esired the manager continued to
experiment and his experiments brought forth good fruit, for
unquestionably the excellent work of Moran, who played both right field
and center field for Brooklyn, was a great help to the pitchers. By the
time that the Base Ball playing year was almost concluded Brooklyn had
so far recovered that it was able to place a better nine on the diamond
than had been the case all of the year.

Boston never was expected to be a championship organization. The
material was not there for a championship organization, but Boston did
play better ball than in 1911 and that is to the credit of players,
manager and owner. The club had changed hands, but the new owner had not
been able to readjust all of the positions to suit him. He put the best
nine possible in the field with what he had. Never threatening to become
a championship winning team Boston played steadily with what strength it
possessed and always a little better than in 1911, so that the year
could not fairly be considered unsuccessful at its finish.

* * * * *

Going back to the beginning of the year and looking over the contest for
the National League championship of 1912, it is not uninteresting,
indeed it is of much interest to call attention to the remarkably odd
record which was made by New York to win the pennant. In that record
stands the story of the fight, with striking shifts from week to week.

The first game played by the Giants was against Brooklyn, as has been
related, and it was won by New York and that, by the way, was the game
in which Marquard began his admirable record as a pitcher for the
season.

The Giants lost the next three games. Two of them were to Brooklyn and
one to Boston, and the players of the New York team began to wonder a
little as to what had happened to them.

Then New York won nine straight games from the eastern clubs, being
stopped finally by Philadelphia on the Polo Grounds. But that defeat did
not check them. They started on another winning spurt and played
throughout the west without a defeat until they arrived in Cincinnati.
This total of victories was nine. All of the games on the schedule were
not played because of inclement weather.

Cincinnati won twice from New York and then the Giants turned the tables
on the Reds, who had been leading the league. They threw them out of the
lead, which they never regained, and won another succession of nine
victories. That