Cards Have Great Chance To Climb While at Home
Invalids Are Recovering
Club Was Practically Wrecked by Misfortunes While on the Road, but Improvement of Injured Now Puts the Club in Its Best Fighting Shape.
August 17, 1914 Age 23
By W. J. O’Connor. St Louis Post Dispatch
STILL a subdued pennant factor, the Cardinals who won eight and lost 12 games on what might be termed a disastrous trip, are home today to defend the Britton fortification on Natural Bridge road in a siege of 17 games. They play all the Eastern clubs and Pittsburg before they entrain for their final Eastern invasion, Sept. 5.
A protracted winning streak such as the Cardinals experienced just before they started on their last junket, might land the proteges of Miller Huggins ahead of Boston and New York. On the other hand even the briefest losing streak is sure to tumble the local entry into second division, so close is the National League race.
To be absolutely precise, the race in the National League this season is the keenest in its history. The gap which yawns between the Athletics and Red Sox, first and second teams in the American League, is almost as great as that which separates the first and last teams in the National League, Cincinnati, now the N. L. tail-ender, has as much chance of beating out the Giants, as the Red Sox have of overcoming the lead of the Mackmen. Some race!
Fans who were unable to witness the 12 defeats suffered by the Cardinals on their excursion into the hostile territory may be interested in knowing what caused the sudden change in the Cardinal club’s good habits. The alibi is easily written:
First Scorched, Then Frapped.
When the Cards left St. Louis July 23, they jumped to Philadelphia, where they found a sudden change In temperature, a drop from 100 degrees here to 56 in Quakerland. They also found in Philadelphia a delectable dish of little neck clams which ptomained Harry Sallee, Bill Doak and Chief Wilson.
Immediately thereafter Zinn Beck developed a charley horse, while Ivey Wingo returned home with a lame leg. The club entered Boston without the services of Winn, Beck, Sallee, Doak, and, at times, Huggins, as the manager’s rheumatic shoulder developed piercing pains in the cold weather. On two days in Boston it was raw and rainy, but the wise Mr. Stalling insisted upon playing as he (Stallings) was “Jerry” to the general disability of the Cardinal stars. One particularly cold session on the diamond put the finishing touches to Sallee and Doak and rendered Hug almost useless. Chief Wilson then lost his batting eye and while in the midst of adversity Jack Miller, too, misplaced his hitting orbs.
So the club went out and lost four games in a row, two in the ninth and one in the tenth inning. At the time Boston was considered lucky. Later developments made persons who held this opinion reconsider their vote, and the Braves are now deemed a pennant factor. But be it said that the Cardinals gave the Braves a harder fight than any club that has met the Boston enemy since Stallings rejuvenated his team.
Here’s another important fact: In 20 games on the road the Cardinals played only three bad ones, and they won one of them. They beat the Giants 3-2, in a five-inning battle in which the enemy played the better ball. They lost a poorly played game in Pittsburg and another in Brooklyn. In all their other outs, whether or not victorious, the Cardinals played bang-up baseball, presenting an especially tight defense, in spite of the rearranged lineups from day to day.
Huggins Considers He Has a Real Pennant Club Now in the Making
THE fans might ask what is the condition of the team today? The answer is, “good.” Wilson has begun to hit. So has Miller. Sallee, Doak, Perdue, Perritt and Griner are dispensing the best article of ball in the parent body. The switch of Lee Magee to first has bolstered up a wabbly infield, while Cruise should prove a hit-maker in center field. Wingo expects to get back in harness here, and starting against Philadelphia today, the Cardinals should present a much stronger front than they were able to muster on the road.
Hug’s team still has a chance for the pennant. The Cards are only five full games behind the Giants, but this really would be a bad year for the local club to cop. The club has not made and cannot yet make enough money to compensate for the acquisition of a flag. And, after all, baseball is mostly a commercial proposition.
Furthermore, if the Cardinals did win the pennant, Manager Huggins would be unable to present a team in a world’s series which would be able to successfully cope with Mack’s great machine. And it is the earnest desire of every St. Louis fan to win the world’s championship the same year the pennant is appropriated.
Hug Has the “Makings”
It is a fact, though, that Huggins has a championship team in the making. He has the greatest catching staff in either league, because we reckon Jack Roche, the Calgary Wildcat, as an asset almost as valuable as Snyder and Wingo, the two brightest young stars in baseball today. The Cards have five great pitchers in Doak, Perritt, Sallee, Perdue and Griner – five men now seasoned and mostly young. He has another rattling good prospect in Hank Robinson, at present disabled, and Dick Niehaus, a coming southpaw.
Miller, Wilson, Magee, Beck, Dolan and Huggins have the championship spark, leaving only a shortstop and outfielder to be filled into a sure pennant winner. Cruise may come through next year, but just now Messrs. Cruise and Riggert lack the experience and punch to be classed with a pennant winner, although it is hoped they will develop by next season. Hug has a winner on the way. He has too many pitchers and catchers to fail.
Cards Have 23 More Games at Home; 24 to Be Played Abroad
FORTY-SEVEN more games will be played by the Cardinals this season. The Giants have 53 unplayed contests. If New York wins 27 of these, or one better than .500 per cent, the Cardinals will be obliged to bag 28 of their remaining games, a pace of .600, to tie for the pennant.
Of the unplayed games on the Cardinal schedule, 23 are to be decided at home as follows: Philadelphia 3, New York 3, Brooklyn 3. Boston 4, Chicago 6 and Pittsburg 4.
The games abroad are as follows: Cincinnati 8, Pittsburg 4, New York 3, Brooklyn 3, Boston 3, and Philadelphia 3.
If Cincinnati remains in eighth place, the Cardinals might own an advantage in having eight games still to decide with the Reds.