BY IRVING E. SANBORN, CHICAGO.
Pre-season predictions in Base Ball do not carry much weight individually, but when many minds, looking at the game from different angles, agree on the main points there usually is good reason behind such near unanimity. Outside of Boston it is doubtful if any experienced critic of Base Ball in the country expected the Red Sox to be converted from a second division team into pennant winners in one short season. If such expectancy existed in Boston it was partially a case of the wish fathering the thought. The majority of men believed the machine with which Connie Mack had achieved two league and two world's championships was good for at least one more American League pennant. That expectation was based on the comparative youth of the important cogs in the Athletic machine. Yet this dope went all wrong. The Athletics were beaten out by two teams which were in the second division in 1911, one of them as low as seventh place.
The reason for these form reversals were several. The Boston and Washington teams improved magically in new hands, while the Athletics went back a bit, partly because of too much prosperity and partly because of adversity. Having come from behind in 1911 and made a winning from a wretched start, the Mackmen apparently thought they could do it again and delayed starting their fight until it was too late. The loss of the services of Dan Murphy for more than half of the season also was a prime factor.
The White Sox were the season's sensations both ways and for a time kept everybody guessing by their whirlwind start under new management. They walked over every opponent they tackled for the first few weeks, then began to slip and it required herculean efforts to keep them in the first division at the finish. The Chicago team always was a puzzle to all parties to the race, including itself.
From the outset there was almost no hope for the other four teams in the league. Cleveland and Detroit occasionally broke into the upper circles for a day or two in the early weeks of the season, but not far enough to rouse any false anticipations among their supporters. St. Louis and New York quickly gravitated to the lower strata and remained there, the Yankees finally losing out in their battle with the Browns to keep out of last place.
Five American League teams started the season under new managers. One of the three which began the race under leaders retained from the previous year changed horses in mid-stream. Jake Stahl, Harry Wolverton, Clark Griffith, Harry Davis and James Callahan were the new faces in the managerial gallery. Some of them were not exactly new to the job but were in new jobs. Of these Stahl, Griffith and Callahan proved successful leaders and the first named became the hero of a world's championship team when the last ball of the series was caught. Davis resigned during the season and was succeeded by Joe Birmingham, who almost duplicated the feat of George Stovall in 1911, putting new life into the Cleveland team and starting a spurt which made the race for position interesting. Wolverton stuck the season out in spite of handicaps that would have discouraged anybody, then handed in his resignation. Wallace, who started the year at the helm again in St. Louis, cheerfully handed over the management to Stovall, who had been transplanted into the Mound City in the hope of making Davis' task easier in Cleveland. Stovall made the Browns a hard team to beat and had the mild satisfaction of hoisting them out of the cellar which they had occupied for the better part of three seasons.
An unpleasant feature of the season, but one which had beneficial results, was the strike of the Detroit players, entailing the staging of a farcical game in Philadelphia between the Athletics and a team of semi-professionals. This incident grew out of an attack on a New York spectator by Ty Cobb while in uniform and the immediate suspension of the player for an indefinite period.
The prompt and unyielding stand taken by President Johnson against the action of the Detroit players and the diplomatic efforts of President Navin of that club averted serious or extended trouble and undoubtedly furnished a warning against any similar act in the near future. Another, excellent result was the effort made by club owners to prevent the abuse of the right of free speech by that small element of the game's patronage which finds its greatest joy in abusing the players, secure in the knowledge that it is practically protected from personal injury in retaliation.
In the development of new players of note the league enjoyed an average season, and a considerable amount of new blood was injected into the game in the persons of players who made good without attracting freakish attention. The rise of the Washington team from seventh to second place brought its youngsters into the limelight prominently, and of these Foster and Moeller were commended highly. Gandil, who had his second tryout in fast company, plugged the hole at first base which had worried Washington managers for some time. Shanks also made a reputation for himself as a fielder. These men were helped somewhat by the showing of their team, but the case of Gandil would have been notable In any company. His first advent into the majors with the White Sox showed him to be an exceedingly promising player, but for some reason his work fell off until he was discarded into the International League. There he quickly recovered his stride and, when he did come back shortly after the season opened last spring, he demonstrated that he had the ability to hit consistently and proved a tower of strength to Griffith's team.
Baumgardner of the St. Louis Browns was an example of a youngster making good in spite of comparatively poor company. His pitching record with a team which finished in seventh place stamps him as one of the best, if not the best, of the slab finds of the year. Jean Dubuc of Detroit was another find of rare value and still another was Buck O'Brien of Boston, but these had the advantage over Baumgardner of getting better support both in the field and at bat. O'Brien in particular was fortunate to break in with a championship team.