New Britain herald., 1930-09-25
No. 1O-Starting Over Again

No. 1U-Stdrt1nS ONcF ASaln
 To almost everyone, apparently, except Connie Mack, there always has seemed something darkly mys- terious about the drastic smash-up of the club that captured four pen nants and three world chAhpion- ships
 After the 1914 season and the teams debacle in the world series with the Braves, Mack suddenly asked waivers on his three pitching besides subsequently, selling Collins, Baker, Barry and other stars.
 Many years later, Mack told me he did this, not because the team had become so monotonously good as to lose it's drawing power; not because of any suspicion of crook edness or gambling, such as was gossiped about, but solely because Of the fresh upheaval in organized baseball caused by the launching of the outlaw Federal league and in order to help save the game" When the famous Black Sox' scandal of 1919 revived rumors about the 1914 series, Mack declared him. self plainly:
 T almost wish that team never had been broken up. Every time a gambling scandal, league of nations or poor wheat crop is mentioned, sure enough they asked me whether that was not the reason I broke up the 1914 team.
 Gambling had nothing to do with it. Surely the fact that Eddie Col lns and Eddie Murphy acted the way they did through tAe White Sox expose shows what kind of men had on my club.
 If it hadn't been for the Federal league. that team of mine would have been winning pennants for years after it did, barring the de- teriorizatiop of age and love forslife on the farm.
 Look back at the facts in 1914 and you will find the explanation of our decline easily enough. The team that year clinched the pennant in early summer. Then later the boys began to hear and think about the heaps of money other stars were get ting to jump to the new Federal | league, backed by wealthy men all over the country. They thought they were entitled to it. The result was our morale soon went to smash.
 The Red Sox came along to wor- ry us, won eight out of nine from us in September. When the world series arrived, as you know, we drop ped four straight to the Braves. Bos- 1 tons pitchers (James, Tyler and Rudolph simply pitched us under the table. We never had chance.
 T promised my players if they would not jump to the Federal league I would do my best to get them jobs with orginazed baseball that would give them something like what they thought they were worth. They were loyal, but I knew I could not ask or persuade them to stick"
 In breaking up his club, Mack sold Eddie Collins to the Chicago White Sox for record price of s5O,- 900. Jack Lapp and Eddie Murphy | outfielders, went along in the same deal for s6,000. Frank Baker re- tired to his farm in 1915 but was reinstated and sold to the New York | ,S35,00O. Barry and Pennock were sold to Boston.
 Bender and Plank were uncondi- tionally released after waivers had been asked on them. Coombs, who had suffered a back injury. was let go later and subsequently, joined Brooklyn in the National league. Three years later the last traces | of the 1914 champions were re- moved when McInnis. Strunk. Bush and Schang were released to Boston in deals involving about s75,OO0.
 Altogether, Mack obtained around S20O,000 for a dozen stars of the first magnitude. Fifteen years later, one player, Rogers Hornsby, was worth that much to the Chicago Cubs when they bought him in 1929 from the Boston Braves.
 Mack became reminiscent one day on the subject of the decline and fall of championship ball clubs. The old Baltimore Orioles. champions in the 9o's. he recalled, went to pieces be- cause most all of that famous team | came to believe they knew as much as Manager Hanlon and that they had made him." Connie continued
 They also seemed to think that they were ready for managerial po- sitions. As it happened, some of