The Washington times., 1930-06-18
PR|MA DONNA
ATTITUDE
.H|TSA'S
By DAVIS J. WALSH


the matter comes under the head
of fact or fiction, the writer
desires to state today that
he has heard many vague and
disuuieting rumors In connection
with the recent progress OF the
world champion Athletics through
the Middle West. I said prog
ress; meant mastery inertia
The club won five games IN the
west; it lost eight. OF the last
ten played, seven were kicked
resolutely away.
might blame the fact that Sim
mons has been much out Of the
lineup or that the pitchers could
MT seem to get the side out.
have it on reliable authority that
the latter is very important. Any
how, it is alleged to represent only
the effect, not the cause.
It Is an answer, in other
words, but 1t isn't supposed to
be the right one. They say
what is officially the best ball
club in the world isn't able
to win during the quasi-Critical
period preceding July be
cause It is the victim Of dis
cord within the ranks.
The Athletics, they say, have
gone prima donna. After many
years together, they are said to
have decided that they don't
care for each other in big, fine
way. Thus, the hydra-headed
monster, known as gossip. has
seized upon this ball club and is
picking it's bones clean Of every
rnorsel that might contribute to
the feast all Of us are inclined
to enjoy at the other, fellows ex'
penSe.
How much of 1t represents
truth or falsity, nobody can say,
l. if is false, the management
will lose no time in denying 1t
very Indignantly. If it is true,
the aftermath will be much the
same. The management will lose
no time in denying it very 1ndig
nantly.
Anyhow, the story is that
the players have been snarl-
ing at each other both on
the field and in the dressing
room and that this was par
ticularly evident in the re-
cent series in Cleveland, dur
ing which the champions
temporarily lost their hold
on first place.
They blew three straight games
there and I would be disposed
to regard the reports as mere
heresay, generated by the indubit
able fact that when winning
ball club doesn't win something
must be wrong, If the reports
weren't colored by illusions to
a dead horse"
The latter, it seems, isn't a
problem for thems. P. c. A. It
Is a term Of opprobrium, I gather
for a ball player who doesn't
feel the urge, a man who has de.
cided that the making Of an ef'
fort on the ball field is evidence
of low breeding or something
In any case, the supposition is
that when a ball club finds it.
self with dead horse" on its
hands, it pitches right in and
helps him to do as little as pos
Sible.
Possibly even the dead
horse" is so much imagina-
tion, for it doesn't seem to
be in character for Connie
Mack to allow a few punk
kids to talk the pennant away
from him with their idle
prattle.
Besides, I note the names OF
McNair, William and Cramer,
first-year men, in the box scores
They are much too young to be
able to snarl successfully right
away and, by the time they have
become veteran snarlers, the pen
nant ought to be won, judging by
the way some of them are hit.
ting. Still, there must be some
vital reason for the recent fail
ure of a club to which the pen
nant was conceded by everybody
Maybe that is the trouble. The
Athletics may have decided thai
everybody was absolutely right
The best way to lose something
is to accept it before you get it.