in hot weather,
was not equal to the task of another year and was made manager of the
Providence team. Jean Dubuc was the only one of the young pitchers who
proved a star, but his work kept the Tigers from being a lot more
disappointing proposition than they were.

* * * * *

St. Louis and New York were outclassed from the start. Two weeks after
the season opened it was apparent they were doomed to fight it out for
the last round on the ladder. That the Browns finally escaped the cellar
in the closing days of the race was due largely to the efforts of
Stovall, who was made manager to succeed Wallace near the middle of the
season.

As early as the first of May it was seen the Browns and Yankees were
destined to trail. The New York team quickly gravitated to the bottom.
It started without the services of Catcher Eddie Sweeney, who held out
for a larger salary, and it had a manager at the helm who was
inexperienced in major league leadership. Not until April 24 did New
York win a game and in that time it had lost seven straight,
postponements accounting for the rest of the time.

St. Louis got a little better start and for a while was inclined to
dispute sixth place with Detroit, but on May 1 the Browns found only New
York between them and the basement. In the middle of May the Yankees
passed St. Louis and ran seventh in the race until July. 4. But accident
and injury, and the loss of Cree, shot the Yankees to pieces. For nearly
six weeks, however, it was a battle royal between New York and St. Louis
to escape the last hole, but in the middle of August the Yankees again
established their superiority, retaining seventh place until after the
middle of September. In the homestretch the new blood given Stovall
enabled him to pull his men out of the last notch just before the
schedule ran out. This feat was soon forgotten in the defeat of the
Browns by the Cardinals in their post-prandial series for the
championship of the Mound City.

* * * * *

The year was not prolific of freak or record-breaking performances in
the American League. Walter Johnson of Washington, and Joe Wood of
Boston were credited with sixteen straight victories, which raised the
American League record in that respect from fourteen straight, formerly
held by Jack Chesbro of the Yankees. Mullin of Detroit and Hamilton of
St. Louis added their names to the list of hurlers who have held
opp