boom days In industry kept many young play CTS from sticking to the sport
 Meanwhile, new interests en- tered baseball. The Yankees, under the ownership of Colonel Jacob Rup- pert and the able management of Miller Higgins, produced a marvel ous combination that dominated the American league, winning six pen nants in eight years. McGraw formed another wonderful club and won four National league pennants in a row.
 Babe Ruth helped to revolution lze long distance hitting, setting an example that the younger players quickly began to follow. Rogers Hornsby created new batting rec ords in the National league.
 As I say, I was a little behind this parade. In 1925. however, the Athletics were strong contenders, leading the league until the middle Of August. 1nexperience and a succession of injuries cost us the pennant that year. when Washing ton won, but I felt then it was a question of a short time only be- fore we would win"
 When Mack first undertook the task of rebuilding virtually an en- tire new team in 1915 and for the succeeding few years he felt con- Vlnced he could develop raw mate r!al once more. He said at the time:
 T made up my mind to build rom the ground up. I seldom go after minor league star, not be- cause of the ridiculous price asked TOT his release but because I find ne is harder to develop to my style of play than the inexperienced youth.
 T have tried my hand at han ding these high priced minor league stars and find that they are too set in their ways and inyariablv cannot be broken of faults which l will not tolerate in a ball player Nobody knows better than I that the fans will not patronize a los ing ball team. I don't ask them. All want is fair chance. I prom lsed powerful team in 1917 and I will have it.
 The As of 1917 were last and so were thoAe of the next four years. Mack not only found his theories of development shot to pieces by the changes in the times and in player conditions, but he finally was forced to enter the bidding for highly-touted minor leaguers.
 Before he turned out another win ner, Mack and his partners. the Shibes, spent more than a half mil lion dollars for talent.
 They reached the climax when S106500 was paid to Jack Dunn of Baltimore for Robert Moses Grove, the southpaw pitching star. in 1924.
 As it turned out, this investment paid big dividends. After a wild season or two, Grove struck his stride and established himself as one of the greatest left handers of all time, the equal if not the supe-