Evening star., 1939-08-08
Roush Only Big Star
With Cincinnati in
19Upset Victory
Fine Defensive InfieId
Backed Hurting Corps
Short of Greatness
BY GRANTLAND RICE,
Bpecial Correspondent of The Star

BY GRANTLAND RICE,
Special Correspondent of The Star.
NEW YORK, Aug. 8 N.AN.A).-
Twenty years have rolled by since
the Reds first-and last-won a pen
nant and it is likely that in the
rush of admiration for Bill Nc
Kechnie's men even the Cincinnati
fans have half-forgotten the heroes
Of 1919. But there were some pretty
good ball players on that team, too,
and they had a great manager in
Pat Moran.
Pat was red-faced, gray-haired,
blue-eyed Irishman from Fitchburg
Mass, who had been a fair catcher
before he became the manager of
the Phillies. He won the pennant
In Philadelphia in his first year
and might have won some more
pennants there, but they sold the
team out from under him and he
moved on to Cincinnati and that
1919 team was the first one he man
aged on the banks of the Rhine.
Nobody figured Pat was going
to win that year. The Giants were
supposed to have the best team in
the league. They had had the best
team in 1917 and all the teams
had been weakened by the war in
1918 and the Giants, with their full
strength restored, were picked to
win in 1919.
Infield Was Hindenburg Line.
But Pat had made a couple of
deals that turned out all right and
he fired his players with his own
terrific enthusiasm and sent them
In pursuit of the Giants, who had
started with bang, just as though
they were going to win the pennant
as nearly everybody had predicted.
The Reds caught up with them
and passed them in three-game
series played Cincinnati the first
three days of August and the Giants
never were in front again.
Nobody ever seems to remember
any more the infield on that team
j
with the top-flight inflelds of all
time. but for that one year it was
a hard one to beat. Jack Daubert,
who first had become famous in
Brooklyn, was on first base, with
Morris Rath on second, Larry Kopf
brother of Herb Kopf, the Man
haitian football coach, by the way
at short, and Heinie Groh on third.
The war was fresh in everybody's
mind then and somebody, impressed
by the great defense erected behind
the Cincinnati pitchers, called this
infield the Hindeburg Line and the
name stuck.
Roush Star Of Outfield.
The outfield star was, of course,
Eddie Roush, one of the greatest
outflelders that ever lived. Roush
had come to the Giants from the
Federal League, but McGraw, not
realizing in time what ball player
he was, sent him to Cincinnati along
with Christy Mathewson and Bill
McKechnie for Buck Herzog in 1916.
He probably was the most popular
player that ever wore Cincinnati
uniform. Even after he came back
to the Giants, he was hero to the
fans in Cincinanti-which constitu-
ted the main test of his popularity
because In those days Cincinnati
fans nursed savage hatred for the
Giants.
There were no great pitchers on
the club, but there we're a couple,
who didn't miss greatness by much.
One was Jimmy Ring and the other
was Slim Sallee. Ring was young
fellow who had been with the
Yankees briefly, but hadn't at that
time been quite ready for the ma iors,
but he was real major league
pitcher with the Reds.
keuther Big Help on Hill.
Sallee was growing old and was
past his prime, but he was one of the
smartest pitchers that ever walked
out to box. He was a tall, lean
southpaw.
OF the other pitchers on that club,
one had brilliant year, but didn't
stay in the front rank when the
leagues legislated against freak de-
liveries a year or so later. That
was Mod Eller, whose shine ball
produced by rubbing paraffin into
the cover-had even the batters
ducking.
And there was young left
handler who won a lot of ball games
that year and won many more in the
year that followed-there and with
the Dodgers, the Nationals and the
Yankees. That was Dutch Reuther,
who learned about pitching from Pat
Moran