Evening star., 1937-06-25

Connie Mack's Athletics Of 1918 were
the greatest ball club of all time, with
the Cubs of 1907 close runners-up.
Those were two clubs I never saw.
The greatest that these glazed eyes
have encountered. within the last 20
years, were the Yankees of 1927 and
the aforesaid White, or Black Sox of
1919. will stick to that tune, though
I admit that there Is ample space for
argument.
A Club In Full Bloom.
THE White Sox of 1919 were ball
= club in full bloom, ripe, mature,
fast and strong. They had no weak
ness, technically OF course, their
club batting average does not come
close to measuring up with the Yankee
average Of 1927, but you must re-
member that the Sox played in the
twilight Of the dead ball era. when the
fellow who got one base per hit was
. pretty valuable sort of guy. The
6ox were tailored to their period It
was a period of powerful pitching per-
fornlanee and drumlike tightness
afleld, and the Sox had all Of that.
And they could hit, too.
In his heyday, Connie Mack had
q famous infleld-the 100000 outfit,
with McInnis, Collins, Barry and
Baker voting the stock. The Chicago
infleld OF 1919 was Gandil at first, Col
ltns (the same Collins, and still going
strong). at second. Risberg at short
stop, and Buck Weaver at third. I
think 1t was Just as good as Mack's, II
not better
Chick 0andil Was not a very lovable
character, but he could play ball. So
could Risberg. And Weaver, for your
correspondence scattered shillines.
was the greatest third baseman OF all
time.
Jackson Master at Bat.
A LSO. by the way. his guilt in the
phoney world series never was
adequately proven. But they threw
him out of base ball just the same.
The Sox had an immortal catcher
tn Ray Schalk and strong outfeld
with Joe jackson, Hap Felsch and
Harry Leibold patrolling the pasture
jackson was one of the great natural
hltters OF history, 8 fellow who would
have committed all varieties of may
hem upon the jack-rabbit ball of the
l920s if he'd stayed in the game. AS
1t was, Shoeless Joseph knocked the
dead pill around with great vigor
and was constantly swapping at the
flanks Of Tyrus Cobb In the batting
averages.
The records show that Joe lust
couldn't help hitting, even when the
gamblers were paying him . substan-
tial fee to refrain. He must have
given the mob many an uneasy mo-
ment up there at that plate, against
Cincinnati, after the fix was in.
Though perjured, he was the leading
hitter of the series on both sides,
with an average Of .375. His was the
only home run OF the classic.
Had Three Fine Pitchers.
FOR pitching, the sox had three
fine artists, Eddie Cicotte, Lefty
Williams and Dick Kerr. The great
est Of these was Ccotte, I think.
though Kerr, With two gallant world
series victories In the teeth of the
fixeroo became more celebrated. Ci-
eotte had all the natural stuff in the
world.
He could have stood on his head
and beaten the Reds, as he demon
strated In his lone shooting match"
performance OF that series, In the
seventh game. when he came back
to beat Sallee. 4 to l, after going
twice to the tank.
1t was very handy ball club, all
tn all. 1t had fine manager in Kid
Gleason, who might have gone on to
rank with Mack and McGraw il his
material had not been shot from
under him. 1t was not the kids
fault that the boys took Rothstein
money. 1t WAS the fault OF the front
office, as much as any one else, with
its birdshot pay roll and oppressive
tactics.
Well, the old Cubs and Athletics
were great ball clubs, too. And the
Yankees of l927-Gehrig, Lazzeri,
Koenig, Dugan, Ruth, Meusel, Combs,
Bengough, burst, Hoyt, Pennock, Pip
gras and Moore. That club, like the
Black Sox, was tailored to its period
tho siege guns to shoot that rabbit ball
at the fences and the cute sort of
pitching It took to control the same
rabbit when the other side was up.
Paying Tribute to Memory.
ITS hard to say whether the Yanks
could have whipped the Black Sox
IN a sequence of games on the world
series pattern. Pitching is of mighty
importance in short series, and the
Yanks' advantage in power might
have been offset by Cicotte and Will
liams. But it is useless to speculate
about that, because the Sox, if they'd
been contemporaneous with the YAM
KEGS, might have had different sort
OF club, geared to the times and sac
flflcing defensive strength somewhat
IN the interest of hitting.
I would need the help of Clarence
Darrow and Sam Leibowitz together.
working tn shifts, to prove my case for
the White Sox as the great ball club of
all time. The fellow who writes in to
vote for the old Cubs or the old Macks
can put up just as good an argument.
What am doing, gues, is paying
, tribute to memory. And besides,
the Sox always have had more than
their share of kicking around and lace