The Washington times., 1930-02-26
1880
RACE WILL
BE- LAST
By DAVIS J. WALSH

NEW 1OEb1S, rSO' SO'--AA MAC
Philadelphia Athletics win an
other pennant this year, it isn't
altogether improbable that
friends of Connie Mack will at.
tempt to persuade the man 20
retire from the active manage
inent of the bali club before the
years rise up and surround him
and make him surrender. In all
probability, the attempt won't
succeed. Connie Mack has lived
his life on the ball field. He
probably will end it there and
wouldn't have it otherwise.
Three score years have passed
into the beyond since this gal
lsnt old figure first saw the hgnt
of day and the inevitable ten soon
will be no more. He will be SO
before the impending season Is
completed. yet many a younger
man has looked years older thaa
Mack. He carries his age as ne
carries his head-erect and wit l.
out compromise.
However, the nerve strain
of baseball is a young mans
burden and, though the years
have dealt gently with Connie
Mack, it is violating no con-
fidence to say that he never
nuiIl ha V0lInR again,
!. His health, as a matter OF fact,
was the cause of grave concern
to his friends after the last world
series. The strain of winning his
first pennant in Is years had him
almost at the breaking ponit
when fate kindly intervened and
decided that the American League
race should end, to all practlcal
purposes, by mid-August.
It was well that this was so,
for the world series was q drama
that had everybody by the throat
before it was an hour old. Mack
must have died a thousand deaths
as he gambled that week, first
with Ehmke and later with Quinn.
finally to see his bold specula-
tions pay their profits with two
melodramatic rallies that won the
fourth and fifth games when all
seemed lost.
!. Then the inevitable. He col
lapsed under the stands on his
way to the dressing room after
the series and had to be assisted
to a couch. The man had bottled
up his emotions SO long that the
reaction tore him wide apart. He
has been taking life easy in the
meantime, but another race, with
all of it's emotional strain, is
coming and his friends, knowing
what this means to him, would
be more than glad to hear him
eaIl it his last. Mack is no Supine
philosopher who sits serene and
awaits his fate. A quiet, Seh-con-
tained man, his dignity merely
cloaks the seething emotions that
fight for utterance from within.
His very repression, in fact, ag-
gravates the effect.
iTy Cobb, sitting on the
bench while a younger man
occupied his place in right
field, was in a position to see
much of Mack during Ty's
last year with the club.
He saw Mack stiffen and grow
figid under the grip Of q big
moment; then relax and become
Apathetic, almost flaccid with the
reaction. He said this happened
to Mack not once but many times
during a season. AS a matter OF
fact. something of the sort has
been going on for years.
remember coming face to face
with Mack at the end Of a bali
game that had lost him q pen
nant through a base runners
mistake. BriS Lord had failed to
score from second with the tying
run on a single because he had
swung too wide around third
base. Mack naturally was stunned.
but even the cruelty Of this blow
hardly seemed to account for the
abrupt change in the man. / re-
member to this day how very old
and tired and sad he looked. and
that was almost 81 years ago.
So they are hoping he will win
again this year and, having
gained every honor within the
gift of the game, retire to life
that is less hectic and wearing.
But, of course, he won't. You
can't keep an eagle out of the air.