The Waterbury Democrat., 1938-10-10
CHICAGO CUBS
BEAT SELVES IN
WORLD SERIES
Errors, Bad Judgment and
MispIays Gave Yankees
A Games in 5 Days
By GEoRGE KIRKsEY

BY GEORGE KTRKSEY
UNITED Press star Corresponding
New York, Oct. 10--(UP)-4T
story Of the 1898 world series is that
the Chicago Cubs beat themselves.
The Japanese have a word for it.
hara kiri.
You can talk all you want to
about the prowess Of the mighty
Yankees but when you get through
you have to admit that the National
league champions committed suicide.
It may be sacrilegious to doubt the
potency Of the triple worlds cham
pions but the facts speak loud and
insistent. Cubs mistakes proved the
vital factor In every one Of the four
games.
Here's how the Cubs dug their
own grave game by game:
First game-Phil Cavarrettas ILL
advised throw to third base trying
TO head of Gehrig on Bill Dickey's
single In the second inning, which
permitted Dickey TO take second.
with runners on third and second,
the Cub infield was drawn In and
Billy Herman booted an easy roller.
When the inning was over the
Yanks had two runs, In which one
mental and one mechanical error
were the important factors. The
Yanks' third run resulted from
high pop fly hit by Dickey in which
Demaree. playing badly out Of posi-
ton In view Of the fact that a stih
wind was at his back, was unable to
reach. Score 81, and every Yankee
run aided by Cub mistakes.
JuggIes Deluxe
Second game-The details are
horrible In this game. Shortstop
urges and Third Baseman Hack
collided in going after a dribbling
grounder hit by Gordon which went
for q double, and permitted two
runs to score. Left Fielder Reynolds
added more grief by lingering In his
position and not backing up the
play. without those two runs, the
Yanks would have gone into the
eighth trailing, 80, and Crosettis
homer with one on wouldn't have
put the crusher on Dean. Dizzy
would have had one run to spare
and Hartnett could have rescued
him.
Third game - Going into the
Yanks' fifth with q 10 lead, Clay
Bryant had held the Rupert Rifles
hitless. With two out Gordon hit
long fly to left, and to the amaze
ment OF everyone in the stands Rey-
nolds came charging In for the ball.
When he finally saw II, 1t was too
late and II barely fell into the stands
for a homer. Spectators who were
sitting In the left field boxes say the
ball landed In the stands by only a
few feet and that Reynolds might
have caught II. In the fourth game
Demaree caught almost the same
kind Of o fly hit by Gordon, with
his back against the stands. Even
II Reynolds hadn't caught the ball
O try for II might have saved Bryant
much mental anguish and prevented
the youngster from blowing sky
high.
Fourth game - Three unearned
runs In the second inning wrecked
Bill Lee. with two out, Hoag hit an
ordinary grounder to urges who
flelded the ball and then threw wild
to first. Hoag was safe on @ play
which should have been the thiro
out. Gordon and Running followed
with singles and Crosetti banged
triple, with three runs pouring In.
Even Crosettis triple might have
been handled by more adept field
ing. Later In the game Demaree
made much more difiicult catch
on Gordon's long fly. With the Cubs
still In the game, trailing by only
one run, As, Tex Carleton un-
corked o wild pitch which allowed
q runner to score from third. Then
Crosetti hit q puny pop fly to left
and the slow Demaree couldn't get
up In time and It went for q cheap
double. Two more runs.
On Their Toes
As the series was played the
Yanks deserved to win. They out
classed the Cubs, were surer and
smarter on defense, took advantage
Of every break and played heads up
baseball. But the fact remains that
the Cubs beat themselves.
More than one American Lacquer
expressed the opinion that the
Yanks did not play UP to their
championship form Of the regular
season, which is justSas well for
the Cubs. Bucky Harris. Washing
ton pilot, believes the Cubs would
have been easy marks for the five
top American league clubs the way
they played in the world series.
Even my club could have scored
as many runs as the Yanks did the
way the Cubs were playing" said
Harris.
Toby Lazzeri, an old Yankee him
self who was enrolled on the side
Of the Cubs, told the story In a nut
shell when he said after 1t was all
over: I'VE gave them four games