- Rival Clubs Overlook Fine Chance to Trim the Giants
- Team’s Work Listless
- McGraw Handles His Men From the Bench While They Pull a Prime Brand of Bone Baseball – Outfit With a Punch Could Cinch Flag.
- Record Now 9-3 With 1.89 ERA
July 9, 1914 Age 23 (Mathewson Age 32)
W. J. O’Connor St Louis Post Dispatch
JOHN McGRAW is an actor because he was in vaudeville a year ago and collected $1500 every Sunday evening for 16 consecutive Sundays. Quite naturally John J. aspires to be a great actor. So it’s only reasonable that he would steal some big guy’s stuff.
Just now John J. has assumed that pathetically interesting attitude which reminds us of David Warfield in the “Music Master,” wherein Dave croaked: “If yon don’t vant her, I vill take her,” or words to that effect.
That was a good line and it helped to make Warfield famous. McGraw, too, would like to see his name in incandescents. But Warfield spoke of a girl and McGraw refers directly to “Arabella Cinch,” the National League pennant.
If the grand old rag is going to go begging around the National League circuit this season, McGraw will take the little orphan in, but he’s going to do so only after a struggle.
The Giants are trying desperately to avoid another championship clash. They are playing the best brand of bone baseball in the League; but try as they may it does seem that the flag will be draped over their manly shoulders next October, for as one New York player remarked after Wednesday’s game: “If we don’t win it, WHO CAN?”
The League Lacks a Punch.
There’s food for thought. Who can win the pennant if the Giants decline? One might suggest the Cubs, but the thought of Hank O’Day’s toothless old spays winning anything but an argument from Bill Klem, is ludicrous. If there were a society for the “prevention of cruelty to the aged and infirm” they would rule off about five of O’Day’s birds and give Young America a chance. However, the Cubs, crutches and all, are up there, only three and one-half games behind the leaders, while the Cards, with a dash of youth, vim, vigor and inexperience are tagging along in third place, six games behind the leaders.
John McGraw didn’t go to the coaching line once during Wednesday’s game. He manifested little concern as far as the spectators could see. and his helpers went out and kicked another game into the discard making two straight defeats on the important Western swing.
However, the Giants still are far enough ahead to rest on their oars, especially in view of the fact that Larry Cheney and the Cubs were spanked by the Boston Braves, who are last.
Doak Deserved Shutout
It is the truth, though, that the Giants seldom play good ball in St. Louis. This probably is their “bad town.” They play a loose game and had the Cards not been seized by stage fright in the third frame Wednesday, Willie Doak would have shut out the champions. Let there be no reflection cast upon Doak’s work because of the reference to New York’s bad baseball. Doak pitched masterful ball; but his mates made enough errors to let the Giants win and the Giants didn’t win because they lacked a punch.
After Dolan made a TWO-BASE MUFF of Matty’s liner in the third inning, Bescher followed with a fly to Wilson. Then BECK BOOTED BURNS’ GROUNDER into Fairground Park. That put Matty on third. Fletcher singled through a close infield and Matty scored while Burns made third on MAGEE’ S POOR PEG. Robertson hit to Doak and Burns was trapped and out, Fletcher stopping at second. Merkle singled to right and when WILSON FUMBLED Fletcher and Robertson scored. Doyle walked, but Stock forced Merkle at third, Doak to Beck.
Had the Giants adopted C. Lincoln Herzog’s tactics of “choking a guy to death” they might have whipped home a lot of runs in this inning. BUT McGRAW SAT ON THE BENCH.
He can afford to do that, because as one of his players remarked: “If we don’t win the pennant, who CAN?”
Giants Assay More Ivory Per Ounce Than Cards, So Doak Beats Big Six
THEY’LL call it a ball game and into the official records it will go as such, but don’t let anybody tell you it was a creditable performance for pennant contenders. Indeed it is almost a recognized fact that the better the teams the poorer games they play. Last fall the Browns and Cardinals, playing for the tail-end championship of Christendom, put up far better exhibitions of baseball than the Giants and Athletics, monarchs of the world. The only difference was that a grand stand seat here cost six bits, while the tariff in New York was two bucks. Remember what P. T. Barnum said.
Anyhow, the Cardinals chloroformed the Giants, 4-3, Wednesday in the first of a four-game series, knocking Matty silly in the eighth inning. Doak out-pitched Mathewson, five hits to eight. Two of the safe slams off Old Ironsides were triples, while two were doubles, making a grand total of 14 bases. Matty issued two walks against Doak’s five, while each pitcher cut loose with a wild heave. The Giants made four errors of commission, while the Cards committed three. The mental miscues (i.e., boners) were numerous.
But as ball games go, it was interesting. The home club came through with a rally in the eighth and “old” Ivey Wingo knocked the pins out from under Mathewson with a single that busted up the “old” game, thereby pleasing the populace, who turned out to the number of about 6000, easily the biggest midweek crowd of the season.
The Giants were as punchless as a toothless roue of 92. In the third round the Cardinals were seized with stage fright and wabbled on their pins. Dolan, Beck and Wilson played soccer, but despite three weird miscues, two singles and a walk, the enemy culled only three runs. Shades of Connie Mack!
All the time Willie Doak, with his hair clipped close by the double-o clipper, was in there with a mystifying assortment of damp delivery. After the fourth inning only one single was made and only three men reached first base. Doak had the Champs playing dead.
Matty weakened as the game progressed and the Cards picked up a run here and there, scoring in the third on Butler’s triple and Doak’s pop single over Fletcher’s head. The Giant infield was playing in to cut down a run at the plate.
Wilson’s double and Wingo’s triple, the latter after two were out, yielded run No. 2, while the big blow-off came in the eighth. One gone in this eventful round. Wilson singled, Fletcher made a championship muff of Beck’s pop fly, putting Wilson on second, while Ivey Wingo busted ‘er up with a single to right, scoring Wilson and putting Beck on third. Then the squeeze was called. Matty divined the attack and pitched outside and low. Butler missed. Berk was trapped, but Meyers pulled a boner by making a long throw to Stock instead of chasing Beck back to third. Stock retaliated with a high throw to Meyers and Beck slid around the Indian, tagging the plate with his fist for the winning run. Fine baseball!
The Giants made a dying stab in the ninth, when McGraw called out his reserves, Donlin and Murray. Doak sent them back to the stable empty handed. The crowd yip-eeyed and went home.
Matty Has Lost Four Games, Two to Cards
CHRIS MATHEWSON’S record for the current season is 14 games won and four lost. Two of his defeats were suffered at Robison Field, where the Cardinals twice this season beat him by a margin of one run. He whipped Hug’s men in New York, 8-5, on the last trip but in four outs against the local entry on the local field, twice this year and twice in 1913, Big Six has been forced to bite the dust. Willie Doak’s victory Wednesday boosts him to second place among the N. L. hurlers. He is topped only by Mathewson, Doak’s record being 8-3.
Sport Salad by L. C. Davis
Ballyard Ripplings.
“WHY do the people all hurrah?”
Said Rooter-on-Parade.
“We pulled a joke on J. McGraw,”
The Center Fielder said.
“Who pulled the joke, who pulled the joke? ”
Said Rooter-on-Parade.
“A slender guy named Willie Doak,”
The Center Fielder said.
“For the Giants went at Willie with intent to do him good;
They thought that he was certainly a tapioca pud’;
But Willie had their number and they couldn’t split the wood,
Now it looks like first division every mornin’.”
There was an incident in yesterday’s game that goes to show most anything is liable to happen in a ball game. Willie Doak made a hit.
It was a beautiful little T. L., fashioned after the most approved style of Willie Keeler.