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ers. He forced Hedges of St. Louis
to fire George Stovall, the best man
ager the Browns have ever had.
. Now he gets rid, of McAleer, under
whose direction the Red Sox passed
the Boston Braves in a bid for pat
ronage in Beantown.
That Johnson had the power to
dispose of the Boston stock without
consulting the supposed holders of it
is borne out by the statement of Sec
retary McRoy, who returned to Chi
cago yesterday, prepared to make
plans for the spring training trip.
McRoy was amazed when told that
his stock had been sold. He said he
had not heard the news before, but
that the deal might have been con
summated without his knowledge.
Right there is the point. McRoy
admits that the deal "might have
been consummated without his
knowledge." It is a confession on his
part that he was a Straw man so far
as controlling the stock was con
cerned. McAleer is on the Pacific ocean
with the Sox-Giants exhibitors, and
cannot fight back. He will land in a
few days, so everything was set right
fcr the Johnson coup. McRoy, John
son's former secretary, could be
counted on to obey orders, and Mc
Aleer was in a position where he
could not defend himself.
Jake St ah I, at his home, said the
news was a surprise to him, but
would not discuss the matter.
The firing of McAleer in itself is a
small matter beside the question of
how the American League stock is
controlled. It begins to appear that
the holdings may be centralized.
This is one thing that the National
League was heavily scored for. Amer
ican magnates, and newspapermen
generally, poured out their righteous
wrath because Charles P. Taft was
supposed to hold stock in both the
Philadelphia and Chicago National
League teams. There was agitation
against Taft, which did not cease
until he had pulled out of the Phillies.
Johnson personally has engineered
the deal, according to the Boston re
port. He is said to have gotten the
sanction of McAleer through Presi
dent Comiskey of the White Sox. t
Throughout, the transaction is a ff
wheels-within-wheels affair, with Mc- M.
Aleer and McRoy appearing as pawns
who were moved about as chessmen.
Some central force directed the
moves.
It is up to Johnson to explain.
It is the ability to administer the
healthy swat that wins pennants in
baseball. This is proven again by the
National League batting averages,
just out, which show that the Giants
were first with a mark of .273. Base
stealing-Is another important factor.
Brooklyn, which finished in the sec
ond division, was second in hitting,
with .270, but the Giants stole 98
more bases than the Dodgers.
Jake Daubert, Brooklyn first base
man, winner of the Chalmers trophy,
is the leading regular, with a wallop
ing mark of .350. Cravath of the
Phils is second with .341, and Viox of
Pittsburgh third with .317. Heinie
Zimmerman, Cub leader, is sixth
among1 the regulars, with an average
of .313.
Following are the batting averages
of the Cubs:
Zimmerman, .313; Saier, .289;
Leach, .287; Bvers, .285; Schulte,
.278; Archer, .266; Good, .253; Phe
lan, 249; Bridwell, .240; Needham,
.238; Miller, 236; Bresnahan, 228;
Williams, .224; Humphries, .194;
Cheney, .192; Corriden, .175; Laven- J
der, .118 ; Pierce, .073. ''
Joe Tinker batted .317 and Mike
Mitchell .266.
Cravath soaked 19 home runs, and
Saier was high man in. triples, with
21. Leach and Carey tied as leading
run getters, with 99 each, and the
latter was top base stealer, pilfering
bi sacks.
The Cubs were sixth in club bat
tine, with .257.
Physiognomists the chaps whovjj
diagnose your capacity by your facial
architecture say square jaws and
