The Washington times., 1932-09-16


and final chapter by Frank G.
Menke In q series OF articles deal
tn0 Nth the tDorld series.
By FRANK G. MENKE
international News Service sports
EditOr)
NEW YORK, Sept. 16.-Brains
are supposed to make material
difference in the outcome OF
every world series.
Managerial brains.
But who can raise a thumb
and place it on the man who,
by strategy alone, and by a be-
wildering display OF generalsnlp
won q championship to which ne
was not entitled on the basis Of
merit and luck?
Who so devastatingly out
smarted who so that his name
can be written forever into the
halls Of fame?
In A. D. 1929 Connie Mack per
formed a "hot cha" surprise party
by chiseling the camphor cack-
ing off Howard Ehmke, oiling up
his joints and shooing him
against the Cubs. Howard re-
sponded by striking out the Cubs
with such monotonous regularity
that they never recovered from
the habit during the rest Of the
argument and were blotted out
aS contenders in five festivals.
Given Credit
Mack was given great credit
for being a regular $500 silver
fox, marked down from $995.
owing to business conditions.
Some folks will tell their grand
children that it was this bit OF
sleight of hand executed by Con-
ME which simply astounded the
Cubs right out of stride and they
never were the same thereafter.
Which may be true-and maybe
not. Connie had a powerful
squad that year, one which had
won the flag by a margin Of 18
games. and it had so much zipp
and zoom that even If Ehmke
had not worked and done his
chores so nobly, Grove and the
other gladiators, no doubt. would
have hinged the Chicagoans into
the discard.
In 1924 Stanley Harris, youth
full leader, was accorded glory
for winning the series by the
jolly process Of checkmating
every move made by the master
bean of John McGraw. But a
year later the same Stanley left
Walter johnson in the final and
deciding game for so long span
of time, even though Walter
seemed to have little except
clothes made wet by the drizZle
of rain, that the Senators tossed
off the duel in which they
started with a presumably un-
beatable four-run lead.
McGraw, and Mack, too, have
lost just as many games and as
many series by doing the wrong
bit Of experimenting at the criti-
cal time as they won by doing
the smart act. One year Miller
Higgins was yowled at as dub
because he made a bad gamble
and lost the game and the title
and the next year he was called
a brilliant intellectual person.
Derrick Players
Often it has been folly for
manager to derrick some player
for a pinch hitter and just as
frequently he has blundered by
doing so. The logical pitching
choice has been shelled from the
heights again and again, and the
Jasmine selection" has com e
prancing through with the enemy
scalp.
There are no consistent in
stances where managers brain.
mess made much difference, and
none where the heralded dub"
cast away his chances. If
pitcher has a good day, while
his mates are frisking out hits
with reckless abandon and re-
sounding precision, a manager is
no more vital than an appendix.
And, if is the other way, all
the brains that were under the
SkIILuI1CTS Vi GIlC NdChS, NCOIdW D
HarriSesons, JonSes, RobinsonS,
Huggines, Clarkes, Stallings, Car
rigans and the others of are of no
avail.
A managers brain can't think
a player into poking out safety
at timely moments, it cannot
thing pitcher into striking out an
enemy in a pinch and it cannot
control luck, good or bad.
Mind Like a Bat
The thinking department of a
manager is much like a bat; some
times it's good for hit and some
times it's merely a tanning i'm
plement. And no one ever can
determine positively whether Joe
DoakeS outjiggered Buzzsaw Ola
gan, or whether the final outcome
was due merely to the fact that
this team was in hitting and
pitching mood and the other
wasn't, or that the luck favored
the DoakeS gang a whole lot more
than it did O'Hagna'S.
Almost 80 years of world series
play has demonstrated that the
managers could go off on a Grouse
shooting trip prior to a series and
that their absence would not