The Waterbury Democrat., 1933-09-27

Tables are prepared wnlch are meant to sum up strength by rea- son of statistics and to arrive at the winner that way.
 But that is Q system which fre- quentiy has failed. The reason. as have found 1t in my own years of pitching, is that figures do not tell enough about men--and cer. tainly do not always furnish a de- pendable forecast for short series.
 Who could have predicted what a star Pepper Martin was to pc for the Cardinals two years ago when he almost single handedly upset the Athletics, a team Of steady. hard-piaying men? Who could have know in ad- vance that Babe Ruth greatest hit ter of them all, would be such a setup for pitchers in one of the Yankees Giants series more than 10 years ago?
 That Series of 1924 Who expected, back in the world series of 1924, that John McGraw would be, outwitted in the last game of the series by young Bucky Harris? Yet 1t was Harris maneu. vering of pitchers that caused Me- Graw to switch Long George Kelly for Bill Terry at first base. q move that finally brought disaster to the | Giants.
 After Kelly was safely in the l lineup, Harris sent me to the box because Bucky thought was a pitcher that George could not hit. Harris Judgment was Tndicated. Twice Kelly struck out with men | on bases.
 Terry, by the way, whose pres- ence In the Giants lineup might have changed the outsconie of that game and the oeries. is the only man on the Giants team who has been hitting above 300.
 Hitting That Counts I was surprised, looking over the averages the other day, to see that the nearest man to Terry in hitting was Moore, with .292, and that O'Doul and Ott, fine hitters had slumped to figures wei below that. Tho hitting as q whole, how ever, has been timely. and 1t is that sort of batting that counts in Q series where the pitching is apt to be alright.
 Several of the Giants. notably Travis Jackson, who is taking the place of the appedicitis victim. vorgcz, at third base, are great money ball players. They are at their best when the stakes are high. These are the men to be feared in . world series, and an attempt to gauge their perform ances on the basis of averages is not likely to succeed. Bluege, third baseman of the Nationals, is that kind of player, too---he hits when there's q run to be driven in. .
 Taking the batting and fielding averages of tho two clubs this year as 6 whole, 1t would seem that Washington could not miss trim ming the Giants. The Nationals lead the American League in both hitting and fielding, while the Giants are batting about fifth and fielding in about the same position as club.
 Pitching May Be Answer
 When team without a great of- fense and with only a fair defense l WlnS u DcHUuuLs tat hHbWeT dshuiS iy is reflected In the pitching staff. That is what has done the trick for Terry's club.
 Carl Hubbell and Fred F'itzsim- mons consistently have given splen did performances in the box. Two of tho young pitchers came through with some fine work - Parmelee and Schumacher. Man. ager Terry consistently has stuck to his starting pitchers in their turns, and Luque has done some great relief jobs.
 The two teams. on the occasion have seen them during the sea- son, looked like fine fighting out fits. The Giants made up in aggres siveness much of what they lacked in technical offensive power. The Nationals, when they played us at Cleveland in midsummer. did everything right, and seemed un. beatable. How they will fare against q staff such as the Giants is another question.
 Pitching staffs are going to play a very important part in this ser ies. and more must be said about that.
 Copyright 1sss.. NEA Service. Inc)