The Waterbury Democrat., 1931-08-31
CROVELESS MACKS WOULD MAKE 1881
 SERIES EQUAL BET
Little to Choose Between C0ntenders With Ath- letics' Ace on Sidelines Statistical Contrast Follows
By HENRY McLEMORE Dvn.e, Cen 1cr

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 New York, Aug 31 - UP) - wouldn't there be swell lot of grabbing if Lefty was discarded) and there is little to choose be- tween the World Champion Phila- delphia Athletics and the St Louis Cardinals, the teams that are go- ing to meet in the 1891 worlds series.
 At least that's the impression we gained from an exhausting study of the latest batch of official fig ures. The club batting average of the Athletics Is .2S9, just four points better than the collective thumbing mark of the Cardinals. You can forget those four points, however, for the National league ball, according to all ranking a1cheologists, is much deader than tf1e sphere used in the American league.
 Fielding Practically Even.
 There Is even less difference in club fielding, where the As have percentage of .976 as against .974 for the boys from St Louis. The Cards, however, have had IuOIo oppOI lO t1iC champions, having accepted 4,8O0 chances to some 4,40O for the Athletics.
 Plenty Good Stickers.
 Continuing our investigation among the batting records we found that both clubs possess five 300 or better hitters. Simmons, with a mark of 1885, tops the Philadelphia sluggers. Cochrane, Haas, Bishop and Cramer are the other As hitting above what used to be the charmed circle.
 Bottomley, once more in form,' heads the St Louis hitting parade with an average of 1888, Hafey. Roettger, Frisch and Collins are the other 300 thumpers.
 Homers Favor Mackmen.
 If the series is decided by home runs the Athletics are likely to be the boys who do the deciding, for they have blasted an even 100 homers while the Cards have ac- counted for but 52 round trips. The Cards, however, have made the most hits of all sorts, 2S0 to 262, and have pounded 62 doubles, ten more than the As.
 Cards Arc Faster.
 The National leaguers have 1t all over the champions in the matter of base stealing, having pilfered SS bases to 19 for the slow-footed Mackmen. It should be remem- bered, however, that the one and only Mickey Cochrane will be be- hind the plate for the As. and stealing bases against Mister Co., chrane Is something else again.
 Moses Is First.
 We have now progressed by easy stages to the pitching end of the business. Here Grove stands out like Huckleberry in a bowl Of cream. The mighty southpaw has won 26 games and lost only three for the stupendous average of .896. What is more Grove is par ticularly effective in a short series for he can pitch a full game every other day and do relief work on his day off.
 Backing up Grove are Rube Wal berg, Earnshaw and Ray Mahaffey. all of whom have won 15 or more games.
 The veteran Jess Haines, with II won and three lost, tops the St Louis pitchers. The youngsters Paul Derringer has won 15 games but has lost six. Burleigh Grimes and Bill Hallahan are the other members of the St Louis big four and you can't laugh them off. Hal lahan whipped the As last year and 1t took all the Philadelphians had to whip Grimes in his two starts.