Evening Republican, Volume 17, Number 56, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 6 March 1913 — BILL BRENNAN TALKS [ARTICLE]

BILL BRENNAN TALKS

\ i ' > --=i •* -■ S Umpire Gives His Opinion of 1912 Baseball Players. N» Pennant Ever Was Taken Without . Star Slabman, Declares National League Arbiter —Makes Comparison of Pitchers. “BUI" Brennan, National league umpire, talked of baseball players, •world’s series, brother umpires and magnates and had a good word to say tor all. “You can talk all you want to about world’s series,” he declared, “but for Teal baseball, those first two contests between the Cubs and Sox were as prettyaa-any..you._would~ jant—ta see. Nine full innings and twentyeight men faced Walsh the first day. “But even at that I won’t say he Is the greatest of them all. For Instance, I have never seen Ford or Johnson work and they say those two are the real stuff. Bender I have seen and also Coombs, having worked last year in the world’s series. I also saw Joe Wood last spring in a couple of games before the season opened. I think, on the whole, that the pitching of the two leagues stacks up about even. In the National there is Marquard and ■“Nap” Rucker and Jess Tesreau, not to mention Lavender of the Cubs, Hendrix of Pittsburgh and a few ’ ■others. I “Pitching is always the thing that wins in a short series. This has been •said before, but it is so true that it will bear repeating. You may also add this, that no team ever has won a pennant without at least one star, air-tight pitcher. Look over the Hst In both leagues. There were Coombs and Bender With the Athletics, Mullin of Detroit, Reulbach and Brown of Chicago, Adams of Pittsburgh, Mathewson of New York and . Ed Walsh of the Sox. In every pennant race of the last several years one or more pitchers have had to bear the brunt of the “Classifying the assets of a winning ball club tn their order of merit, I should place an air-tight pitcher first. Second comes the catcher. A highclass man behind the bat is absolutely necessary to a winning team and for substantiation let me point ou£ Thomas, Kling, Sullivan and Carrigan, and, incidentally, Stanage. All I;hese men were of invaluable assistance in bringing the flags to their various clubs. “Next comes a heavy-hitting out field and I guess I need go no further than the Boston club of 1912 to show you Just what I mean. The outfield has got to be one of the most important cogs in a modern baseball machine and if it isn’t there strong, then good-by to pennant hopes. “Offensively, of course, hitting is the most Important feature', but of scarcely secondary importance is fast base running. McGraw’s Giants realize the truth of this and it is generally granted that their ability and daring on the bases were their greatest asset throughout the season.”